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88We suspect that the film will be about their various problems and that the hotel will not be as advertised. What we may not expect is what a charming, funny and heartwarming movie this is, a smoothly crafted entertainment that makes good use of seven superb veterans.
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83The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel is an ersatz experience, a commingling of forced uplift and exotica, but it's moving anyway.
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83Director John Madden and an ensemble of polished actors in their second primes make this a constant amusement and a nice alternative at the movies.
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80Charming, delightful and amusing - just what you'd expect from the star-studded cast of veterans.
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75Lacking beef or sufficient spice, it's nonetheless colorful comfort food.
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75Graham is the most affecting character by far, having returned to India for the first time in 40 years to track down an old lover. His story unfolds in surprising, deftly handled ways, and could easily have justified a film of its own.
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75As for the Marigold Hotel, well, it's not the Delano. But overall it's a fine spot to spend a couple of hours.
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May 4, 201275The film is, underneath its surface of warm fuzzies, a precision instrument aimed directly at the heart of its intended, underserved older audience.
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75A refreshing, mature fairy tale.
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75A rare reminder from movies that the grand emotions are not only for the young and the middle-aged. They're the sweetness and torment of life until the last light goes out.
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75The attitudes evinced by most of the characters, and the movie itself, are those of the admiring tourist, and as two-hour tours go, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel goes smoothly.
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70It's a sweet-tempered folly in which all's well that ends well.
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70This leisurely paced two-hour movie is a reasonably tasty banquet for the same Anglophiles who embrace "Downton Abbey."
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70It all makes for a movie whose infectious charm outweighs some of the predictability that slips in around the edges.
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70So no points for originality. Madden tries to make up for this with sheer British acting personality and nearly succeeds.
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70The plot twists are about as venerable as the cast and predictably affecting when performed with such old-hand proficiency.
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70Judi Dench is especially good; playing a vulnerable character, for a change, she allows her habitual toughness to give way to uncertainty, fear, and moments of gathering resolve, and she delivers one of her most wide-ranging and moving performances. [7 May 2012, p. 81]
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Apr 28, 201270Even at its most predictable, the winning characterizations and soulful insights into aging keep the handsome film on a warmly satisfying track.
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70The powerhouse cast is so capable, the actors just about manage to play the picture as if it were a "Midsummer Night's Dream"-style frothy farce, with marigold garlands and picturesque poverty.
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67Mostly The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel stays focused on the cutesy, low-stakes personal journeys of its English characters, characters it would be hard to care about if they weren't brought to life by actors who give the film substance and gravity it doesn't otherwise know how to earn.
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67Marigold Hotel achieves what it sets out to do: Sell something safe and sweet, in a vivid foreign setting, to an underserved share of the moviegoing market.
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63So it's a shame that in the end Madden can't keep the tear-jerking from drowning this delicate cinematic flower. The book knew how to hang tough. The movie, not so much.
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63Wilkinson's reflective and regretful searcher, burdened by secrets, is also touching, as are Dench and Nighy's creations, so it's easy to cheer them on as they inch toward revelations and rebirth.
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63A little youth is injected via "Slumdog Millionaire's" Dev Patel and Tena Desae, but they are supporting players. Still, as one might expect from a group of actors in this age range, the performances are impeccable. Experience does count.
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May 2, 201263The film is home to some unique redeeming factors, but it panders to viewers by diluting its lesson, which teaches that some comfort zones can only be truly abandoned on the other side of the world.
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60An uplifting and colorful crowd-pleaser, it's built on a wealth of cinematic contrivances -- all designed to make sure things, indeed, turn out all right in the end -- but the result is just too good-natured to begrudge.
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May 11, 201260For all its calculation and manipulation, there's a very human movie somewhere within Marigold Hotel. You might just have to wade through a thousand clichés to get to it.
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50Filled with some marvelous dialog and quips delivered by some of the best in the business. There are worse ways to while away the time.
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50Unfortunately, the script, based on Deborah Moggach's 2004 novel "These Foolish Things," might better be described as pure British stodge: high-starch English comfort food of more sentimental than nutritional value.
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50It's predictable fluff, sometimes pleasantly so, at others times irritatingly.
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40It's a shame, of course, that Madden brought the best to such an exotic Top locale without making the most of the opportunity.
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40Madden pads the film with shimmering images of Jaipur and its surroundings; a midmovie funeral sequence - 'cause somebody's got to kick the bucket! - even manages to be somewhat evocative and moving. The rest makes you long for senility to set in, but quick.
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40It is oddly like an Agatha Christie thriller with all the pasteboard characters, 2D backstories and foreign locale, but no murder.
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Apr 28, 201240The pleasure of seeing a supergroup of Brit-veterans soon withers in an OAP comedy that plumps for light laughs over deeper insights.
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38A blandly middling crowd pleaser.