Review: The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

There are many of you who raved about THE BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL, and are excited for the second film. Me, I'm still getting over the fact that I keep reading the title as "Second-Best"... as suggested, the follow-up may fall a bit short.

The film's predecessor told the story of several British retirees who check in at the Best Exotic Marigold Hotel -- a place which is advertised as newly restored, but in reality, the owner, Sonny (Dev Patel) is still fixing it up. But the charm of the hotel convinces the people to stay and live out their retirement.

Which leads us to the Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel: Sonny has his eye on an old rundown property with hopes to turn it into a second hotel to expand the business. He is in talks with an American financier, who says they will send someone to check out their current hotel to see their prospects. Framed by the wedding preparations of Sonny and his fiancee, Sunaina (Tina Desai), the film follows Sonny's struggle as the property he was looking is bought by somewhat of a rival acquaintance; it also shows the personal journeys of each resident of the hotel. Each resident has their own plot line (some a little more fleshed out than others): Muriel Donnelly (Maggie Smith) co-manages the hotel while struggling with her own mortality; Evelyn (Judi Dench) must decide whether she wants to pursue a relationship with Douglas (Bill Nighy); Madge (Celia Imrie) must choose between her two gentleman lovers; and Norman (Ronald Pickup) may have accidentally put out a hit on his girlfriend, Carol (Diana Hardcastle). And then there's the man who Sonny believes is here to check out the hotel, Guy Chambers (Richard Gere), who falls in love with Sonny's mother (Lillete Dubey), and the woman who Sonny continuously ignores in favor of Guy, Lavinia Beech (Tamsin Greig).

For those who haven't seen the first movie, the follow-up gives a strong introduction for the characters... Unfortunately, the characters are the only source of vitality in the film. Other than a few quick truisms about life, the plot is stale and almost readily transparent. It also wraps up with a few cop-out plot points. The most relatable plot line is Douglas and Evelyn's relationship: Dench and Nighy give a completely natural performance together on screen, and it is also one of the few threads that doesn't get hammed up at any point.

The story has flaws, but it is entertaining. It is also, however, another bizarre case of slapping white faces over another culture's backdrop. Though Sonny and Sunaina's thread focuses on Indian citizens, the rest of the film focuses on retired white people -- some of whom interact with the culture, but some who indulge themselves only in ex-pat society. On the one hand, it's great that the film promotes living a little and not settling for the same old life, but on the other hand, it does a meager job at promoting the idea of stretching yourself, something which tends to be a pretty big theme in migratory stories.

All this to say, you will still have fun watching this film -- it won't be severely impactful, but it's decent. I'll leave you with the adage that is sprinkled throughout the film: "There's no present like the time". If anything, this flip-flopped statement is what you should take away from the film. THE SECOND BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL is now playing at the Midtown Cinema!