The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel - 3 1/2 smiles

Although “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel” is overly dramatic in places and fairly predictable, the exceptional cast makes the script seem new and different. The pros here include Bill Nighy, Maggie Smith, Tom Wilkinson and Judi Dench and it’s a pleasure to watch them work together. The newly widowed Evelyn (Dench), the recently retired Graham (Wilkinson), the long married Douglas (Nighy) and Jean (Penelope Wilton), the rich-husband-seeking Madge (Celia Imrie), the older-man-looking-for-romance Norman (Ronald Pickup) and the xenophobic Muriel (Maggie Smith) all have their reasons for moving to Jaipur, India. Some hoping for a new start, some seeking new/old loves, one seeking affordable hip surgery. And they all end up at the Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, which doesn’t quite match the brochure. But as the earnest proprietor Sonny (Dev Patel) tells them, ‘Everything will be all right in the end and if it’s not alright, then it’s not yet the end.’

Added to the various stories is a romance between Sonny and a colleague of Evelyn’s at the call center where she finds herself employed for the first time in her life. However, this seventh subplot, added perhaps to keep the story from being too white and too much about the elderly, feels wedged in and the tone and pacing change whenever the focus shifts to Sonny. Also, Muriel’s intolerant ways are so a part of her character (e.g. her body language and the clipped tone of her frequent insults) that her transformation from racist to accepting lover of all things Indian strains credibility given the time span of the story. Nonetheless, the skill of excellent cast keeps the lightweight script from falling into numbing fluff. And with John Madden directing, there’s a wonderful mix of story and travelogue that keeps the film a notch above. There are some brutal realities about the declining years, from loneliness to financial woes, that can’t be solved by a simple change of location, but “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel” doesn’t claim to solve life’s problems. It does, however, entertain. 5/11/12