An intimate road trip comedy, a crime caper, a pop music documentary, and an Icelandic/Japanese love story: here are some of the year’s top films featuring older adults.
Each year for over 20 years, AARP recognizes “the best films for the grownup generations” with its Movies for Grownups Awards. But they don’t release their list of the past year’s best films until January–and with the holidays fast approaching, many of us are looking for a crowd-pleasing flick to watch with family.
So, we went ahead and gathered up a few of the best movies of 2024 by, for, and about older people.
Thelma
With the tagline “Revenge Has Never Been Sweeter,” Thelma is the story of its titular protagonist, a “sweet old lady” who is on the warpath to recover the savings she lost in a classic grandparent scam. Oscar-nominated June Squibb, who just turned 95 on November 6, plays Thelma Post. It’s her first leading role in a 34-year film career. And critics are agreeing that Squibb’s star turn is overdue: the film has a 98% positive reception from critics on Rotten Tomatoes. Squibb and co-star Richard Roundtree, who passed away in 2023 and appears here in his final on-screen role as Ben, have unmistakable chemistry from their first scene, as friends reunited in pursuit of the scammers and Thelma’s money. Helmed by first-time director Josh Margolin, Thelma is “a film that reckons with aging in all its inelegance,” according to Boca Magazine. “There are no cheap laughs in this brilliant comedy—only uncomfortable truths.” Rent it on Apple TV, Amazon, and other streaming services.
Will & Harper
This Netflix documentary, a “freewheeling real-life buddy comedy”, chronicles the cross-America road trip of two friends. One is Will Ferrell, 57, of whom you may have heard, and the other is Harper Steele, who came out as a trans woman in 2022 at the age of 61. Ferrell met Steele as Andrew Steele when they both started at Saturday Night Live in 1995. They became lifelong friends. When Steele wrote to Ferrell sharing the news of her transition, the actor was surprised and, above all, curious. Steele was always a writer, more comfortable behind the camera, but when Ferrell suggested taking a cross-country road trip together and filming the journey, she ultimately signed on. Middle-America dive bars and roadside diners have always been Steele’s happy places, and she and Ferrell visit them together while exploring what Steele’s transition means for their friendship. “None of us wanted to make a quote-unquote ‘political’ film,” says the film’s director, Josh Greenbaum, “I think when you sometimes [go political], half the audience turns off because they think you have an agenda. But it’s a very personal, intimate story between two friends. I wanted to keep that front and center.” Featuring two uncensored SNL veterans, Will & Harper is also hilarious and raking in rave reviews. Watch on Netflix.
The Greatest Night in Pop
This documentary isn’t about aging, it just features some (many!) of the pop music legends of the last century, reflecting now in their 60s, 70s, and 80s on one very special night in 1985. “The greatest artists of a generation came together to save some lives,” announces the movie’s trailer…and while the night didn’t go smoothly, it did make history. Directed by Bao Nguyen, The Greatest Night in Pop premiered at Sundance in January. It’s the story of the recording of the song “We Are the World,” the 8th-best-selling single of all time. Michael Jackson and Lionel Ritchie finished writing the song the night before recording, when dozens of the most famous musicians of the day had gathered in Los Angeles to record a song for famine relief in Africa. The documentary features Lionel Ritchie, Smokey Robinson, Cyndi Lauper, Bruce Springsteen, and others who were there, recounting the chaos and synchronicities of that night. Richard Roeper of the Chicago Sun-Times describes the story as somewhat miraculous: “so many performers who were used to being the biggest star in the room agreed to get together on relatively short notice and figure out a path to record one of the most impactful singles in music history.” Watch on Netflix.
Touch
This last one is for fans of romance and international films with beautiful cinematography. Based on a novel by Ólafur Jóhann Ólafsson, Touch tells a single love story as it splits the timeline between youth and old age. A joint Icelandic, U.S., and U.K. production, directed by Baltasar Kormákur, Touch traces two storylines: in one, young Kristófer meets and falls in love with Miko in South London. In the other, fifty years after their brief but life-changing romance, Kristófer is a widower who has just been diagnosed with early-stage dementia. The film follows his ardent search for Miko, from pandemic-era Iceland to England to Japan. The Guardian calls Touch “defiantly unfashionable in its straightforwardness… this is a love story, pure and simple and unashamedly emotional.” According to Variety, the movie’s ending is “a heart-clutching finale that’s as classically restrained as it is emotionally resounding.” Iceland submitted Touch as its nominee for the Oscar for Best International Feature Film, to be awarded at 2025’s 97th Annual Academy Awards. Watch Touch on Peacock for free, or rent it from a variety of other streaming services.
