The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2012)
Average Rating: 6.6/10
Reviews Counted: 148
Fresh: 115 | Rotten: 33
The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel isn't groundbreaking storytelling, but it's a sweet story about the senior set featuring a top-notch cast of veteran actors.
Average Rating: 6/10
Critic Reviews: 36
Fresh: 25 | Rotten: 11
The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel isn't groundbreaking storytelling, but it's a sweet story about the senior set featuring a top-notch cast of veteran actors.
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Average Rating: 3.9/5
User Ratings: 68,684
Movie Info
The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel follows a group of British retirees who decide to "outsource" their retirement to less expensive and seemingly exotic India. Enticed by advertisements for the newly restored Marigold Hotel and bolstered with visions of a life of leisure, they arrive to find the palace a shell of its former self. Though the new environment is less luxurious than imagined, they are forever transformed by their shared experiences, discovering that life and love can begin again when
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Cast
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Tom Wilkinson
Graham Dashwood -
Maggie Smith
Muriel Donnelly -
Judi Dench
Evelyn Greenslade -
Bill Nighy
Douglas Ainslie -
Dev Patel
Sonny Kapoor -
Celia Imrie
Madge Hardcastle -
Penelope Wilton
Jean Ainslie -
Patrick Pearson
Graham's Colleague -
Hugh Dickson
Judge -
James Rawlings
Estate Agent -
Liza Tarbuck
Staff Nurse -
Paul Bhattacharjee
Dr. Ghujarapartidar -
Lucy Robinson
Judith -
Ronald Pickup
Norman Cousins -
Simon Wilson
Madge's Son-in-Law -
Sara Stewart
Madge's Daughter -
Ramona Marquez
Madge's Granddaughte... -
Raoul Marquez
Madge's Grandson -
Glen Davies
Taxi Driver -
Jay Villiers
Evelyn's Son -
Paul Bentall
Evelyn's Lawyer -
Louise Brealey
Hairdresser -
Catherine Terris
Graham's Cleaner -
Richard Cubison
Douglas's Golf Partn... -
Josh Cohen
Paramedic -
Joshua Cole
Airport Security Gua... -
Bhuvanesh Shetty
Muriel's Physiothera... -
Honey Chhaya
Young Wasim -
Shubhrajyoti Barat
Public Records Offic... -
Narendra Kumar Ahmed
Rickshaw Driver/Grah... -
Hem Acharya
Boy Playing Cricket -
Kailash Vijay
Rickshaw Driver/Evel... -
Tena Desae
Sunaina -
Sid Makkar
Jay -
Seema Azmi
Anokhi -
Vishnu Sharma
Mr. Maruthi -
Lillete Dubey
Mrs. Kapoor -
Denzil Smith
Viceroy Club Secreta... -
Jagdish A. Sharma
Maharajah -
Sandeep Lele
Viceroy Club Barman -
Diana Hardcastle
Carol -
Neeraj Kadela
Market Salesman -
S.N. Purohit
Tap Shop Owner -
Shiv Palawat
Tea Room Waiter -
Mahesh Udeshi
Doctor at Clinic -
Neena Kulkarni
Gaurika -
Rajendra Gupta
Manoj -
Gagan Mishra
Restaurant Owner -
A.R. Rama
Rickshaw Driver/Jean
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All Critics (152) | Top Critics (37) | Fresh (115) | Rotten (33) | DVD (3)
As for the Marigold Hotel, well, it's not the Delano. But overall it's a fine spot to spend a couple of hours.
Top CriticBasically, there's just too much crammed into "Marigold Hotel" for any of it to have impact. It may work as comfort food for old folks, but a bit less may have yielded a great deal more.
The movie itself is a mawkish comedy-drama-romance, but the astounding cast makes it feel like a night on the West End.
"The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel" is an Indian dish for day-trippers. Lacking beef or sufficient spice, it's nonetheless colorful comfort food.
The old pros elevate Hotel's otherwise pat screenplay into that sweet spot where predictability fails to negate pleasure.
There's little that's surprising about the film - everyone ends up pretty much where you'd guess - but that predictable quality becomes part of the pleasure of watching it, like a book that's happily reread.
It's a movie about finding purpose in life, late in life, that makes its point by first subjecting its characters to the most reductive grumpy-old-men/women shenanigans.
A predictable, sugary-sweet confection that thrives on the liver-spotted backs of its sterling silver-haired actors.
its difficult to sit through the final scenes without thinking of what Madden could have cut to earn Marigold Hotel a five-star rating.
