Sometimes a movie is exactly what you expect it to be – and that’s okay.

I took my mother to see The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, which she’d been eagerly awaiting since seeing ads for the film on television.

A group of retirees leave the UK for India expecting luxurious accommodations at bargain rates and, perhaps, a little bit of adventure.  Instead of finding the expected, however, each character figures out that sometimes the unexpected is more fitting.

Given the pedigrees of director John Madden (Shakespeare in Love) and the exquisite cast of talented and popular British actors (including Maggie Smith, Judy Dench, Tom Wilkinson, Bill Nighy, and Penelope Wilton), the film manages both accomplishment and predictability at the same time.

Several versions of this thought are repeated throughout the film:  “Everything will be all right in the end.  And, if it is not all right, it’s not the end.”

How nice to think that this may be true.