I was just about to class this movie as a girlie movie and I may have that wrong as I should call it a lady’s movie. As its well above the chick-flick status. I have to try and find a way to explain the plot also without typing for the rest of the week. This British movie was released in 2011 and was produced on a budget of $10m it went on to generate $136.8m at the box-office. Which is staggering from a profit point of view. From a critic point of view, we are close again on the all square business with IMDb 7.2/10, me in the middle and the highest score if from Rotten Tomatoes with a mighty 79%. Meaning I really don’t need to tell you this is a good movie in the final paragraph. I am still trying to do the plot in my head… Aha I have the idea that I am going to run with. Let’s get to the plot then Myers shall we…
The basic story here is that a group of retirees are tempted to go to a retirement home that has been advertising. When they arrive, they find a dilapidated shack of a hotel owned and managed by a young novice of a manage who is out of his depth. The story relates to all the relationships of the people moving there so I will give you the cast list along with the characters they play, that is my theory on how to give you an overview of the plot.
*take a deep breathe* GO!!!!!!!
- (Judi Dench) plays Evelyn Greenslade who was recently widowed who moved to India after paying off her husband's debts.
- (Bill Nighy) Douglas Ainslie, Jean's laidback husband.
- Who’s Jean? (Penelope Wilton) Jean Ainslie, Doug’s pessimistic wife.
- (Maggie Smith) Muriel Donnelly, who has moved there for a cheaper hip Op and a former housekeeper.
- (Tom Wilkinson) Sir Graham Dashwood, a High Court judge.
- (Ronald Pickup) Norman Cousins, an aged lothario looking to rekindle his talents.
- (Celia Imrie) Madge Hardcastle who is looking for a rich husband to marry.
- (Dev Patel) Sonny Kapoor who is the out of depth hotel manager.
- (Lillete Dubey) Mrs. Kapoor who is Sonny’s mother and a widow that can see her son drowning and returns to help the hotel.
- (Tina Desai) Sunaina is Sonny’s girlfriend and works as a call centre worker.
- (Sid Makkar) Jay the brother of Sunaina and manager of a call centre.
- (Diana Hardcastle) Carol an English-Indian women and lived in Jaipur all her life.
- (Seema Azmi) Anokhi the maid at the hotel who looks after Muriel.
- (Paul Bhattacharjee) Dr. Ghujarapartidar is Muriel's doctors.
- (Liza Tarbuck) Karen the head nurse.
- (Denzil Smith) Mr Dhurana secretary at the Viceroy Club.
- (Honey Chhaya) Young Wasim an employee at the hotel.
- (Bhuvnesh Shetty) Muriel's physiotherapist.
Each of the top half of that list have to make a decision to stay there or plan going elsewhere or should they just organise an alternative. Their lives become entwined and the film is their interactions and how they play off each other.
It is another good movie and a movie that could not have been made for my demographic. Do I stop enjoying a movie because of that NO! it’s a great story. You have to admit you are following a group of old people coming to terms with different aspects of their lives and doing so trying to cope with other people’s problems at the same. This is sounding very lame now and I feel I am not doing this good movie justice and I am now struggling to sell this to you and explain why I have given it a 74% and I think what my point is. This is a funny enjoyable movie that is clearly not aimed a me but it still worked for me and I will still recommend it. There was a sequel which I do not believe I have seen so will not grace this list. It is a movie that doesn’t sell itself to middle aged men but is still enjoyable and very watchable.
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