Review of The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2012) by Kenneth L — 26 Jul 2013

This is certainly not the deepest or most surprising movie, but it is consistently charming, funny, light, and comforting. Some aspects of it are a little on the pat or easy side, but there are some really quite nice moments of quiet, genuine revelation in there as well. It also has one of the best assemblages of old British actors outside of a Harry Potter movie, so it's got that going for it.

The premise is simple enough: a bunch of retirement-age British people all decide at once to move to India for various reasons, where they all check into a run-down hotel/quasi-retirement-home known as The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. Each person has their own purpose for being there, and throughout the movie we watch each of them make their little personal journeys. Each character in the movie has a clear arc, and it's nice just to see these little stories being told well.

The cast is easily the biggest attraction here, and they all give well-defined performances. The best storyline goes to the usually under-appreciated Tom Wilkinson, who plays an old barrister who has moved to India for reasons relating to incidents from his youth. There's a surprise or two to his story, and I really appreciated how delicately and subtly the movie handled his big moments. Judi Dench is typically very strong as a recently widowed woman who has to move to India for financial reasons. She narrates much of the film, and while the actual content of the narration is a little too on-the-nose, Dench's reassuring voice manages to make it work anyway. Maggie Smith has perhaps the trickiest character arc as a mean, racist old lady who moves for medical reasons. Her transformations are maybe a little too convenient, but Smith does a wonderful job with a particular scene where her character talks about her past to an "untouchable" woman. Bill Nighy relies entirely on laid-back charm here, and it works for what the script requires. Penelope Wilton's character is possibly the least sympathetic, but it's a good performance. Dev Patel, the hero of Slumdog Millionaire, is pretty funny as the naively optimistic manager of the hotel, and I thought it was a nice touch to show how his character puts on a bit of an exoticist show for the old white people but acts more naturally when talking with other Indians. Celia Imrie and Ronald Pickup are also quite amusing in the smallest roles among the main characters.

The movie was directed by John Madden, the guy who made Shakespeare in Love (not the football guy). It's not an adventurous film, but it juggles its several storylines well, keeps up a nice pace, and gives a tourist-y sort of view of India. You can imagine how the movie's depiction of Indian-British relations might venture into sensitive territory, but while the movie's Indian characters are mostly stereotypical, they're still played sensitively as real human beings. It's not a groundbreaking portrait of life in India by any means, but it's not really regressive either. Overall, it works as a genuine feel-good movie, and I think middle-aged and older audiences especially will enjoy it.