Maggie SmithThe Best Exotic Marigold Hotel [Blu-ray]

I like this movie. I've seen it before. I wanted to watch it again before I watched the sequel.

A nice nonviolent story that revolves around average people's lives as they face age issues and the complications of moving to India from their original home countries in Europe and Asia. Great plot, great script.

After seeing the film the week of its release, I waited for  The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel  to become available on DVD, and had to place an order for this true gem. My immediate reaction had been that this is a movie that I wanted to see over and again, if just for the pure pleasure in seeing people who can prove that it's good to be over sixty and be able to explore new horizons. For me, this is unquestionably one of the best movies of the year.Director John Madden's comedy about English retirees in India is a fascinating mix of both the familiar and the exotic. Ol Parker's screenplay is an adaptation from British author Deborah Moggach's book  These Foolish Things  (2004), and the casting is true perfection. It begins in the UK with brief sketches of seven British senior citizens, which sets the stage.We find Evelyn Greenslade (Judi Dench) on the phone in her London flat, trying to communicate with a robotic operator at an Indian call center. She's a recent widow and is forced to sell her home after learning that her deceased husband had misused their life savings. It's Evelyn's blog entries, read aloud as narrative, that set the film's timeline.There's Muriel Donnelly (Maggie Smith), a xenophobic, crabby shrew, a never-married retired housekeeper bound to her wheelchair. She needs a hip replacement, and makes the trip because in India the surgery will be cheaper and doesn't require a month long wait. Douglas and Jean Ainslie (Bill Nighy and Penelope Wilton) are an argumentative couple that sank their nest egg into their daughter's failing start-up company.Madge Hardcastle (Celia Imrie) and Norman Cousins (Ronald Pickup) are two singles looking for a change from the older British dating scene. Graham Dashwood (Tom Wilkinson) is a retired judge with a guilty past who grew up in Jaipur, and is returning there for the first time since his youth.All seven are drawn to "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel for the elderly and beautiful" in Jaipur, India, based on an advertisement inspired more by the proprietors' hopes than on reality. The seven seniors travel to India, and as we find out, the hotel is anything but the Best or Exotic.It's here at the Marigold Hotel that they meet their host, Sonny Kapoor (Dev Patel), a naïve, completely disorganized yet highly enthusiastic young man. Must admit that I had to stifle my laughter in the theater and again when viewing the DVD, watching Sonny trying to explain to his guests that the hotel has no working telephones and that some rooms are without doors, something that had been neglected ahead of time. He is the film's comic lead, and his often-hyperactive performance often borders on pure slapstick. His exclamation was perfect:"Everything will be all right in the end... if it's not all right then it's not the end."Sonny is under extreme pressure from his arrogant, domineering mother to give up the hotel as a lost cause and go along with an arranged marriage in Delhi. But complicating matters, Sonny is in love with Sunaina (Tena Desae), a call center worker. It gets interesting (and a bit ironic) when Evelyn takes a job in the call center instructing the workers how to speak to British people on the phone... classic Judi Dench.Watching Muriel's gradual transformation from a racist and crabby shrew to a caring and sensitive woman may have stretched credibility a bit. But considering the never-married housekeeper background of her character, it's something that few besides Maggie Smith could pull off so well.The overall plot is beautifully interwoven with the subplots, and viewers will be treated to some mild surprises. Without dropping any spoilers, watch for Douglas (Bill Nighy) having a blast exploring the nearby temples and such, yet that does have its results with his wife. The antics of Madge (Celia Imrie) and Norman (Ronald Pickup) in their quests for romance are hilarious in parts. Graham (Tom Wilkinson) offers a touching performance on many levels as he proceeds with his personal quest.If there was any disappointment at all for this viewer, it was the hope that somewhere and at some point, Bill Nighy would break out of playing his role as a browbeaten husband and burst into that mad aging rocker that he did to well in  Love Actually , but we can't have everything. The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel  is lively, irreverent and enjoyable when Maggie Smith and Penelope Wilton are doing their crabby senior citizen performances. It produces some real laughs and offers truly brilliant performances from a highly experienced cast. Peppered with its pungent illustration of Jaipur's jam-packed streets and the rest of the scenery, it's a heartwarming, captivating and even inspiring leisurely paced comedy. Its optimism and claim that it's never too late to leave your comfort zone and explore new horizons makes it a joy for all except diehard gerontophobics.9/24/2012

LOVED THIS MOVIE AND ITS FOLLOE UP MOVIE.

