Movie Review: The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
Directed by: John Madden.
Written by: Ol Parker based on the novel by Deborah Moggach.
Starring: Judi Dench (Evelyn Greenslade), Tom Wilkinson (Graham Dashwood), Bill Nighy (Douglas Ainslie), Penelope Wilton (Jean Ainslie), Maggie Smith (Muriel Donnelly), Ronald Pickup (Norman Cousins), Celia Imrie (Madge Hardcastle), Dev Patel (Sonny Kapoor), Honey Chhaya (Young Wasim), Tena Desae (Sunaina), Sid Makkar (Jay), Seema Azmi (Anokhi), Vishnu Sharma (Mr. Maruthi), Diana Hardcastle (Carol).

I avoided The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel for the last few months because the previews made it look like a phony movie about senior citizen wish fulfillment. I mean how many people say that once they retire, they are going travel and see the world? Most of them end up living out their lives quietly at home. There’s nothing wrong with that, but I wasn’t sure, I really wanted to sit through this movie. But the reviews were strong, and the movie has become a sizable independent hit, so I put my initial impression of the previews aside, and went to see the movie. And I must say, that for the most part I was right. This is a phony, calculated movie aimed at seniors. Yet, it is also charming and funny, and very well acted by the great British cast. The movie is still too calculated for my taste – especially the last half hour – and the movie is never really great. Yet, the movie, at the very least, is a pleasant way to spend a couple of hours.

The movie starts off in England, as we meet a number of elderly Brits who decide that their lives are not exactly what they want them to be in England. So, they go online and all see the advertisements for a hotel in India catering to the elderly. It looks too good to be true, but they all sign up anyway. There is Evelyn (Judi Dench), who let her late husband take care of everything, and now finds she is deep in debt. There is Graham (Tom Wilkinson), a judge who is tired of attending retirement parties for his colleagues, and decides to return to India, where he grew up the son of a diplomat. There is Douglas and Jean (Bill Nighy and Penelope Wilton), who sunk their savings in their daughters ill-advised internet company. There is Norman (Ronald Pickup), a horny old man who finds he’s too old to attract many women. There is Madge (Celia Imrie), a horny older woman, looking for yet another rich husband. And then there is Muriel (Maggie Smith), who has no interest in going to India, but does as part of a program that will allow her to get a hip replacement months earlier than if she stayed in India. When they finally arrive at The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, they find it nowhere near what they thought it was going to be. It is run by a dreamer, Sonny (Dev Patel), whose brothers are both successful, and who is fighting with his domineering mother who thinks she is too much like his hopeless father, who also wanted to make The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel a success – and of course, failed.

The movie was directed by John Madden, who after his two breakout films, Mrs. Brown (1997) and the Oscar winning Shakespeare in Love (1998) looked like he was going to become one of the great British filmmakers of his generation. But since then, he has had an up and down career, never able to reach those heights since. He doesn’t here either, although he does what he can the material. His best accomplishment is being able to get the performances out of his cast that he does. Dench is the calm center of the movie, which is odd because her character has so much tumult in her journey –and perhaps learns the most of anyone. Tom Wilkinson is quieter, but also a little more heartbreaking. He has the stiff upper lip we expect from the British, but it hides a lifetime of regret. I also really liked Bill Nighy, who embraces the new challenges his life has given him – this may not be the plan, but he’s going to make the most of it. This is in stark contrast to his wife, who would rather wallow in self-pity. And best of all, of course, is Maggie Smith who since Gosford Park (2000) has made a late career out of being the seemingly dignified British elder who says whatever is on her mind. She starts out a racist – a humorous one, but a racist nonetheless – and although I do not really buy her transformation, she is still great fun to watch.

 
For me, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel is too calculated and manipulative to be truly effective. Each and every character in the movie starts out as an archetype more than an actual character – and they pretty much remain that for the entire run of the movie. Yes, the movie is lightweight fun, but I do wish that it took a few more risks – that it pushed the characters a little further than it does. The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel is great fun to watch at times – but the further it goes along, the more you realize you know precisely what is going to happen – and the movie never deviates from its well-worn path. I enjoyed The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel more than I thought I would – but it`s still not a great movie – even if I can admit I know why so many seem to love it as much as they do.

