For the record, it's English. I was born in Tilbury, Essex, made temporarily 
American citizen?"
Hot on the heels of Salmon Fishing in the Yemen comes another likeable British comedy that may not have the big laughs but it’s overall winning nature warms you over, all the same.
Based on the novel These Foolish Things by Deborah Moggach, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel is about a group of Brit retirees who respond to a magazine ad inviting them to spend their latter days at an Indian hotel. The ad declares that the hotel is a “…luxury development for residents in their golden years,” but when they arrive, the group discovers the hotel to be somewhat less of a charmer than the newspaper ad suggested. How they cope with each other and their new surroundings makes up the bulk of the story.
It’s a great ensemble. Having actors like Maggie Smith, Judi Dench, Tom Wilkinson and Bill Nighy in the same film, all with equal screen time, is a pleasure. All characters, most of whom are unknown to each other until they meet up in India, have their individual stories and conflicts to overcome, some stories more intersting than others.
Judi Dench is Evelyn, a recently widowed housewife who sells everything to pay off her husband’s debts. With nothing to lose and a whole new life to gain, Evelyn takes the plunge and flies to India, though her initial response to such a new and exotic environment is somewhat less than enthusiastic. “If I can’t pronounce it,” she says when referring to what’s on the Indian menu, “I don’t want to eat it.”
Maggie Smith, the jewel of British film, theatre and more recently, TV, is Muriel, an ex-housekeeper who is suddenly unemployed after a lifelong service to one family. Muriel is quite simply a racist who is forced to fly to India in order for an emergency hip replacement. She doesn’t take to her new surroundings at all, but… well, it’s that kind of film; you know she’ll eventually warm to the cultural difference, though for someone who appears so initially unmoveable in her racism, her turnaround comes perhaps a little too abruptly.
Other stories involve Penelope Wilton and Bill Nighy as a married couple who may have lost all their savings and decide to gamble their future by moving to the Indian hotel, Tom Wilkinson as Graham, a high court judge who talks of retiring, then suddenly declares out of the blue, “Today’s the day,” and promptly leaves, and Ronald Pickup as Norman, a retiree looking for a fresh start as an elderly lothario while trying to overcome the notion that young women may no longer find him desirable. When Norman is prescribed his share of viagra by a local Indian doctor and finally gets a date that is a guaranteed sure thing, Celia Imrie as Madge asks if what he’s about to do at his age is such a good idea. “If she dies,” declares Norman, “She dies.”
There’s something warm and fuzzy about Marigold Hotel. The golden hued photography makes the appeal of the location look welcoming, like a vacation you wouldn’t mind experiencing yourself, plus, it’s fun to be in the company of some of these characters, if only for a couple of hours. The conclusions to each character’s story are all conveniently tidy, but, looking back, truth be told, I wouldn’t have wanted the film to end any other way.
