The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

Saturday 12th April 2014

Director: John Madden
Year: 2011
Stars: Judi Dench, Bill Nighy, Dev Patel, Maggie Smith, Tom Wilkinson, Penelope Wilton, Ronald Pickup, Celia Imrie, Tena Desae

My second hotel-themed movie in as many days, this has a totally different air to it than The Grand Budapest Hotel. It tells the story of a group of British pensioners who, for one reason or another, end up choosing to move to The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel in India.

This film could have ended up being so many awful things. Stereotypical (of pensioners, of Indians, of racists...), disgustingly sweet and sugary, just downright awful... to its credit, it is none of those things. It is just a smart, funny, ultimately fairly wise movie about getting older.

The characters are a delight to watch, and the cast do a brilliant job. Bill Nighy, in particular, is impressive - I've never seen him act so well before. There's also a great plot, and you really care about what happens to everybody in this movie - even the ones you don't like. Absolutely worth a watch, you won't regret it.

Rating: 5 out of 5

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About Me

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I live in Bristol with my husband Dan (who I married in July 2007), my son Joe (born 2012) and daughter Jess (born 2015). I work at UWE (the University of the West of England) in Bristol as a Research and Open Access Librarian. I'm orginally from Exeter, so moving back to Bristol is a bit like coming home - especially as I studied for my undergraduate degree here (also at UWE). I love travelling and movies, although I get to do a lot less of both since the birth of our children. Although we have still managed to fit in holidays to the Isles of Scilly, Chamonix and a summer in California since Joe was born.