Good movie, engaging, funny and interesting. Takes the viewer on an adventure in India through the lens and point of view of each character in a way that really makes you think about how one reacts to new and/or very different cultures. Gave me a new awareness of how easily one can go into a new situation or place where we have already tacked up pre-set expectations for how things will be or should go, and perhaps even have let cutlural stereotypes creep in regarding a culture or its people.Watching this film made me think about these things. As I saw some of the characters begin their experience, entering into India and its cuture, but these ladies in particular were coming in already weighed down by their own sets of expectations and others bulging with stereotypes about India itself, its people, its food, and even their accomodations. In one case the character was just plain racist to begin with! But observing them all from day 1 til the end of the film, during their experiences in India and at the Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, it was a great study in human adapability. Some were bogged down at first and disappointed that what they had imagined the experience would be like was definitely not what they got....pre set expectations ripped away. And while some of them adapted, let go of those expectations, stopped trying to make new ones, dropped the sterotypes, and in one character's case, finally dropped those negative racist ideas about India and its people. It was only then, when those characters dropped all that baggage, left it behind and just embraced the adventure, that they began to truly see and experience India, it's culture, it's people, its customs. For those charcters in the film who let go and actually wanted to experience the real India, they found it a place of dazzling beauty, bursting with bright colors, many new and interesting places and things to be explored and experienced. They found a country full of amazing people and realized those sterotypes served no purpose other than to cause hurt and were happily discarded.The one character who never made any efforts to embrace the adventure, see the culture, meet new people or try new things and carried her baggage and negativity the whole time. ...she was the only one who was miserable.I think it was smart to showcase that contrast in the film, it really drove the message home, and also added extra layers to the plot. By watching her stay negative, complain constantly, refuse to try anything and miss out on the entire experience...caused her to be the only one who wasn't changed for the better. In sharp contrast however, her husband did tbe opposite. He got out there and experienced everything he could, tried to squeeze every drop out of his daily experiences....and you could see it change him, he come into the man he wanted to be. And in the end, his wife was the one that set him free, finally getting honest that neither had been happy in a long time and their marriage was a shell. She set him free, because by her leaving him there in India and telling him it's over, he didn't have to do what I think he would have done otherwise out of loyalty...tried to stick it out with her. So they both got what they wanted, and perhaps needed, in the end.The overall point is to just jump in, experience it all eyes open. Embrace the spontaneous, roll with it when things don't turn out exactly as planned, get out there, see new places, immerse yourself in new cultures, see what this world has to offer. We have such a small drop of a lifetime compared to eternity. Let's use what we have to explore, to find joy, to experience the new, the unknown and the known. To seek personal growth through learning new things, meeting new people, helping others, seeking the beauty in the world, both in the big things and the small. And don't forget to laugh and not take everything too seriously!

Definitely worth watching!

Have me very good ideas and a push to go go and do things!!!

We absolutely loved this upbeat but at times also reflective film. We aren't the age that the characters in the film are, but one day we will be. And it was inspiring to see old people go on an adventure, but also a prompt for thought that in older age one's options might be reduced in alignment with one's financial status. India seems like a great idea. We have visited India several times so we know what the copromises might be but also what the gains would be. Anyway: Watch this film and be inspired and have a laugh and maybe a little cry. Let the daydreams begin.p.s. Great acting all around. The actors are just fabulous.

Ok

Consigliato da un amico, anche se non è il mio genere, sono rimasto sorpreso dalla bellezza e delicatezza di questo film che affronta le tematiche delle persone anziane rimaste sole, che volano in India per la promessa di una vecchiaia migliore, e lo affronta con sentimento e un tocco di ironia, con grandi attori sempre all'altezza (Judi Dench, Bill Nighy, Tom Wilkinson, Maggie smith e l'attore rivrelazione indiano Dev patel). Non vedo l'ora di vedere "Ritorno al Marigold Hotel"!

Very entertaining. But does not follow the book story over well.

If you love India or are interested in India, see this. If you don't know about India, see it. An amazing comedy-drama with some of Britain's greatest actors. It's a film that improves with multiple viewings.

N/A