The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2011)

A great pleasure from beginning to end, this ensemble story of British pensioners moving to a retirement home in Jaipur, India, is colorful (literally and figuratively), moving, and funny. We who qualify for senior ticket discounts may like it best but Generations X and Y will like it, too, not only for one of the sub-plots dealing with a young man's relationships with his mother and his girlfriend. The intertwining stories are skillfully woven into a cohesive whole and the photography by Ben Davis (The Debt, Kick-Ass, more) is spectacular, shot in Jaipur and nearby Udaipur in the northern part of the country. In the trailer Tom Wilkinson's character says he loves "The light, the colors, the smiles. The way the people see life as a gift, a privilege — and not a right." Jack brought that up as we were leaving, because the light and colors are marvelous. I also bring it up because I found the characters and their journeys inspiring. But don't infer that this is a serious movie. There are plenty of laughs as well.

A superb cast graces the screen. I'll go in reverse order of age. Judi Dench, turned 77 in December (after I profiled her in J. Edgar, she was delightful in My Week with Marilyn), plays the sweet, self-aware Evelyn Greenlake. Maggie Smith, 19 days younger than Dench (won Oscars for The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1969) and California Suite (1978), nominated for Othello (1965), Travels with My Aunt (1972), A Room with a View (1985), and Gosford Park (2001); I also loved and loved her in A Private Function (1984), both Sister Acts (1992, 93), The First Wives Club (1996), and Tea with Mussolini (1999). Yes, she was in six Harry Potters but I don't care. I am eager to watch Downton Abbey sometime this summer), begins the movie as an unpleasant racist, Muriel Donnelly. Guess what happens? Ronald Pickup, 72 this June, is new to me but he has 123 titles to his name. He plays Norman Cousins (apparently no connection to the American author) who is a dirty old man with a heart of gold. Penelope Wilton, 66 in June (I particularly liked and liked her in Iris (2001) which starred Dench, Calendar Girls (2003), Match Point (2005), and The History Boys (2006), is Jean Ainslie, who doesn't see life as a gift. Wilkinson, 64 (last in these pages in The Debt, though I failed to mention he was in Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol and The Green Hornet) is wonderful as retired judge Graham Dashwood who looks for closure. The reliable Bill Nighy, turned 62 in December (covered in Pirate Radio), gives us Jean's patient and delightful husband Doug Ainslie. He said in an interview that he's been married to Wilton twice before onscreen. Celia Imrie, who will be 60 in July (lots of roles on British TV; my favorites of her movies are The Borrowers (1997), both Bridget Joneses (2001, 04), Calendar Girls (2003), Wimbledon (2004), and Wah-Wah (2005)), is delightful as Madge Hardcastle, who doesn't hook up with Cousins, even though she's looking for a man as much as he's looking for a woman. Lilete Dubey, 58, is new to me, and for at least the fourth time in her career is playing someone with the surname Kapoor, this time as the mother of Sonny Kapoor, who runs the hotel, and she's a bit intimidating. Dev Patel, 23 (the star of Slumdog Millionaire), is charming as the idealistic Sonny. No age is available for the lovely Tena Desai, a former model doubtless in her 20s, who plays Sonny's girlfriend Sunaina.

Maybe this is the year that John Madden, 63 (profiled in The Debt), will stop being known only as the Oscar-nominated director of Shakespeare in Love (1998), because this is finely crafted entertainment, with all the pieces carefully assembled. Ol (short for Oliver) Parker, 43, wrote another screenplay and wrote and directed two more, all adapted from novels, but he's new to me. He does a good job here adapting Those Foolish Things by Deborah Moggach. In a scene on the patio, Jean is reading Tulip Fever, also written by Moggach.

Last but not least is the wonderful Indian music, of which I'm a big fan in general. Thomas Newman, 56 (after I wrote about him in detail in The Adjustment Bureau, we listened to his scores in The Debt, The Help and The Iron Lady), is a native of Los Angeles, but he has created a mood that sounds authentic to me. You can listen to clips on the amazon page, or a short suite here on youtube.

People who like to complain about what they think is wrong with movies "these days" complain that there are few roles for older actors. These actors are in exalted company and anyone who makes such complaints has no excuse not to see this wonderful movie. We think the rest of you will like it too.