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Tom Wilkinson, Maggie Smith, Judi Dench, Bill Nighy, Dev Patel ... see more see more... , Celia Imrie , Penelope Wilton , Patrick Pearson , Hugh Dickson , James Rawlings , Liza Tarbuck , Paul Bhattacharjee , Lucy Robinson , Ronald Pickup , Simon Wilson , Sara Stewart , Ramona Marquez , Raoul Marquez , Glen Davies , Jay Villiers , Paul Bentall , Louise Brealey , Catherine Terris , Richard Cubison , Josh Cohen , Joshua Cole , Bhuvanesh Shetty , Honey Chhaya , Shubhrajyoti Barat , Narendra Kumar Ahmed , Hem Acharya , Kailash Vijay , Tena Desae , Sid Makkar , Seema Azmi , Vishnu Sharma , Lillete Dubey , Denzil Smith , Jagdish A. Sharma , Sandeep Lele , Diana Hardcastle , Neeraj Kadela , S.N. Purohit , Shiv Palawat , Mahesh Udeshi , Neena Kulkarni , Rajendra Gupta , Gagan Mishra , A.R. Rama

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 rest... read more read more...ored 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 you let go of the past. -- (C) Fox Searchlight

Flixster Users

84% liked it

28,469 ratings

Critics

76% liked it

128 critics

PG-13, 2 hr. 3 min.

Directed by: John Madden

Release Date: May 4, 2012

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Stats: 1,203 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (1,203)

  • hunterjt13
    May 27, 2012
    hunterjt13
    Seven seniors retreat to a shady hotel in India.
    In this ensemble drama -- a British senior's version of The Big Chill -- strong performances by almost everyone in the cast (especially Tom Wilkinson, Judi Dench, and Bill Nighy) carry this film. The acting is pitch perfect... read more in almost every scene, and it's a pity that the story construction isn't stronger. The script is intelligently written, filled with some funny moments and great lines like "The only real failure is the failure to try, and success is measured by how we cope with disappointment," but it's like The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel bit off more than it could chew. With so many characters -- very few of them flat -- there were missed set-ups like Jean's attraction to Graham and the fading of Muriel prejudice.
    Overall, what remains of this film is good, but the missed opportunities make it even more disheartening that the film wasn't better.
  • bathshebamonk
    May 20, 2012
    bathshebamonk
    A taste of India delivered by an all-star cast. The story lines intersected nicely and surprisingly at times--Tim Wilkinson, an English judge--turns out to be a man who has spent his entire life in love with his teen sweetheart and returns to India to find him, only to find him ... read morehappily married and Judi Dench plays the recent widow who must ask the judge's lover wife if she knew (she did) and thereby confirm her feelings that in a marriage there are no secrets and her husband had plenty from her....Maggie Smith played the sour ex-housekeeper who refinds her humanity and purpose when confronted with the non-judgement of her untouchable maid--and so on. Beautifully made and realistically rendered.
  • hobster1
    May 18, 2012
    hobster1
    Critiquing this tale is like finding fault in a clown's circus act. It means well. It only seeks to inspire warm fuzzies and to an extent, it succeeds. Unfortunately the promise of these Brits' self discovery never met my expectations. The script simply isn't as good as the cast.... read more Each time some minor conflict arises and we're given actual drama, the conflict is oversimplified and quickly resolved. I wont spoil the details of the trajectories of the various characters. But have no fear! All potential conflicts are consistently addressed one after the other in routine fashion sometimes within the very same scene. The plot predictably limps along to an insipid conclusion.

    If one is willing to put up with stereotypes and clichéd events, then there is some enjoyment to be had in The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. That cast goes a long way in making this much better than it should have been. However if you demand a bit more from your comfort food entertainment, you just might find yourself struggling to stay awake.
  • fb1672039553
    May 11, 2012
    fb1672039553
    With the help of a stellar cast, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel impressively manages to make all 10 main characters enchanting in their own way. This is just a cute and wholesome film that doesn't take itself as seriously as say, "Eat, Pray, Love," despite that there are many ser... read moreious moments.
  • thmtsang
    April 22, 2012
    thmtsang
    Sweet movie about a hotelier in India who advertises and attracts patrons - the elderly and the beautiful. Funny, heart warming movie. Great cast.
  • c0up
    April 7, 2012
    c0up
    'The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel'. The most charming ensemble cast of the year, and the colour, chaos and joy of India captured!

    I've never liked Bill Nighy as much as I did in this, and the score worked particularly well.
  • scottgreen96
    March 25, 2012
    scottgreen96
    Suffers from a predictable storyline yet is cured by it's wonderful heart-warming actors. The british cast do a brilliant job, and show the world how we can act.
  • panta2
    May 26, 2012
    panta2
    A delightfully sweet British comedy-drama directed by John Madden and written by Ol Parker will make laugh while enjoying the colourful settings in India. Based on the 2004 novel, These Foolish Things, by Deborah Moggach, the film features an extraordinary ensemble cast, with Ju... read moredi Dench, Dev Patel, Celia Imrie, Bill Nighy, Ronald Pickup, Maggie Smith, Tom Wilkinson and Penelope Wilton, as a group of British retirees staying in an ancient retirement hotel in Jaipur.

