The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2012)
Directed by John Madden
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 as the residents find new purpose in their old age.
4 connections found
View:
4 connections, in both directions
What critics compared The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel to
Think Matt Damon in We Bought a Zoo, or Maggie Smith in The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel.
In the hands of a talented director, in this case John Madden (“The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel”), and a star capable of holding our attention, here Jessica Chastain, these films can be fun.
The problems here aren’t so much the fault of old hand director John Madden (“Shakespeare in Love,” “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel”), but of first-time screenwriter Jonathan Perera.
This is a darker, edgier film for director John Madden (Shakespeare in Love, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel).
Madden, who directed Shakespeare in Love , The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel and thriller The Debt , is a solid, practical storyteller.
Directed by handsome drama maestro John Madden (“Shakespeare in Love,” “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel”) and positioned as a cross between “Michael Clayton” and “All the President’s Men,” the movie features morally bankrupt D.C. power players and blackmail scenes set in shady parking garages, making inspired use of genre clichés even as it offers a relatively fresh look at one of the most manipulative forces on Capitol Hill today: the special-interest lobbyist.
Under the sure direction of Madden -- whose credits include "Shakespeare in Love," "Proof" and "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel" -- the entire cast ramps up their performances as well, including John Lithgow as the senator out to destroy Sloane, Jake Lacy as her country cornpone "escort," Michael Stuhlbarg as her fiercest enemy and Alison Pill as the one member of Sloane's team who opts to stay with the pro-gun lobby group.
In contrast to the clean, glossy personal journeys that we’re used to seeing characters take in movies like “Eat Pray Love” and “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel,” the trek that Cheryl Strayed (Reese Witherspoon) takes in “Wild” is messy, painful and achingly real.
Aiming to pull the audience that's grown too old for Harry Potter and Percy Jackson but not quite old enough for The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, the filmmakers begin with Richelle Mead's teen novel series about a secret school for the supernatural (sound familiar?).