The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2011)
When everyone watched the preview for The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, they realized this “old folks still got it” comedy would be delightful and impossible to resist. We flocked to the theaters and weren’t disappointed. Now, I own a well-worn DVD copy and have lost track of how many times I’ve seen it.
In a heartwarming, funny, dramatic, hopeful, romantic leap of faith, five single strangers and one married couple decide to uproot their lives in England to live in a new hotel in India that respects the aging process. The brochure and online advertisements look lovely and send a message that they’re not getting at home: you can still have dignity and a full life in your sunset years! But when they get there, the grounds are crumbling, the rooms are unfinished, and the hotel manager (remember the kid from Slumdog Millionaire?) is a flaky wreck. But each person has traveled all that way for different reasons and they decide to stay for a little while longer. And as Dev Patel frequently reminds them, “Everything will be alright in the end. If it is not alright, it is not yet the end.” (My dad’s in love with that phrase, so I hear it much more often than just in the movie!)
Of the charming, varied residents, there are Bill Nighy and Penelope Wilton, a married couple without much retirement money who have come as a last resort. Bill quickly adapts to his surroundings, but Penelope has difficulty coming to terms with the destruction of all her dreams. While it may appear Penelope gets the short end of the stick in this movie by playing “the bad girl”, the more times you watch the movie, you realize she’s not the villainess at all! My heart goes out to her in every scene. Her nuanced performance makes the role so much more than it could have been.
Judi Dench is a naïve widow who not only has to forge ahead without her husband but has to learn to survive on her own for the first time. In India, she gets her first job! Tom Wilkinson is a respectable judge, the only one of the bunch who’s been to India before. He has personal reasons for returning. Maggie Smith has been sent, against her will, for a hip replacement surgery, and she’s not happy to be surrounded by people who look different. But when you finally hear her life story, your heart goes out to her, too. Celia Imrie (also known as the “bigger buns lady” from Calendar Girls) and Ronald Pickup are players who don’t let a little change of scenery stop their quest for romance. They get to rattle off the funniest line in the whole movie, a caution of sleeping with someone when they’re old.
No matter how many times I watch it, my heart jumps a little during the scene at the airport. All seven of them sit downs strangers, and I always feel a little jolt of magic knowing they’re about to join each other’s lives in remarkable ways. From, “This is the day!” to “Do you want me to not fix that chair?” this heartwarming movie is full of memorable moments. And best of all, it treats older folks just like the fictional hotel set out to do: with dignity and respect as full human beings who happen to have wrinkles and gray hair.
More Judi Dench movies here!
More Maggie Smith movies here!
In a heartwarming, funny, dramatic, hopeful, romantic leap of faith, five single strangers and one married couple decide to uproot their lives in England to live in a new hotel in India that respects the aging process. The brochure and online advertisements look lovely and send a message that they’re not getting at home: you can still have dignity and a full life in your sunset years! But when they get there, the grounds are crumbling, the rooms are unfinished, and the hotel manager (remember the kid from Slumdog Millionaire?) is a flaky wreck. But each person has traveled all that way for different reasons and they decide to stay for a little while longer. And as Dev Patel frequently reminds them, “Everything will be alright in the end. If it is not alright, it is not yet the end.” (My dad’s in love with that phrase, so I hear it much more often than just in the movie!)
Of the charming, varied residents, there are Bill Nighy and Penelope Wilton, a married couple without much retirement money who have come as a last resort. Bill quickly adapts to his surroundings, but Penelope has difficulty coming to terms with the destruction of all her dreams. While it may appear Penelope gets the short end of the stick in this movie by playing “the bad girl”, the more times you watch the movie, you realize she’s not the villainess at all! My heart goes out to her in every scene. Her nuanced performance makes the role so much more than it could have been.
Judi Dench is a naïve widow who not only has to forge ahead without her husband but has to learn to survive on her own for the first time. In India, she gets her first job! Tom Wilkinson is a respectable judge, the only one of the bunch who’s been to India before. He has personal reasons for returning. Maggie Smith has been sent, against her will, for a hip replacement surgery, and she’s not happy to be surrounded by people who look different. But when you finally hear her life story, your heart goes out to her, too. Celia Imrie (also known as the “bigger buns lady” from Calendar Girls) and Ronald Pickup are players who don’t let a little change of scenery stop their quest for romance. They get to rattle off the funniest line in the whole movie, a caution of sleeping with someone when they’re old.
No matter how many times I watch it, my heart jumps a little during the scene at the airport. All seven of them sit downs strangers, and I always feel a little jolt of magic knowing they’re about to join each other’s lives in remarkable ways. From, “This is the day!” to “Do you want me to not fix that chair?” this heartwarming movie is full of memorable moments. And best of all, it treats older folks just like the fictional hotel set out to do: with dignity and respect as full human beings who happen to have wrinkles and gray hair.
More Judi Dench movies here!
More Maggie Smith movies here!