    The whole story was introduced by advertisements about the newly restored Marigold Hotel and given false dreams of a life of leisure. Of course, when they arrive at the hotel, they discover that the new environment is less luxurious than imagined... but that is where the real story starts while we are following the retirees in their profound transformation by their subsequent experiences. The amazing variety of characters adds to the colourful atmosphere: we have Evelyn (Judi Dench) a recently-widowed housewife forced to sell her home due to huge debts, Graham (Tom Wilkinson), a gay high court judge who was raised in India, Jean (Penelope Wilton) and Douglas (Bill Nighy), a retired couple who lost their life savings after Douglas invested them in their daughter's internet start-up, Muriel (Maggie Smith) a retired housekeeper traveling to India for an inexpensive hip replacement, Madge (Celia Imrie), a wealthy woman looking for (another) husband, and Norman (Ronald Pickup), an aging Lothario still on the make for one-night stands! Of course with such characters, I have to admit not always fully developed, (light) fun is almost guaranteed!

    The film was released in England on February 24, 2012, and in the United States and Canada on May 4, 2012. The film was also released in France on May 9, 2012 with the title Indian Palace. If it's in the cinema near you, I'll suggest it to check it out. It is not something which will become a classic but it is still a comedy with positive attitude towards difficulties in life - and all of us could learn a little bit more how to handle those situations - why not trying to do it with laughs!
  • fb504685235
    May 24, 2012
    fb504685235
    I was feeling so bored that I went out to watch, "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel" (for the elderly and beautiful) which has been passed on to Sonny (Patel Dev) by his grandparents. So a couple of English tourists each having his own agenda which is revealed as the film goes by,... read more decide to come to India. They specifically say "England" and not London! So Mr. Dashwood (Tom Wilkinson) was born in pre-independence India and a liaison with an Indian Servant' Son played brilliantly Rajendra Gupta (can't recall any other film by him at this moment). So in his words, he is Gay (in theory and not in practice) has this guilt in his heart that he had given him a bad name before his family left for England, so he comes back to India in search of "Manoj" who is now married to "Gaurika" and he realizes that Manoj has not kept anything secretive between the two and finds out thats how a marriage should be and then he dies peacefully!
    Now comes Mrs. Greenslade (Judi Dench), her voice is played in the background as show does on describing in her "Blog" eventually she and Douglas became a pair once his wife leaves him for home as she can't adjust to India!!!!
    Enough of spoilers, the Indian cast was brilliant, Denzil Smith, I had personally met him once, when he said he was stage actor, nice to see him acting on screen (he plays the club manager). L. Dubey is nice mixture of beauty and acting, wish she was younger, Dev Patel is over the top with his acting as Sonny Kapoor. Tena Desae looks really pretty in her Curls, she is pretty okay, as I thing this was the first-movie I saw of her, and she has a great body too. I saw her picture in DNA with straightened hair and I think Curls suit her! The movie contains all things West associates with India - beggars, filth, Kama-sutra which Ronald reads rather curiously then he uses "Aspirin" instead of "Viagara", call-centers (recently), traffic, and also haggling with street-vendors.
    But in the end, everyone is happy as Sonny put's it, it isn't the end, if it isn't happy ending...something like that I am not too sure!
  • johncasey654
    May 4, 2012
    johncasey654
    The cream of mature English actors come together to spin a marvelous tale of life in retirement in India. How refreshing it is to watch a movie that featured people way over 30 years old (yes they have meaningful lives that need to be told). They are the most neglected by Hollywo... read moreod as a rule...old people movies equals box-office poison sad to say. All the players were superb but Bill Nighy stood out...what a wonderful actor. (4-26-12)

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Critic Reviews

Tom Long
May 11, 2012
Tom Long, Detroit News

Basically, 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. Full Review

Rafer Guzman
May 11, 2012
Rafer Guzman, Newsday

The movie itself is a mawkish comedy-drama-romance, but the astounding cast makes it feel like a night on the West End. Full Review

William Goss
May 10, 2012
William Goss, Film.com

The old pros elevate Hotel's otherwise pat screenplay into that sweet spot where predictability fails to negate pleasure. Full Review

Joe Morgenstern
May 5, 2012
Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal

They're stuck with a script, by Ol Parker, that's stuffed with contrivance and cliché, and doggedly repetitive as it tracks its characters' efforts to find new love and adapt to new surroundings. Full Review

J. R. Jones
May 4, 2012
J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader

The witty script, Eastern locale, and tony cast may summon up memories of the old Merchant-Ivory films. Full Review

Peter Rainer
May 4, 2012
Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel is an ersatz experience, a commingling of forced uplift and exotica, but it's moving anyway. Full Review

Mary F. Pols
May 4, 2012
Mary F. Pols, TIME Magazine

There are brutal truths about the declining years in Best Exotic, from loneliness to financial woes that can't be solved by getting a new job, but they are amply padded with comedy and cheery messages... Full Review

Stephen Whitty
May 4, 2012
Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger

It's hard to complain too much when your leads are Dench and Smith, Nighy and Wilkinson - all giving an actor's master class in the power of doing just enough. Full Review

Claudia Puig
May 4, 2012
Claudia Puig, USA Today

A refreshing, mature fairy tale with a top-notch ensemble cast. Full Review

Liam Lacey
May 4, 2012
Liam Lacey, Globe and Mail

With its stereotypical characters and creaky plot turns, this passage to India feels even longer than its running time. Full Review

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Facts

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    • Graham Dashwood: I'm gay. Well really more in theory than in practice.
    • Madge Hardcastle: I am single by choice. And I hate this choice.
    • Sonny Kapoor: Everything will be alright in the end, and if it is not alright, it is not the end.
    • Jean Ainslie: When I want your opinion I'll give it to you!
    • Sonny Kapoor: I have a dream Mommy. To create a home for the elderly, so wonderful that they will simply refuse to die.
    • Evelyn Greenslade: If I can't pronounce it, I don't want to eat it.
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