Shakespeare in Love director John Madden delves back into The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel for a sequel to his 2012 sleeper hit. The Second Best Marigold Hotel continues the story of the leisure retirement facility located in India as it is now a successful establishment; successful enough that bumbling manager Sonny (Dev Patel of The News Room, Chappie) and the sharp tongued Muriel, now assistant manager, (Maggie Smith of Downton Abbey, Harry Potter) would like to expand by franchising with a major hotel chain, headed by Ty Burley (David Strathairn of Good Luck and Good Night, The Bourne Ultimatum). Ty agrees to move forward with the franchise development only after The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel receives a positive review from his secret patron.
When Guy Chambers (Richard Gere of Pretty Woman, An Officer and a Gentleman) arrives without a reservation, Sonny immediately eyes him as the patron sent by Ty and begins to overbearingly accommodate him as he takes interest in Sonny’s mother. Sonny’s focus on pleasing Guy Chambers begins to take a toll on his fiancée as they prepare for their engagement party and wedding.
The rest of the film’s characters are played by an ensemble cast including Judy Dench (Skyfall, Shakespeare in Love), Bill Nighy (Love Actually, Harry Potter), Penelope Wilton (Downton Abbey), Ronald Pickup (Prince of Persia) and Diana Hardcastle (A Good Woman) are all entangled in romantic conflicts of their own.
The film’s experienced English cast featuring Gere are all great aesthetically but it plays itself out on jokes at the expense of the characters age and lots of much ado about nothing. The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel doesn’t just slow down near its midpoint so much as it comes to a screeching halt of an elongated plot, cherry topped though, with a rather entertaining dance number true to the film’s Indian themes.
Second Best delivers a great number of laughs but they unfortunately come in the same fashion throughout the film. Dev Patel and Maggie Smith make a fantastic unlikely duo that keeps the film from being mundane as they learn from one another but the two alone can’t save the film from its plot that lacks depth and pace. Despite this, however, it would be a great pleasure to see the two return to manage The Third Best Exotic Marigold Hotel.
The Second Best Exotic Marigold is now in theaters.
