Ah, I've finally had a chance to read your comments, now that I've gotten to see the movie at last. And it's fun to compare our reactions. I see we don't quite agree on all the "stuff that's cut out" /g/. You're right that we can easily fill in the back-stories on a lot of things. But I still do think we needed some explanation of where they were going, what they expected to find, etc, both for the sake of clarity and because it would have been fun to see the contrast between their expectations and the reality.

I totally agree about how well they walked the India of poverty/India as travel brochure line. Yes, this movie isn't the place to show the worst of the country, and why does every film need to? Like everywhere, India has its best, its worst, and its in-between -- and the in-between is a space for excellent story-telling.

I'm of two minds about Dev Patel's character. I did feel that Sonny crossed the line into minstrelsy a few times, though there were other times when he came across as three-dimensional and human.

But I agree about Penelope Wilton: she did a fine job of making us understand and even sympathize how difficult things were for Jean. Not everyone is suited for that sort of drastic life change, and she helped us see why. (Though I did think the script took the easy way out by having her be the one to break off the relationship with Douglas. That's often the fantasy of a person who wants out of a relationship but doesn't know how to do it -- that the other person will suddenly say, "we both know this isn't working; let's part; no painful scenes, no hard feelings." But how likely is it?)

Anyway, I'm so glad to have finally seen it. I went with my BFF from high school, and we thoroughly enjoyed it.