Thelma Being Thelma (CREDIT: Magnolia Pictures)

Thelma

Starring: June Squibb, Fred Hechinger, Richard Roundtree, Parker Posey, Clark Gregg, Malcolm McDowell, Nicole Byer, Coral Peña

Director: Josh Margolin

Running Time: 98 Minutes

Rating: PG-13

Release Date: June 21, 2024 (Theaters)

Janet Planet

Starring: Julianne Nicholson, Zoe Ziegler, Elias Koteas, Sophie Okonedo, Will Patton

Director: Annie Baker

Running Time: 110 Minutes

Rating: PG-13

Release Date: June 21, 2024 (Theaters)

Which one’s the Planet? (CREDIT: A24)

Wow, I recently saw two movies named after lead female characters. Although in the case of one of them, I would argue that the title lady is actually the second lead, and that the primary protagonist is actually her daughter. Furthermore, there’s a little extra part of the title in addition to her name that made me wonder if it was going to be a sci-fi flick. In fact, it was not, which was a little disappointing. But not too disappointing, because I enjoy other genres as well.

I’m talking about Thelma (2024) and Janet Planet! The former is played by Mrs. June Squibb, while the latter stars Mrs. Julianne Nicholson as Janet, alongside Zoe Ziegler as her attached-at-the-hip daughter Lacy. So now the question is: which one of these ladies would I rather have in my life?

How about… let’s not force ourselves to choose only one! They all have enough positive attributes to recommend them. But I will concede that Thelma has some qualities that I recognize from my own grandmothers, so I suspect that I could figure out how to navigate around her stubbornness. As for Janet’s idiosyncrasies, I have much less experience with acupuncture.

Grades:
Thelma: 1 Scooter out of 1.2 Scams
Janet Planet: 2.75 Janets out of 4 Planets