Review of The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2012) by Thedrauch — 14 Oct 2012

A pleasant if conventional crowd-pleaser that makes great use of its seven experienced lead actors, 'The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel' is an enjoyable moviegoing treat with heartwarming performances and some great imagery of India to please our eyes.

At times, the film suffers from extreme pacing problems and overall predictability (you won't find any surprises as far as plot is concerned). Along with being a bit too melodramatic, the characters' problems feel somewhat slight and the general tone of the movie is one of low stakes and leisure fun.

All that being said, the performance aspect is grade-A and every actor receives a fitting vignette worthy of their talents. Tom Wilkinson's character, an aged gay man returning to India to find his long lost love, has the best side story by far and there is an air of seriousness and dramatic pull in the scenes depicting his search that is sorely lacking throughout the rest of the film.

It's great to watch all of these inspired performances birthed from less-than-inspired characters (Judi Dench playing against type as a vulnerable widow and Maggie Smith as a hardened wheelchair-bound racist are some other highlighted spots), but sometimes we could use a little more heft to the story.

Still, this is a very warm movie in general and is so far one of my favorites from 2012.