With so many characters and plots to follow, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel can be quite the chore to sit through. Featuring an ensemble cast of the UK’s finest veteran talents, the film has a plot that is easy to recognize and even easier to drift into a nap.
After a variety of issues and complications as they age, seven different English seniors have chosen to take a vacation to a hotel in India based on an inaccurate description. The recently widowed Evelyn (Judi Dench) has an agenda; to instruct outsourced phone operators to better communicate and empathize with their elderly customers over the phone. Jean (Penelope Wilton) and Doug (Bill Nighy) are a senior couple who have realized they cannot afford retirement lifestyle they were expecting.
Former judge Graham (Tom Wilkinson) intends to reunite with his male lover after decades of apart. Madge (Celia Imrie), also recently widowed, is on the prowl for a new wealthy husband, and Norman (Ronald Pickup) is as horny as ever. The racially and ethnically ignorant Muriel (Maggie Smith) is unable to afford or wait for hip-surgery, but can travel to India where it would be a fraction of the cost and performed faster. All the while Sonny (Dev Patel) struggles to manage the hotel and appease his mother’s insistence on an arranged marriage.
It is clear that The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel is a film that is filled with a variety of plots which encompass many themes, and the film does a rather decent job of giving each character and plot enough screen time. However, the whole film becomes overwhelmingly boring too quickly, and it is easy to recognize the film’s progression. At just shy of two hours in length, the film could have used one or two characters expunged from the narrative, or at least merged to reduce length and maintain clarity.
As the synopsis shows, there is quite an ensemble of Anglo-saxon talents gracing the screen. All of which have maintained their typecasts, and may appease viewers who enjoy routine expectations. The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel really does not have much going for it in terms of mise-en-scene. The film is adequate at best, an adaptation of the novel These Foolish Things that is targeted toward a specific audience who have no intentions of looking past the trite narrative.
There are no surprises in this film including typical modern generational and culture clashes, and you guessed it, everyone changes for the better in the end. It is a classic venture for director John Madden (Shakespeare In Love), except for his previous effort, the Western version of The Debt. The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel can be a lovely film for a simple evening, but life is too short watch films like these. Where many of the characters in this film regret certain aspects of their lives, you should do yourself a favor and skip this one as to avoid such regrets.