Hmmm….. Somebody clearly thought this film was a good idea. Take eight top drawer actors and actresses (including stars like Judi Dench and Maggie Smith), make them show just how brilliant they are by giving them a pretty pedestrian plot reminiscent of the Carry On era, and set the whole thing in India. And it worked – at least, in the UK, from where most of this film’s gross earnings apparently came. The plot’s central device is the ‘outsourcing’ of ageing British singles and couples to a cheaper, but more anarchic and colourful, India. Cue an on form Dev Patel, hot from Slumdog Millionaire, as the eager young manager of the hotel in question, the Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. Why it should have been a surprise box-office hit in the UK is almost certainly down to the real star of the film: India, especially Rajasthan and Jaipur, and the magnificent swirl of colours and people and buildings. The Wiki entry cites one Liza Schwarzbaum of Entertainment Weekly, who opined that the film achieved what it set out to do: ‘Sell something safe and sweet, in a vivid foreign setting, to an under-served share of the moviegoing market.’ That just about summed it up for us on this, our last film evening before the return to the crush. And, if I may cite one of the better lines from the script, ‘when I want your opinion, I’ll give it to you.’
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