Curmudgeonly Brits assemble! John Madden's adaptation of Deborah Moggach's novel, These Foolish Things, includes Maggie Smith as a cockney bigot; Celia Imrie and Judi Dench as widows — one merry, one melancholy; Bill Nighy and Penelope Wilton as a quarrelsome couple; Ronald Pickup as a Viagra-popping roué; and Tom Wilkinson as a High Court judge with a secret in his closet. Quite the contrast to the super-powered team in that other movie opening this week. Nonetheless, expect it to linger in theaters, since it's bound to appeal to an audience that's able to sit and watch without using their phones. That's a radically outdated idea, but it's an old-fashioned film, one that finds its codgers enticed by a palatial hotel in Jaipur that might be a mirage. Filled with Indian (and British) clichés, it is nonetheless a pleasant diversion that doesn't involve special effects or 3D glasses.
