The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel Review

Heart warming and genuinely funny, but a tighter character focus wouldn’t go amiss.

Putting a cast of Brit veterans to superb (if hardly radical) use, John Madden’s likable adaptation of Deborah Moggach’s 2004 pageturner, 'These Foolish Things', follows a disparate bunch of pensioners seeking to live out their twilight years in India.

All is not as it seems, however, when the group’s expectations of luxury are promptly quashed upon discovering that the idyllic hotel retreat sold to them is a shadow of its former self. Plot strands range from Judi Dench’s affable widow seeking a new lease of life and adventure following the passing of her husband, to the familiar pairing of Bill Nighy and Penelope Wilton (last seen together in Shaun of the Dead) as a married couple whose troubled relationship inches ever closer to breaking point.

Ol Parker’s screenplay duly switches its focus among the hotel’s elderly residents as they gradually come to embrace a less than ideal situation. But of all the carefully overlapping threads, it’s Tom Wilkinson’s depiction of a jaded barrister that serves as the film’s real crowning achievement, chronicling his emotional return to the village of his youth to uncover the fate of an illicit young lover.

Each tale resonates with a vibrant honesty and, for the most part, it all hangs together remarkably well with each of Parker’s characters radiating an ineffable sense of warmth and believability. But, as is so often the case with ensemble dramas, the need to cover a lot of bases often results in certain characters taking prominence over others, and as such, both Celia Imrie and Ronald Pickup languish by the wayside.

Despite offering up some of the film’s best one-liners, Pickup’s sleazy, love-struck codger in particular is criminally underused, while the sudden change in heart of Maggie Smith’s racist wheelchair-bound miserablist is sapped of poignancy due to its disappointingly rushed execution and an over-reliance on hackneyed stereotyping. Even more troublesome is the default typecasting of Dev Patel as the hotel’s perpetually optimistic proprietor, even though he’s charming and charismatic in the role.

Nevertheless, moot casting points aside and occasional ham-fisted character developments overlooked, there’s an unquestionable amount of sincerity on display here. Performances throughout are strong and the chemistry between the likes of Dench and Nighy, not to mention the lush photography of the Rajasthan landscape, combine to create an enjoyable, if somewhat forgettable experience.