The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

Reviewed by Danny the Demented
Updated May 21 2012

It was not best nor was it exotic, instead the film was mediocre and bland. If you want to learn how to spell disappointment, look no further.

"The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel" is the story of 7 retirees from the UK, each looking for different things in the twilight years of their lives: Evelyn (Judi Dench) recently lost her husband and needs to relocate after selling their house to pay off debts; Douglas and Jean (Bill Nighy and Penelope Wilton) lost their retirement money after Douglas invested it all in their daughter's internet start-up and now are also in need of a place to live; Graham (Tom Wilkinson) is a high court judge who decided to end his career in search for more important things, or to be specific, a person, in life; Muriel (Maggie Smith) is a racist ex-housekeeper who needs a cheap hip replacement and had to look for it outside of the UK; Madge (Celia Imrie) is a multiple times divorcee who wants a man in her life, preferably rich; Norman (Ronald Pickup) is the male version of Madge. As fate would have it, though they all look for different things in life, all of them ended up in India, at the well-advertised, though in reality very far away from being operational and borderline in ruins, the Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, run by the super-duper-I-need-ritalin Sonny (Dev Patel). Through new friendships, hardships, and relationships (yes I just pulled off a 3 ships joke, admire me), each of the resident of the hotel finds what they are truly searching for all along: a purpose in life. 

A huge letdown, the film offers such a strong cast and a promising premise, only to have both ruined by poor writing and sub-par execution. None of the character developments felt genuine and almost all the breakthroughs were forced. So many plot-lines to follow and none of which was properly told. Madge and Norman were punchline characters that offered one laugh each and did nothing else noteworthy the rest of the film. The story has many holes also: why does Douglas and his wife Jean need to buy a new place to live? they lost their retirement money, not their home. Muriel is such a racist that there was no way she'd accept hip replacement in India, but she did for some bizarre reason. Graham has by far the best storyline going but it ended before you can say gesundheit. Evelyn has never worked a day in her life and on her first try, as an elderly person, she was accepted as a culture consultant at a place that is filled with ambitious first-rate university graduates? What's next, a watchable Michael Bay movie? A colossal waste of the actors' talents and my time, the film was nothing more than a poorly told tale and a squandered opportunity for greatness. If this film did not possess so much potential  (It has Bill Nighy, Tom Wilkinson, Maggie Smith AND Dame Dench!), I would not have been so harsh, but it does, and it is unforgivable to throw away such an ensemble of brilliance. 


The hotel manager Sonny said in the film, "Everything will be alright in the end, so if it is not alright, then it's not yet the end". Well the movie ended long ago and I am still pretty f**king far from being alright. Movies are such bull-crap. My name is Danny and I endorse this message.