Movie Review: The Debt

The Debt ***

Directed by: John Madden.

Written By: Matthew Vaughn & Jane Goldman and Peter Straughan based on the film written by Assaf Bernstein & Ido Rosenblum.

Starring: Jessica Chastain (Young Rachel Singer), Sam Worthington (Young David), Marton Csokas (Young Stefan), Helen Mirren (Rachel Singer), Tom Wilkinson (Stefan), Ciarán Hinds (David), Jesper Christensen (Vogel), Romi Aboulafia (Sarah).

The Debt is a thriller, that is also a romantic triangle and a moral puzzle. That it attempts do all three of these things is admirable, and while it may have bitten off a little more than it can chew, the result is a fast paced, entertaining movie that I found snuck up on me as it progressed. Yes, the big secret the movie reveals about three quarters into its running time was obvious from the outset, but the moral implications that arise in the films last act elevate the film.

The film mostly takes place in Berlin in 1967. Three Mossad agents – Rachel (Jessica Chastain), David (Sam Worthington) and Stefan (Marton Csokas) are sent there because they think they have spotted an infamous Nazi doctor war criminal, Vogel (Jesper Christensen) – who performed experiments on Jews in the camps. Their mission is to first confirm his identity, then kidnap him and bring him back to Israel to stand trial in front of the whole world. They are able to identify and kidnap him, but then they screw up their exit strategy, and have to hold onto him for days on end waiting for another opportunity.

The film bookends the action from 1967 with scenes from the mid-1990s, where the daughter of Rachel (here played by Helen Mirren) and Stefan (Tom Wilkinson) has just written a book about her hero parents and their actions on that mission – where we learn that Vogel escapes, but as he was running away, Rachel shot and killed him. Rachel and Stefan have long since divorced, and although she has left the Mossad, he is now its Chief. David (Ciaran Hinds) left Israel shortly after the mission was over, and has just showed back up in their lives. But why is he so upset?

I’m sure you can piece together what actually happened on that mission, as well as the mechanics of the love triangle in the movie as well. Neither is really all that original. In terms of the mission, something went wrong, and the official story isn’t what really happened. In terms of the love triangle, Rachel is drawn to both men, but while David seems to genuinely love her, Stefan seems more interested in sex, and stupidly it is him that Rachel ends up in bed with.

That last paragraph probably seems like I am insulting the film, but I’m not really doing that. No, it’s not an original plot, but it is one that is handled with great skill by director John Madden (Shakespeare in Love), who moves things along quickly. The performances by the three younger actors – particularly Chastin – are really quite good, and Jesper Christensen just drips evil as the Nazi criminal, who even when he is tied up in a corner waiting to die won’t admit he’s down anything wrong, and works at getting under their skin. The film kept my attention throughout this segment of the film.

It was the final act that I think really makes the film – and not just because it is exciting in the ways the best thrillers are (although it is that as well, I also had to put the timeline out of my mind, because the characters ages didn’t make much sense to me). But it is really in this section where the moral implications of the film come into play. Helen Mirren is certainly the MVP of this movie, even given her limited screen time, because not only does she nail the Israeli accent, you also feel the weight of her choices weighing her down in this final segment. Tom Wilkinson does a good job as her slimy, politically motivated ex, and Ciaran Hinds does a good job of looking morose (which really is the only thing they ask him to do), but it is Mirren who makes this final act – and in effect the whole movie – hit the hardest. The Debt is certainly a flawed film, but it is a fascinating one as well.

DVD Views: Killshot

Killshot ** ½
Directed By: John Madden.
Written By: Hossein Amini based on the novel by Elmore Leonard.
Starring: Mickey Rourke (Armand 'The Blackbird' Degas), Diane Lane (Carmen Colson), Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Richie Nix), Thomas Jane (Wayne Colson), Rosario Dawson (Donna), Aldred Montoya (Lionel), Hal Holbrook (Papa).

