Movie Review: "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel"

"The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel": A-.  "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel" opens with several introductory vignettes, as we briefly meet each of the seven senior citizens who, for one reason or another, have decided to leave their native England and head for a new adventure in India. Evelyn (Judi Dench) is a new widow whose departed husband made all of the big decisions in their family, but alas, has left her broke. Graham (Tom Wilkinson) is a college professor with a secret reason for returning to the place he once lived as a young man. Douglas and Jean (Bill Nighy and Penelope Wilton), a couple who seem thoroughly mismatched, have been married to each other for almost forty years. Muriel (Maggie Smith) is a bigoted hypochondriac who needs a hip replacement more quickly than the English medical system can accommodate. Norman and Madge (Ronald Pickup and Celia Imrie) are both single, but not necessarily by their own choosing, and believe the change of scenery to the Indian sub-continent might bring them better romantic fortune.

What they all have in common is their trust that the Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, in the heart of the city of Udaipur, will live up to the expectations hyped in their glossy brochures. When the hotel fails to pick up the seven Brits at the airport, a red flag goes up in their collective minds. With the help of Graham, who still knows his way around the city even though he hasn't lived there in decades, they manage to find their way to the hotel. As soon as they cast their eyes on the building, they realize that what they saw in the brochures bears little resemblance to reality. That realization is confirmed once they enter the hotel. No wonder the lodging rates seemed so reasonable!

The eighth main character to the story is the charming Sonny, played by Dav Patel who was the star of "Slumdog Millionaire." Sonny is young enough to be the Brits' grandson (or maybe even great grandson), but he runs the Marigold with endless energy. He has huge ambitions for the business, and puts a positive spin on all of the hotel's deficiencies as they are encountered by his guests. Some of the guests are more willing to roll with the inconveniences than others. Even so, they stay much longer than we (the viewers) might have originally expected.

This is a story about eight people whom we get to know fairly well. How many stories can make that claim? Even though each of them has her own burdens, some characters dwell on the negative while the others make the best of their new situations. The characters change, not only because being in a new country forces some changes, but because the present surroundings gives them the opportunity to take a closer look at themselves and realize that they are not young (or even middle-aged) anymore. Perhaps if they would not have left England, this self-inspection and reflection would not have occurred.

I have always favored movies with this kind of set-up. A small group of people are put together, removed from the rest of society with a common nexus (in this case, a hotel in a foreign land), with action including relationships within that group as well as adventures independent of the group. The characters are multi-dimensional and are not the same at the end of the tale as they were at the beginning. There is no one lead character, per se; rather, it is a film about all of them. Other films of that description which come to mind are "The Big Chill," "Ship Of Fools," "Grand Hotel," and two based on Agatha Christie novels, "Murder On The Orient Express" and "Ten Little Indians." In some ways it resembles the hit TV series "Friends," which had a ten year run. Like "Friends," "Marigold Hotel" has a large sampling of humor to offset the many serious moments, and the writers do a good job of spreading the best lines around the cast (although the terrific Maggie Smith delivers the most).

I almost opted out of choosing "Marigold Hotel," as it was not widely saluted by the critics. What changed my mind was that, of the folks I personally know who saw the film, there was unanimous approval and recommendation. Now, having viewed the film, I am definitely in that camp.