The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
Fox Searchlight Pictures | Release Date: May 4, 2012 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
62
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 35 Critic Reviews
Positive:
25
Mixed:
9
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
88
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertMay 2, 2012
We suspect that the film will be about their various problems and that the hotel will not be as advertised. What we may not expect is what a charming, funny and heartwarming movie this is, a smoothly crafted entertainment that makes good use of seven superb veterans. Read full review
83
Christian Science MonitorPeter RainerMay 4, 2012
The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel is an ersatz experience, a commingling of forced uplift and exotica, but it's moving anyway. Read full review
83
Tampa Bay TimesSteve PersallMay 2, 2012
Director John Madden and an ensemble of polished actors in their second primes make this a constant amusement and a nice alternative at the movies. Read full review
80
EmpireAnna SmithApr 28, 2012
Charming, delightful and amusing - just what you'd expect from the star-studded cast of veterans. Read full review
75
St. Louis Post-DispatchJoe WilliamsMay 11, 2012
Lacking beef or sufficient spice, it's nonetheless colorful comfort food. Read full review
75
Portland OregonianMarc MohanMay 10, 2012
Graham is the most affecting character by far, having returned to India for the first time in 40 years to track down an old lover. His story unfolds in surprising, deftly handled ways, and could easily have justified a film of its own. Read full review
75
Miami HeraldConnie OgleMay 10, 2012
As for the Marigold Hotel, well, it's not the Delano. But overall it's a fine spot to spend a couple of hours. Read full review
75
MovielineAlison WillmoreMay 4, 2012
The film is, underneath its surface of warm fuzzies, a precision instrument aimed directly at the heart of its intended, underserved older audience. Read full review
75
USA TodayClaudia PuigMay 3, 2012
A refreshing, mature fairy tale. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleMay 3, 2012
A rare reminder from movies that the grand emotions are not only for the young and the middle-aged. They're the sweetness and torment of life until the last light goes out. Read full review
75
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsMay 3, 2012
The attitudes evinced by most of the characters, and the movie itself, are those of the admiring tourist, and as two-hour tours go, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel goes smoothly. Read full review
70
NPRElla TaylorMay 8, 2012
It's a sweet-tempered folly in which all's well that ends well. Read full review
70
The New York TimesStephen HoldenMay 3, 2012
This leisurely paced two-hour movie is a reasonably tasty banquet for the same Anglophiles who embrace "Downton Abbey." Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesBetsy SharkeyMay 3, 2012
It all makes for a movie whose infectious charm outweighs some of the predictability that slips in around the edges. Read full review
70
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzMay 3, 2012
So no points for originality. Madden tries to make up for this with sheer British acting personality and nearly succeeds. Read full review
70
Village VoiceNick PinkertonMay 1, 2012
The plot twists are about as venerable as the cast and predictably affecting when performed with such old-hand proficiency. Read full review
70
The New YorkerDavid DenbyApr 30, 2012
Judi Dench is especially good; playing a vulnerable character, for a change, she allows her habitual toughness to give way to uncertainty, fear, and moments of gathering resolve, and she delivers one of her most wide-ranging and moving performances. [7 May 2012, p. 81]
70
The Hollywood ReporterDavid RooneyApr 28, 2012
Even at its most predictable, the winning characterizations and soulful insights into aging keep the handsome film on a warmly satisfying track. Read full review
70
VarietyLeslie FelperinApr 28, 2012
The powerhouse cast is so capable, the actors just about manage to play the picture as if it were a "Midsummer Night's Dream"-style frothy farce, with marigold garlands and picturesque poverty. Read full review
67
The A.V. ClubKeith PhippsMay 2, 2012
Mostly The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel stays focused on the cutesy, low-stakes personal journeys of its English characters, characters it would be hard to care about if they weren't brought to life by actors who give the film substance and gravity it doesn't otherwise know how to earn. Read full review
67
Entertainment WeeklyLisa SchwarzbaumMay 2, 2012
Marigold Hotel achieves what it sets out to do: Sell something safe and sweet, in a vivid foreign setting, to an underserved share of the moviegoing market. Read full review
63
Rolling StonePeter TraversMay 4, 2012
So it's a shame that in the end Madden can't keep the tear-jerking from drowning this delicate cinematic flower. The book knew how to hang tough. The movie, not so much. Read full review
63
New York PostKyle SmithMay 4, 2012
Wilkinson's reflective and regretful searcher, burdened by secrets, is also touching, as are Dench and Nighy's creations, so it's easy to cheer them on as they inch toward revelations and rebirth. Read full review
63
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliMay 3, 2012
A little youth is injected via "Slumdog Millionaire's" Dev Patel and Tena Desae, but they are supporting players. Still, as one might expect from a group of actors in this age range, the performances are impeccable. Experience does count. Read full review
63
Slant MagazineR. Kurt OsenlundMay 2, 2012
The film is home to some unique redeeming factors, but it panders to viewers by diluting its lesson, which teaches that some comfort zones can only be truly abandoned on the other side of the world. Read full review
60
New Orleans Times-PicayuneMike ScottMay 18, 2012
An uplifting and colorful crowd-pleaser, it's built on a wealth of cinematic contrivances -- all designed to make sure things, indeed, turn out all right in the end -- but the result is just too good-natured to begrudge. Read full review
60
New York Magazine (Vulture)Bilge EbiriMay 11, 2012
For all its calculation and manipulation, there's a very human movie somewhere within Marigold Hotel. You might just have to wade through a thousand clichés to get to it. Read full review
50
Austin ChronicleMarjorie BaumgartenMay 10, 2012
Filled with some marvelous dialog and quips delivered by some of the best in the business. There are worse ways to while away the time. Read full review
50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Liam LaceyMay 3, 2012
Unfortunately, the script, based on Deborah Moggach's 2004 novel "These Foolish Things," might better be described as pure British stodge: high-starch English comfort food of more sentimental than nutritional value. Read full review
50
Boston GlobeTy BurrMay 3, 2012
It's predictable fluff, sometimes pleasantly so, at others times irritatingly. Read full review
40
New York Daily NewsElizabeth WeitzmanMay 3, 2012
It's a shame, of course, that Madden brought the best to such an exotic Top locale without making the most of the opportunity. Read full review
40
Time OutKeith UhlichMay 1, 2012
Madden pads the film with shimmering images of Jaipur and its surroundings; a midmovie funeral sequence - 'cause somebody's got to kick the bucket! - even manages to be somewhat evocative and moving. The rest makes you long for senility to set in, but quick. Read full review
40
The GuardianPeter BradshawApr 28, 2012
It is oddly like an Agatha Christie thriller with all the pasteboard characters, 2D backstories and foreign locale, but no murder. Read full review
40
Total FilmMark SamuelsApr 28, 2012
The pleasure of seeing a supergroup of Brit-veterans soon withers in an OAP comedy that plumps for light laughs over deeper insights. Read full review
38
Washington PostMichael O'SullivanMay 3, 2012
A blandly middling crowd pleaser. Read full review
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