As the Best Exotic Marigold Hotel has only a single remaining vacancy - posing a rooming predicament for two fresh arrivals - Sonny pursues his expansionist dream of opening a second hotel.
Director: John Madden (The Debt, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel)
Starring: Judi Dench, Maggie Smith, Bill Nighy, Celia Imrie, Penelope Wilton, Ronald Pickup, Tina Desai, Dev Patel, Lillete Dubey, Richard Gere, Tamsin Greig
The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel isn't the type of film to have a sequel, but it surprisingly works. The name isn't very original. It's just as strong as the title suggests. It helps to be familiar with these characters heading into The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. This film centres on Sonny (Patel) and Suniana's (Desai) wedding. Maggie Smith guides us when it was Judi Dench before. One vacancy remains at the hotel, and two people want it. One is British talent Tamsin Greig, the other, the infamous Richard Gere. Sonny suspects Gere's Guy is an important man willing to invest in his potential new hotel. Other, smaller stories revolve around Sonny's matters, like Evelyn (Dench) and Douglas's (Nighy) unresolved feelings for one another (still??) and Celia Imrie's fling with two very wealthy natives. TSBEMH's main plot and sub plots are quaint and heart-warming, even if their treading on familiar territory. Special mention goes to Smith. Her character is a cut above the rest, engaging us in important matters we can all relate to. Her dry sense of humour (which in hindsight is plain rudeness) invokes shocks but adds layers that bring out Smith in ways that were missed in the first film. There's hope yet for a third installment. In the right hands a third best exotic marigold hotel could work.
4/5
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