'THE BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL': Three Stars (Out of Five)
A British comedy-drama film featuring an all-star cast of veteran actors (including Judi Dench, Tom Wilkinson, Bill Nighy, Maggie Smith, Ronald Pickup, Celia Imrie and Penelope Wilton) as well as Dev Patel (of 'SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE' fame). It's directed by John Madden (the critically acclaimed director of the Oscar winning 'SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE' as well as last year's espionage thriller 'THE DEBT', and many others) and written by Ol Parker. It's based on the book 'These Foolish Things' by Deborah Moggach about a small group of British retirees who move in to a newly opened retirement hotel in India. The film is a light hearted tale about finding new inspiration in life. It's also light on laughs and emotion but it's definitely not a bad film and the cast does their best to sell it.
The story revolves around an old run down hotel in India being reopened as a retirement hotel by an enthusiastic young manager named Sonny (Patel). He sells the idea, through misleading brochures, to a group of elderly British people looking to retire for various reasons. The group includes a couple (Nighy and Wilton) who poorly invested in their daughter's internet company, a retired housekeeper needing a hip replacement (Smith), a gold digger looking to find a husband (Imrie), a former lady's man looking to recapture his glory days (Pickup), a widow (Dench) starting a job as a call centre adviser and a recently retired judge (Wilkinson) who grew up in India as a boy. Each of course is trying to refind happiness and learns something from their adventure while Sonny tries to follow his dreams and continue to court a young woman his mother (Lillete Dubey) doesn't approve of.
The film is full of beautiful cinematography and is nicely directed by Madden. Like I said the cast all does their best, especially Patel who really should be a bigger star by now given his talent. The movie is touching at times and funny but nothing too memorable. It never tugs at the emotions in ways you'd expect from a movie like this and the comedy is mostly routine. It's all material that's been done many times before, in better ways, but it is adequately made (for what it is) for the most part.
Watch our movie review show 'MOVIE TALK' at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7YhqgcaX3Q
A British comedy-drama film featuring an all-star cast of veteran actors (including Judi Dench, Tom Wilkinson, Bill Nighy, Maggie Smith, Ronald Pickup, Celia Imrie and Penelope Wilton) as well as Dev Patel (of 'SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE' fame). It's directed by John Madden (the critically acclaimed director of the Oscar winning 'SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE' as well as last year's espionage thriller 'THE DEBT', and many others) and written by Ol Parker. It's based on the book 'These Foolish Things' by Deborah Moggach about a small group of British retirees who move in to a newly opened retirement hotel in India. The film is a light hearted tale about finding new inspiration in life. It's also light on laughs and emotion but it's definitely not a bad film and the cast does their best to sell it.
The story revolves around an old run down hotel in India being reopened as a retirement hotel by an enthusiastic young manager named Sonny (Patel). He sells the idea, through misleading brochures, to a group of elderly British people looking to retire for various reasons. The group includes a couple (Nighy and Wilton) who poorly invested in their daughter's internet company, a retired housekeeper needing a hip replacement (Smith), a gold digger looking to find a husband (Imrie), a former lady's man looking to recapture his glory days (Pickup), a widow (Dench) starting a job as a call centre adviser and a recently retired judge (Wilkinson) who grew up in India as a boy. Each of course is trying to refind happiness and learns something from their adventure while Sonny tries to follow his dreams and continue to court a young woman his mother (Lillete Dubey) doesn't approve of.
The film is full of beautiful cinematography and is nicely directed by Madden. Like I said the cast all does their best, especially Patel who really should be a bigger star by now given his talent. The movie is touching at times and funny but nothing too memorable. It never tugs at the emotions in ways you'd expect from a movie like this and the comedy is mostly routine. It's all material that's been done many times before, in better ways, but it is adequately made (for what it is) for the most part.
Watch our movie review show 'MOVIE TALK' at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7YhqgcaX3Q