The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

This British ensemble story might have worked well as a novel and could have probably been a good BBC mini-series, but as a film it far too slight and its themes just hang there. Although the cast features the regalist of old English acting royalty, each storyline is relegated to about twenty minutes of screen time, which is not long enough for most films to establish credible characters and develop engaging stories about them. The early shot of the cast all together at the airport tells you all you need to know about this movie--it has too many main characters for a feature film to support and the narrative jam-packing will prevent any real comedy or drama from developing, 

The briefest storyline, Tom Wilkinson’s attempt to reconnect with a childhood friend, is the most effective, as the emotions conveyed in this simple narrative don't require a lot of screen time and could be well captured in a few lines of poetry. The weakest storyline, Bill Nighy and Penelope Willton’s troubled marriage, is more indicative of the rest of the picture--forced and false. The decline of a relationship is the type of subject that requires ample time to explore if we are to see the characters as three-dimensional human beings and understand their motivations and actions. Here we just get types of people rather than fleshed-out characters, and as a result none of their actions feel authentic. On top of that, the ending is wholly unsatisfying. Perhaps director John Madden is going for a Shakespearian deus ex machina with Maggie Smith sorting things out like a Queen or a God in the final moments, but that’s something you really need to earn in a story like this. The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel doesn’t earn the right to be called "The Best" anything.