It seems that retirees can’t afford to live in Britain any more so old age is being outsourced to India, to THE BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL in Jaipur. It may sound glamorous but to the busload of disgruntled oldies from Britain it is a major disappointment. They are stubborn prejudiced Muriel, MAGGIE SMITH – who needs a hip replacement, mismatched married couple Douglas, BILL NIGHY and Jean, PENELOPE WILTON, recent widow Evelyn, JUDI DENCH, Graham, TOM WILKINSON, who grew up in India and has past issues to deal with, good-time girl Madge, CELIA IMRIE who’s looking for a rich husband, and Norman, an inveterate ladies’ man who’s actually just looking for romance. Each responds to this strange, colourful new world in different ways.

The young owner of the hotel, DEV PATEL, is defying his family in keeping on with this inherited white elephant and in wanting to marry the girl he loves.

Ol Parker’s screenplay opts for the obvious, although there are some delicious lines. I loved Maggie Smith’s character being so pessimistic about her longevity she no longer buys green bananas. The pluses in the film, under John Madden’s direction, are the setting and the cast. The Indian Tourist Board will love this film, it is India at its most colourful, Rajasthan is an amazing state. And to see this gathering of fine British talent strut their stuff is totally enjoyable. They are all so fine. Even though the manipulations at work here are just a touch too twee and predictable, THE BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL is one of those comfort zone films that is very easy to like

ABC - At The Movies
Copyright ABC - At The Movies

If you’ve seen the poster for THE BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL, with its sunny, soft-focus portraits of Judi Dench, Maggie Smith, Bill Nighy and Tom Wilkinson, you're probably not expecting the year's most challenging film. That said, John Madden's comedy-drama – loosely based on a Deborah Moggach novel – has a sharper edge than that poster would suggest.

In a series of pithy, pointed scenes, it introduces 7 pensioners (Penelope Wilton, Celia Imrie and Ronald Pickup are the others), all of them appalled by the paucity of options open to them in Britain. Alienated, short of funds, and patronised both by their children and by the operators on their internet helplines, they fly off to a palatial retirement home in Jaipur, the only place where their paltry savings will keep them in the manner to which they're accustomed. But once they arrive, they find that despite the efforts of the optimistic young manager, Dev Patel (Slumdog Millionaire), the building is in a worse condition than they are. It's hardly a Ken Loach scenario, but the film's opening act has at least as much to say about post-financial-crash retirement as “The Full Monty” had to say about post-industrial unemployment – which is quite a lot.

Each of the characters has their own issue to contend with – Wilkinson's secret past, Smith's bitter racism, Nighy and Wilton's fraying marriage – and the only question is the order in which they'll be resolved. Sure enough, the ex-pats all learn to love themselves, each other, and spicy food, and the pace gets slower and slower until the interminable traffic jam in the closing minutes seems to symbolise the film itself.
That's not to say THE BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL doesn't deserve a visit. All the way through, it has sparkling one-liners delivered by some of our most distinguished actors, and it's undoubtedly positive in its representation of the over-sixties. It's just a tad ironic that a film in praise of new horizons should settle into such a well-worn groove.


The Independent
Copyright The Independent