Thai Massage

Movie review by Barbara Shulgasser-Parker, Common Sense Media
Thai Massage Movie

Common Sense says

age 15+

Widower seeks pleasure and finds family; sex, language.

NR 2022 122 minutes
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A Lot or a Little?

The parents' guide to what's in this movie.

What Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that Thai Massage is an Indian comedy about a meek 70-year-old widower with erectile dysfunction. He wants to have a last stab at a fulfilled life and ends up in Bangkok looking for sex. Although there's no nudity, sex is discussed in broad euphemisms, as is love and the need for human emotional connection. Sex workers are seen soliciting in a red-light district. Crooks take advantage of naïve tourists. A gang tries to rob one. Another tourist is beaten. A man tries to jump off a bridge but is stopped by passersby. An old man grabs the testicles of a young man and squeezes. As much as the movie dwells on scammers and crooks, it also celebrates the existence of decent, trustworthy people who offer help to strangers for no reward. Language includes "s--t," "hell," "screw," "erectile dysfunction," "penis," "intercourse," "pee," "sex worker," and "come." Adults drink alcohol. In Hindi with English subtitles.

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What's the Story?

In THAI MASSAGE, Atma (Gajraj Rao) is nearing 70. His beloved wife was paralyzed for more than 20 years before her recent death, leaving him without sex for two decades. A truly decent person, he cared for her and never cheated, but now he yearns for some emotional and sexual connection with a woman at least once before he dies. He knows his conservative children and the small community they live in will never condone such a quest, so he finds himself trying to jump off a bridge. Young Santu (Divyendu Sharma), a passerby hanging with his friends, stops Atma and, as a joke, befriends him. Soon Santu is taking him to a virile old guru to help alleviate the erectile dysfunction. The cure? Raw onions and exercise. When Atma regains his function, Santu tries and fails to find Atma a suitable local sex worker but the scrutiny of neighbors shames Atma. He tries to watch some mild porn (a clothed man touches the clothed breast of a woman in his lap) but a neighbor interrupts and hears the moaning and the phrase, "Come baby, come." Santu laughs behind Atma's back, but arranges for the older man to travel secretly to Bangkok to find what they refer to as "boom-boom." Scammers and crooks try to take advantage of the innocent Atma and, mostly because he's too nice, his date with a sex worker comes to naught. Roaming the beach, he meets Rita (Aline Zasobina), a young Russian travel blogger who opens his eyes and heart to adventure. Will Atma finally get the connection he longs for?

Is It Any Good?

This movie could have been so much better. So many substantive, heartfelt, and wise life lessons are suggested by the end of Thai Massage that it's a pity so much froth and unnecessary sludge on the front end delay the worthwhile payoff for so long. Much of the first 90 minutes is devoted to predictable and unfunny comic set-ups and they paint Atma as a fool, easily taken in, rather than the honest, decent, loyal man, father, and husband he later proves himself to be. And late in the film, flashbacks are employed, as is a new voice-over narrator from out of nowhere. Somewhere in here is a truly powerful film about family, love, connection, loyalty, honesty, and friendship. It's just buried.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about why society makes it difficult to talk frankly about the basic human need for sex.

  • At 70, the main character seems an unlikely candidate for the lead in a movie about finding a sexual partner. How does the movie use that to make fun of social taboos about sex?

  • What does it tell us about the main character that he can't have sex unless emotions are involved?

Movie Details

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