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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

to think that The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel might be a cliched and patronising depiction of both India and getting older?

30 replies

highlandcoo · 02/03/2012 18:58

I'm going to see the film on Sunday and I hope I'm wrong. I read a lot of fiction set in the Indian sub-continent and hope to travel there one day, so happy to give the film a chance but not feeling all that hopeful having seen the trailer.
Has anyone seen it and is it better than I'm expecting?

OP posts:
DogsLoveMeCosImCrazySniffable · 02/03/2012 19:00

Unfortunately it is as cliched and patronising as you fear.

was not my choice to go

Portofino · 02/03/2012 19:01

MmeLindor mentioned on FB that it was good. I would give it a go. I have to admit, I am expecting one of the Merchant&Ivory type, beautifully shot things....

highlandcoo · 02/03/2012 19:09

Well, I've bought the ticket so I'm going. At worst I'll be able to look at places I hope to visit one day.
I did think some of the lines featured in the trailer were pretty lame; Bill Nighy describing India as "like the Costa Brava .. but with more elephants" and Maggie Smith : "If I can't pronounce it I don't want to eat it." Not funny, not insightful and I would have expected better from them really ..

OP posts:
Rogerbacon · 02/03/2012 19:23

Calm down dears Its only a film

DilysPrice · 02/03/2012 19:25

Mark Kermode liked it. (liked not loved)

oranges · 02/03/2012 19:26

Yes Roger, and this thread is a discussion about the film. Do keep up. Dear.

nkf · 02/03/2012 19:26

It looks pretty banal to me.

Rogerbacon · 02/03/2012 19:27

Oranges

I am sorry I thought it was a thread about vanishing hedgerows and the use of pesticides

JeelyPiece · 02/03/2012 19:28

The adverts on buses have been getting on my wick, with Bill Nighy doing what can only be described as his Bill Nighy face, a kind of Blue Steel for the Saga generation.

Mrsrobertduvall · 02/03/2012 19:33

Doesn't appeal to me.
Have seem many previews.

lurkerspeaks · 02/03/2012 19:50

I've seen it. I enjoyed it - it isn't a massively serious film but a pleasant way to spend an evening.

The cinematography is good.

Mandy2003 · 02/03/2012 19:57

My friend (aged 84!) said that it was a perfect vehicle, non-challenging to them, for all the top rated actors. Exactly as it says on the tin, apparently. "Definitely a film for the over-50s" she said!

kumquatsarethelonelyfruit · 02/03/2012 20:28

I saw it. It is 'lovely' in the same way as a nice relaxing bath. If that's what you want, go for it. I was really stressed out when I went to see it so it was exactly what I needed. It is not intellectual, definitely cliched but also 'nice'.

julienoshoes · 02/03/2012 20:54

I saw it with my Dh. It was just what we needed this week.
Enjoyable amusing and comforting.

SydSaid · 02/03/2012 21:10

highlandcoo - interesting that you don't think much of the lines on the trailer. I haven't seen the film, but I thought it was a good way of showing the attitude of the people going there - fairly ignorant and not aware of what they are letting themselves in for.

Of course my interpretation could be wrong, as I haven't seen the film.

IUseTooMuchKitchenRoll · 02/03/2012 21:17

I've seen a few fb comments saying that it's good.

I wouldn't take it too seriously, its just a bit of light entertainment that's easy to watch. I hardly ever want to go to the cinema because I find most films too long and boring, but I quite fancy this one.

cardibach · 02/03/2012 21:54

I really enjoyed it. As did DD, 16. It isn;t hugely challenging, but it is both funny and sad and ultimately a 'feelgood film'. It made me want to go to India even more than I already did (quite a lot).

Parker231 · 02/03/2012 22:01

We went to see it last night. Not much of a story line but a great cast and lots of laughs ! A good evening out !

moonface73 · 02/03/2012 22:31

I've just read the book and loved it - not sure if the film is telling the same story tho!

HardCheese · 03/03/2012 05:58

I saw it last week (free tickets), though have never read the Deborah Moggach novel it's based on. Great cast, obviously (especially Maggie Smith, for once playing a working-class racist, and Tom Wilkinson, who is good in almost anything, no matter how dubious) though they're all phoning in performances, and there are so many main characters, no one gets much screen time. Nice to look at, and perfectly pleasant in many ways, but also tiresomely clichéd (imagine every stock Western take on India in film form and it's in there - poverty, sunsets, temple processions involving elephants, the Kama Sutra, beaming kids playing cricket) and patronising (Dev Patel playing a stereotype).

The other odd thing is that although the scenario has a bunch of people who are supposed to be elderly coming to live in a cheap Indian retirement home because of poverty/loneliness in the UK, some of the cast are visibly in their very early sixties, some way off retirement, and all are in very good nick. Bill Nighy is about sixty odd, so it's very weird to see him and Penelope Wilton being shown around a retirement flat with the estate agent pointing out panic buttons and balance rails around the walls!

Having said that, it was considerably more enjoyable than the turgid A Dangerous Method, which was woeful.

SydSaid · 03/03/2012 07:04

Know people that have retired in their 50's, one of which retired at the end of last year. A wan I know is retiring soon at bang on 60.

It's far from unusual.

SydSaid · 03/03/2012 07:05

Woman, now wan. Autocorrect strikes again!

limitedperiodonly · 03/03/2012 08:42

"a pleasant way to spend an evening."

This is the kind of thing they should put on film posters lurker. Then I wouldn't feel constantly cheated.

jeely Grin

JWIM · 03/03/2012 13:37

DH and I saw it last week. Would agree it was a pleasant evening out, some funny lines, not a challenge. Yes, a bit cliched.

CrockoDuck · 03/03/2012 15:15

Mark Kermode liked it, and that's usually a pretty good sign.

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