The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2011)

British retirees travel to India to take up residence in what they believe is a newly restored hotel. Less luxurious than its advertisements, the Marigold Hotel nevertheless slowly begins to charm in unexpected ways.

Director:

John Madden

Writers:

Ol Parker (screenplay), Deborah Moggach (novel)

Stars:

Judi Dench, Tom Wilkinson, Bill Nighy

Nominated for 2 Golden Globes. Another 16 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Judi Dench	...	Evelyn Greenslade
Tom Wilkinson	...	Graham Dashwood
Patrick Pearson	...	Graham's Colleague
Hugh Dickson	...	Judge
James Rawlings	...	Estate Agent
Bill Nighy	...	Douglas Ainslie
Penelope Wilton	...	Jean Ainslie
Maggie Smith	...	Muriel Donnelly
Liza Tarbuck	...	Staff Nurse
Paul Bhattacharjee	...	Dr. Ghujarapartidar
Lucy Robinson	...	Judith
Ronald Pickup	...	Norman Cousins
Celia Imrie	...	Madge Hardcastle
Simon Wilson	...	Madge's Son-in-Law
Sara Stewart	...	Madge's Daughter

Storyline

Seven elderly Britons, for a variety of reasons, respond to an online ad and travel to Jaipur, India, where they find run-down hotel with a young, exuberant, and optimistic host. Evelyn, newly widowed, wants low-cost experience, Graham seeks a long-ago love, Douglas and Jean have lost their pension in a family investment, Muriel needs cheap hip surgery, Madge seeks a rich husband, and Norman is chasing women. India affects each in different ways, enchanting Douglas and Evelyn while driving Jean deeper into bitterness. Their host, young Sonny, has dreams but little cash or skill; he also has a girlfriend whom his mother dismisses. Stories cross and discoveries await each one.

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Plot Keywords:

hotel | india | retiree | marigold | retirement | 

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for sexual content and language

Details

Official Sites:

Official site Official site [es]

Country:

UK USA United Arab Emirates

Language:

English Hindi

Release Date:

25 May 2012 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel for the Elderly & Beautiful

Filming Locations:

Stansted Airport, Essex, England, UK

Box Office

Budget:

$10,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$737,051 (USA) (4 May 2012)

Gross:

$46,377,022 (USA) (19 October 2012)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Participant Media, Imagenation Abu Dhabi FZ, Blueprint Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

124 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Peter O'Toole and Julie Christie were to play the parts of Norman and Madge but were later replaced by Ronald Pickup and Celia Imrie. Additionally director John Madden went on to say that Eileen Atkins and John Hurt were another two actors considered for parts.

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Goofs

When they arrive at the airport all the members of the group already have a heavy sun tan, even though they have only just arrived in India and they did not have these tans when they were in England.

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Quotes

Douglas Ainslie: I invested our, well, my retirement money in our daughter's Internet company. She assured me that as soon as the startup actually, um, started up and the conversion from virtual to actual became sufficiently viable, then she'd be able to pay it all back.
Evelyn: I'm not sure I understand what most of those words mean.
Douglas Ainslie: Well, it turns out neither did she.

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Connections

Featured in Bad Movie Beatdown: Review of 2012 (2013)

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Soundtracks

"Clara"
Written by Leo Nissim D'Apres (as Leo Nissim)
Courtesy of APM Music

User Reviews

Very pleasant throughout, but as good as what you'd expect from such a cast

Marigold Hotel was overall a very pleasant film with a distinct feel-good factor - helped by the vibrancy of the Indian setting. Judi Dench is excellent as always, and Bill Nighy really captures the child within for this film. In fact, all of the cast were superb, although Dev Patel suffered from a little overacting! The plot is more like a moral, and explores a 'young at heart' theme throughout. I think the vision of the film is somewhat confused at times. It seems to shift from a full-on comedy to a film about ageism, and it doesn't flow as well as one would hope. Also, Maggie Smith's character (although superbly played) is a slightly far fetched transformation, so I would have liked to see more focus on her throughout the film. Overall though, a nice, entertaining piece of work. Perhaps not as good as you would expect from such a star-studded cast, but nevertheless, very entertaining!