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Created Apr 07, 2013 08:39PM PST • Edited Apr 07, 2013 08:39PM PST

1. Quality

2. Summary

   Very Good 3.5

   Take a colorful cohort of old British retirees, send them to India where they’ve been promised an elegant and beautiful spot to retire, and then make lemonade from lemons. Best Exotic is a cute film, with an endearing quality that kept me (the most avid of action short-attention-span film lovers) interested throughout the meandering adventure. The India setting was great to be sure, but the killer grip was from the cast of top notch actors. Or, to quote a line in the film: “Things haven’t worked out as I’d expected. They rarely do, but what happened instead is the good stuff”.

4. Acting

   Very Good 3.5

   I’m not mentioning everyone here, but the actors below left an impression with me:

   Judi Dench – This is a woman who has been around the block And it shows, she leads us through this story both as a character and a narrator; deftly carrying some great lines.

   Bill Nighhy – Never knew much about him before this, but from here on in, I’ll just call him “Mr. Sarcasm”. His deft, humorous style was great to watch.

   Ronald Pickup – Kind of like a British Hugh Hefner crossed with Gandalf – his lovable aging form still works with the ladies.

   Tom Wilkinson – Another actor who knows the ropes, Tom is extremely effective as a gay man returning to his India roots.

   Dev Patel – is decent, but cursed with a bit too much over-acting in his role as the hotel proprietor. He gets much better when the going gets rough later in the film.

5. Male Stars Very Good 3.5

6. Female Stars Very Good 3.5

7. Female Costars Very Good 3.5

8. Male Costars Very Good 3.5

10. Film

    Very Good 3.5

11. Direction Very Good 3.5

12. Play Very Good 3.5

13. Music Very Good 3.5

14. Visuals Very Good 3.5
15. Content

16. Edge

    Tame 1.2

17. Sex Innocent 1.2

18. Violence Gentle 1.2

19. Rudeness Polite 1.2

21. Reality

    Glib 1.4

22. Circumstantial Glib 1.4

23. Biological Glib 1.4

24. Physical Glib 1.4