Josh Margolin’s feature-length directorial debut, Thelma, is a small cut above Hollywood’s obsession with “watch the elderly being silly” movies. June Squibb is a good actress and uses her sweet presence to good effect as the titular character. While she is allowed some good moments, the actress is saddled with a screenplay that doesn’t trust the quiet moments.

Squibb stars as Thelma Post, an elderly woman who has a close relationship with her grandson, Daniel (Fred Hechinger). The young man visits her nearly every day and takes good care of her, making sure she wears her emergency bracelet and keeping her tuned in to modern technology. When Thelma receives a call from a supposed lawyer requesting $10,000 in cash to bail Daniel out of jail, she immediately does what the caller asks. Of course it was a scam, so Thelma decides to find the culprits and reclaim her stolen money. Getting help from her good friend Ben (Richard Roundtree), the two set out on Ben’s scooter to complete their mission of justice.

In his final film role, Roundtree is the film’s standout. Ben represents a man focusing on his mortality and the actor gives a strong performance; grounding the picture’s more ridiculous moments. Roundtree’s focused work is a sweet goodbye to this legendary actor.

Thelma’s daughter Gail (a wasted Parker Posey) and son-in-law Alan (an equally wasted Clark Gregg) are written as complete buffoons. The two characters run around the film like chickens with their heads cut off, constantly flailing about like idiots. It is a shame how these two wonderful actors are stuck with characters that are nothing short of cartoons.

Margolin does his best to weave together themes of aging, friendship, and the closeness of family and there are moments that work quite well. There is a purity to Daniel’s devotion to his grandmother. Their conversations are tender and warm, while any scene between Squibb and Roundtree makes the movie shine brighter. Unfortunately, the director feels the need to surround such honest moments with an overly-whimsical feel set to an unbearably intrusive score from Nick Chuba. When the finale arrives and Thelma finds the man who duped her (Malcolm McDowell), the whole scene falls flat and becomes ridiculous.

Thelma has some clever ideas now and again. The best is how the lead character is fueled to get her money back by watching Tom Cruise’s can-do spirit in the Mission Impossible films. In doing so, Thelma hopes to prove to her daughter and son-in-law that she is still a capable woman. It is a nice touch that earns some deserved smiles.

The idea for the film came from writer-director Margolin’s relationship with his own grandmother, a source found in a good deal of Squibb’s dialogue. The filmmaker took some of the conversations he had with his grandma (who is 103) and gifted Squibb a well-rounded and endearing character suitable for her first starring role. Margolin’s crafting of Thelma is affectionate and endearing.