British retirees travel to India to take up residence in what they believe is a newly restored hotel. Less luxurious than advertised, the Marigold Hotel nevertheless slowly begins to charm in unexpected ways.
Director: John Madden
Stars: Judi Dench, Bill Nighy, Maggie Smith, Tom Wilkinson, Dev Patel, Tina Desai.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1412386/
disc just arrived; ordered because I liked the sequel well enough that I thought I should see the original.
The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2015), 6 {nm}
I watched it on a small (12") screen, so perhaps I'm missing some visual splendor. But this had no wedding, so I don't think I missed much.
The characters are largely the same as in Second, with 1 who died during this script ("replaced" by R.Gere). But this doesn't have the hijinks of the wedding prep, and focuses much more on the elder cast, some of whom are unhappy and adjusting badly.
DP is again a delight, and his intended TD is a beauty who can act.
Had I seen this one first, I probably wouldn't have gone for the Second, which would have been a shame.
Rated 7.3 (85,042)
Fox, dir. Madden; 6-