Proof that even the young can mistakenly see the aged as elderly. Their bodies may have degraded, but their minds and spirits are no less sharp.
The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel is a true example of an ensemble piece where a group of veteran actors show that they are just as good as they ever were.
Even at its most arm-twistingly obvious, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel ultimately ended up leaving me somewhere close to smitten.
If you like films about travel, if you like watching film legends work together, you might want to check into "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel." Consummate professionals and some sharp writing and interesting cinematography make it worth the trip.
It would be churlish to condemn The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel in its entirety. It delivers some real laughs and offers brilliant performances from an experienced cast; just don't expect anything you haven't seen before.
It may not be a particularly memorable film, but it's a joy to watch so much talent on the screen.
Almost exactly what I expected (with a few very nice twists), and you know what? That's just fine.
If all you want to see is talented British performers of a certain age, then 'The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel' is for you. If you want something surprising, perhaps with a bit of an edge, then you'll have to look elsewhere.
I went, as I imagine many people will, for some Quality Dame Time and I got it so I shouldn't complain...
Penelope Wilton, as the sourpuss among the group, takes top honors. She is the only one who refuses to be taken in by the cheap exoticism and trite affirmations that Hotel offers its guests.
Perhaps only one of the stories rises above cliche, but they are all told well with the total being more than the sum of the parts
Everything in Ol Parker's screenplay plays out in gently predictable fashion. It's up to the delightful cast, and to the light touch of director John Madden, to bring life and warmth.
Clothes may make the man, but they most CERTAINLY make the character," Bill Nighy says. "I spend quite a lot of time fretting over what a character would wear, how he'll look."
This mixture of comedy and drama works because of the very talented cast. Some of the dialog is quite good, too. It is also nice to see an intelligent movie aimed at adults for a change.
The acting talent elevates a run of the mill story to grander heights
Even if the film's amenities are wildly uneven, there's enough fun and poignancy in it to earn the property three stars.
Made with precision and verve, this retiree comedy uses veteran actors to bring out the joys and heartbreaks of a life-changing stay in a disheveled Indian hotel.
Audience Reviews for The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
Sure, you probably will come away from this film not knowing anything new, but I know I walked away with a smile on my face. Yes, everything comes together, the guy gets the girl, etc. but at the core this film is about living - that it is particularly relevant to those of a certain age is irrelevant, as the message would be the same regardless of the age bracket.
The film starts in a rather shaky fashion, giving us the names and the impetus for each cast member to be heading off to India. Then you have the travel log bonding sequence and some slightly amusing culture clash stuff... but then slowly the film shifts gears and reels you in, giving each character a chance to breath and become more than a caricature, helped in no small measure by the superb understated acting of the core group of Brits. From the easy command and yet vulnerable Tom Wilkinson, to the henpecked gentle man portrayed by Bill Nighy, each performance has not a hair out of place. And heaven forefend if I neglect to mention the women folk: you have the two actresses from Downton Abbey, Penelope Wilton and Dame Maggie Smith... and for good measure, throw in another Dame with Judi Dench. All three are spot on and make the lyrical British script sing.
The film also gives a slight glimpse into Indian mores and values, from the remnants of the caste system to the arranged marriage and importance of family and honor - but that conveniently gets a wink, wink, oh nevermind bit of short shift from the script, as if attempting to bring serious drama into the affair would somehow ruin the lighthearted mood... but regardless, this film has many a fine moment and recovers from the shaky beginning to give you good solid entertainment and a life affirming, feel good mood that prevails. Not a classic, but you could certainly do much worse. As is stated several times during the film "Everything will be all right in the end and if it's not all right, then it's not yet the end" - a nice way to say keep on keeping on.
Super Reviewer
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- Evelyn Greenslade: But perhaps what we fear is that it will be the same, so we must celebrate the changes, because, as someone once said, everything will be all right in the end, and if it's not all right, then trust me...
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- Douglas Ainslie: We get up in the morning and we do our best, and nothing else matters.
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- Sonny Kapoor: Everything will be all right in the end and if it's not all right, then it's not yet the end.
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- Evelyn Greenslade: The only real failure is the failure to try, and the measure of success is how we cope with disappointment.
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- Jean Ainslie: And home in time for our 40th wedding anniversary. We haven't quite decided how to mark the occasion.
- Madge Hardcastle: Perhaps a minute silence.
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- Jean Ainslie: How can you bear this country? What do you see, that I don't?
- Graham Dashwood: The light, colors, smiles; it teaches me something.
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Foreign Titles
- Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (DE)
- Indian Palace (FR)
