The Second Best Marigold Hotel
UK/USA | 2015 | 122 mins | Cert PG
Director: John Madden
Screenplay: Ol Parker
Cast:
Judi Dench, Maggie Smith, Bill Nighy
SYNOPSIS
The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel is the expansionist dream of Sonny Kapoor, and its making more claims on his
time than he has available, considering his imminent marriage to the love of his life, Sunaina. Sonny has his eye on a
promising property now that his first venture, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel for the Elderly and Beautiful, has only a
single remaining vacancy posing a rooming predicament for fresh arrivals Guy and Lavinia..
REVIEWS
Considering the quality of most sequels, it was bold, or rash, to put the words “second best” in the title. But though still treacly, still exasperatingly sentimental and stereotypical, this follow-­‐up to the first Exotic Marigold Hotel turns out to be rather better. By bringing back the story of Brit retirees at a chaotic Indian hotel, director John Madden and his writer, Ol Parker, have given it the air of an unassuming BBC1 sitcom that grows on you. It’s a daft, good-­‐
natured Arcadian comedy of late-­‐life yearnings with the same formidable cast, plus some newcomers. Maggie Smith’s cockney accent is still unconvincing, but there’s no doubt that her screen presence and sheer thespian firepower lend heft to this film, especially in its final moments. And the love-­‐story associated with Celia Imrie’s saucy character is concluded with unexpected subtlety. Dev Patel’s nervy entrepreneur Sonny is now looking to expand the operation into a second building and a US retirement-­‐home business might possibly invest, but first they want to send an inspector to check out the set-­‐up. So both Sonny and his female guests are all a-­‐flutter when a silver-­‐fox American called Guy turns up, played by Richard Gere, claiming merely to be a writer. Sonny is DID YOU KNOW?
convinced he is the inspector and someone to be sucked up to at all • Opened at No. 1 in the UK, Australia and New
Zealand with $9.6 million, topping the original in all
times. (Casting Bernard Cribbins might have been nice.) three overseas markets.
Meanwhile, Bill Nighy’s shy, hopeless character, Douglas, is • Douglas reads a quote from Alfred Tennyson's
hopelessly in love with Evelyn, played by Judi Dench. It’s silly but poem 'Ulysses', the same poem Evelyn's actress
likable. Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian Judi Dench quotes from in Skyfall (2012).
It’s a very rare thing indeed: a follow-­‐up that feels less cynical than the original, which rinsed the grey pound with an adept but somewhat calculating tale of pensioners pining for life before death. Director John Madden returns with screenwriter Ol Parker and though there are some arguably over-­‐familiar elements — a story strand strongly reminiscent of a Fawlty Towers episode — the pair do a remarkable job of weaving multiple characters and subplots into a cohesive, satisfying whole, giving virtually everyone their moment. The first film really hinged on Evelyn (Judi Dench), and her will-­‐they, won’t-­‐they relationship with Douglas (Bill Nighy) stretches out here, probably as far as it could go without audience members actually screaming, “JUST BLOODY KISS HER!” This is a film not just about second chances, but third and fourth — about repeating mistakes and perhaps eventually learning from them. There’s also a tenderness in how it treats even its most annoying or apparently villainous characters. Sometimes people are cruel because they are sad. Of the additions to the cast the most eye-­‐
catching is Richard Gere, but the performance of the picture is from Maggie Smith. Sharp-­‐tongued and reluctantly kind, her character is not — one imagines — all that different from the actress herself, but in her openness and honesty in confronting twilight, she inspires as a woman looking for our own glimpse of the sun. Too late for BAFTA this year, she should be remembered next, for this: The VERY Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. Nev Pierce, Empire
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Dev Patel was not raised in India. He was born
and raised in Britain (born in Harrow, London). His
parents were both born in Kenya. They have Indian
heritage.
In the trailer, Evelyn (Judi Dench) claims Muriel
(Maggie Smith) is only 19 days older than her. In
real life, Maggie Smith (b. 12/28/34) is in fact
exactly 19 days younger than Dame Judi Dench
(b.12/9/34).
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Cert 15, 105 mins
www.highworthfilms.org.uk