Elmore Leonard is one of my favorite authors, and Killshot is one of his very best books. No one writes a crime story like Leonard does, full of interesting characters, gritty, realistic, yet still fun dialogue, and plots that slowly tighten the noose around the necks of its characters. All of these elements are in full effect in his Killshot novel, and the screenplay for this movie by Hossein Amini does a faithful job of bringing it all to the screen. You could not ask for a better cast for the movie, all of whom do a wonderful job playing their characters. Why then am I so disappointed in the movie? What should have been one of the best crime thrillers of the year instead just kind of sits there on the screen despite all the elements of the movie that do work. The biggest mistake, it seems to me, was hiring John Madden to direct. Best known for prestige, or would be, prestige films like Mrs. Brown, Shakespeare in Love and Proof, Madden can do those types of stories quite well. When faced with a thriller though, he gets the pacing all wrong. When the film should be generating tremendous tension, it just feels lax.

Despite this, Mickey Rourke gives an excellent performance as Armand “The Blackbird” Degas, a Native hit man associated with the Toronto Mafia (we have one?). He and his brothers – one of whom is now dead, the other in jail for the rest of his life, were hit men for hire, doing the jobs that no one else associated with the Outfit would go near. Armand is contacted by the Mafia’s second in command with a job – kill the Boss (Hal Holbrook). He does, but angers his employer – who is now the new boss – when he also kills a girl in the hotel room with the Boss. It seems that he belonged to the guy, who is now so upset, he refuses to pay Armand his money, and has taken out a contract on him.

Then we meet Richie Nix (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), an out of control kid who is loud and boisterous, but not all that bright. He brags about his crimes to anyone who will listen. An idea strikes him and he calls up a local real estate developer and tells him unless he wants his new houses destroyed, and himself killed, he will pay Richie $20,000 when he shows up at his office. When Armand and Richie meet up by chance, Armand agrees to go in on the deal with him. No, it doesn’t sound a particularly good plan, but it may work, and he needs the money.

Well, of course, it doesn’t work. Worse then not getting the money, both Wayne and Carmen Colson (Thomas Jane and Diane Lane), a married couple going through a divorce, see both men and can identify them. Armand’s rule is to never trust someone not to remember you, so after he and Richie flee the scene in a panic, they set out to kill the Colsons. No witnesses, no crime, they think.

The Elmore Leonard novel on which this movie was based weaved together these characters – and more, most important Donna (Rosario Dawson), Richie’s girlfriend, who is both repulsed and attracted to Armand – effortlessly, and gradually ratcheted up the tension until we get to the final showdown. The movie, which follows the same plot almost scene for scene, does not accomplish this same feat. The mounting feeling of dread in the novel has been replaced by a sense of sadness hanging over the whole movie. And while this makes for some interesting moments, it isn’t good for the film unto itself. Which is a shame, because the performances are mostly very good. Rourke is perfect for a role like Armand – looking at Rourke’s lined and scarred face is like looking at a roadmap to and from Hell. Armand is tired of doing what he does, and is full of regret. But he is a man without a home, without family, without money, without skills. This is all he knows. When someone asks him what he does for a living he says “I kill people. Sometimes for money, sometimes for fun” it doesn’t snap the way the dialogue did in films like Get Shorty, Out of Sight or Jackie Brown (all based on Leonard novels), but rather expresses Armand’s world weariness. He is playing a role, and is too tired to give it all he has anymore. Gordon-Levitt continues to impress me more and more with each passing year. He has no proven he can do just about anything, and his Richie Nix is a scary psychopath. He is essentially just a boisterous boy when the film begins, but Armand’s influence seems to flip a switch in him and he turns into a psycho. Diane Lane and Thomas Jane are solid, if not spectacular in their roles. They don’t have as much to work with, but they really do feel like a couple who still love each other, even if they cannot quite make their marriage work. Worse off is Dawson, who has to play a more subdued character than she is used to, and doesn’t quite pull it off. Usually a sexual firecracker (most notably her underrated performance in Oliver Stone’s Alexander), here she doesn’t get to let loose, and the result is an uneven performance.

Had the film, with this same cast, had been directed by a Tarantino or even a Guy Ritchie, it probably would have come to life more. But Madden is a director more used to subtlety, which at times work, but is wrong for this material. He doesn’t get the tone right, and as a result, what should have been one of the year’s best, is merely okay.