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<\/a><\/p>\nWhen we last saw our favorite group of British retirees, each had left their native England to head to what was advertised as a luxurious retirement hotel in Jaipur – the Best Exotic Marigold Hotel.\u00a0 Unfortunately, the hotel was anything but luxurious, yet as moviegoers and fans of the first film know, the Best Exotic Marigold Hotel was a prime example of making a silk purse from a sow\u2019s ear.\u00a0\u00a0 As the overly excited hotel owner Sonny Kapoor hilariously tried to woo his girlfriend, stand up to his mother and remodel the hotel, the real story was in the new life, friendships and family being built by the hotel\u2019s residents.\u00a0 By story\u2019s end, Evelyn Greenslade was firmly ensconced in the Jaipur workplace and had more than a romantic notion for the shy Douglas Ainslie, especially since he had called it quits with his wife Jean and she had returned to England; Norman was enjoying many a viagra-free night with the lovely Carol; Madge had discovered there was life, romance and sex after 70 and was being courted by multiple wealthy men; and Muriel Donnelly, well, she had stepped in as Sonny\u2019s co-manager and turned the hotel into a profitable venture – so profitable and popular in fact that that leads us right into THE SECOND BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL!<\/p>\n
Always fully booked and renovated into a beauteous reflective respite amidst the energy and excitement of Jaipur, it\u2019s clear to Sonny and Muriel that the solution to their success is to expand.\u00a0 With an eye on a certain property with plans to buy it and remodel, Muriel knows that outside financing it mandatory and THE SECOND BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL starts out in, of all places, California, USA, with Sonny and Muriel speeding along Route 66 towards a meeting with the head of an international chain of hotels, hoping to obtain his backing.<\/p>\n Following what the hyper-kinetic Sonny sees as a successful meeting, the two return to Jaipur where Sonny is being reluctantly immersed in wedding plans for his upcoming nuptials to long suffering girlfriend, Sunaina.\u00a0 But Sonny being Sonny, the wedding is on the backburner and he focuses all of his energies, wishes and dreams on obtaining THE SECOND BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL.\u00a0 Knowing that an hotel inspector will be coming to Jaipur incognito to check out the business, Sonny leaps into action with fawning exuberance at the appearance of Guy Chambers, a novelist from the United States.\u00a0 Certain that Guy is the inspector, Sonny falls all over\u00a0 himself trying to impress the man with obsequious attention.\u00a0 Adding a greater wrinkle for Sonny is that Guy is attracted to Sonny\u2019s widowed mother.\u00a0 (Of course, all of the hotel\u2019s\u00a0 female guests – but for Sonny’s mother – are attracted to Guy, especially Madge.)<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Evelyn and Douglas grow ever closer, although neither wants to make the \u201cofficial\u201d first move and they seem to be idling along in neutral with their engines getting ever hotter.\u00a0 Madge is in constant deliberation over which of her wealthy gentleman callers she will say \u201cyes\u201d to when each pops the marriage question she is certain is forthcoming.\u00a0 Muriel, the all-knowing, all-seeing keeper of secrets, may have a secret of her own.\u00a0 And in a brilliant bit of comedic farce, Norman inadvertently takes a hit out on Carol.<\/p>\n Once again directed by John Madden and written by Ol Parker, we have Parker\u2019s wife Thandie Newton to thank in large part for this charming sequel as, according to Parker, it was Newton who posed the questions to her husband, \u201cWhat happens to them?\u00a0 What happens when Evelyn and Douglas ride off on the motorbike at the end of the first movie?\u00a0 Where does the new life lead everyone?\u00a0 I want to know.\u201d\u00a0 The answer to her questions, and mine, are now found in THE SECOND BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL (tongue-in-cheek on a few levels, wink-wink!)<\/p>\n The story is beautifully structured, albeit relatively predictable in many respects, which in this instance is a good thing as no one screwed around with a beloved concept and characters to the point of deviating from the essence of the story and the characters created on the page and in the first film.\u00a0 Once again, the film tugs at the heartstrings and is more than appropriately constructed to give us a third installment.\u00a0 Quite pleasing are a few unsuspected twists and turns that the story takes and some of the tacitly poignant visual metaphors that tie the two films together either in a neat little bow or as a kite string for a third film.<\/p>\n Character growth is wonderfully designed while retaining the very traits we fell in love with within each individual character.\u00a0 Nothing, however, is as magical as watching Judi Dench and Bill Nighy together as Evelyn and Douglas.\u00a0 You quickly find yourself tacitly urging them both onward into a more permanent and deepening relationship every time they appear on screen.\u00a0 Nighy is simply charming with a bumbling schoolboy nervousness and Dench is perfection, capturing the hesitancy of a first love.\u00a0 Their pairing (love interests of each other for the fourth time on screen over the course of their careers) is a master class in nuance and performance.<\/p>\n Wonderful is to see Celia Imrie’s Madge find a moral compass beyond money and Imrie plays it with nuanced truth.\u00a0 The subplot of the mistaken “hit” taken out by Norman on Carol adds some real fun and great comic lightness to the mix with Ronald Cousins clearly relishing the chance to ham it up a bit.\u00a0 Equally charming is the casual refinement that Diana Hardcastle brings to Carol.\u00a0 Another light touch and some real comic fun comes courtesy of Penelope Wilton who returns as Douglas\u2019 long-suffering, sign-the-divorce papers wife Jean.<\/p>\n Joining the cast this time out is David Straithern who, as hotel financier Ty Burley, adds a genuinely compassionate and loving touch, particularly in his exchanges with Maggie Smith\u2019s Muriel.\u00a0 Beautiful chemistry between Smith and Straithern.\u00a0 Quite honestly, and something I have already begged of Ol Parker, is to have Muriel get a little romance in her life with Ty as her suitor in a third installment.\u00a0 My fingers are crossed!\u00a0 And as for Smith, like Dench, Smith can do no wrong and here, she gives Muriel physical shadings that speak volumes, creating the mystery and air of secrets concerning Muriel herself.<\/p>\n Sadly, Richard Gere is so good as Guy Chambers that one wants to see more of him in the film.\u00a0 So affable, so at ease, so matter-of-fact, so handsome and sexy.\u00a0 The tentativeness he brings to Guy Chambers in his pursuit of\u00a0 Mrs. Kapoor is perfection. And speaking of Mrs. Kapoor, as with all of the more mature actors in MARIGOLD, Lillete Dubey brings an increased emotional depth to her performance with a slightly expanded role and with Gere to play with.\u00a0 It\u2019s a beautiful dance between the two.<\/p>\n The one downfall this go round is Dev Patel who gets to the point of total annoyance with his portrayal off Sonny.\u00a0 Patel pushes the envelope of cocky innocence and rapid fire cockeyed reasoning and argument just too far to the point of coming off like a blithering idiot you want to slap upside the head.<\/p>\n Once again, director John Madden delights with the color and beauty of Jaipur but what I find interesting in this go round, is that there seems to be more hustle and bustle of the area around the hotel as if community revitalization also occurred with the continued residency of our seniors.\u00a0 Nothing is as quiet and calm.\u00a0\u00a0 It’s a lovely metaphor, be it intentional or not, but knowing Madden’s methods, I\u2019m betting it is.\u00a0 Although initially disappointed that Ben Davis didn\u2019t return as cinematographer (seems he was off shooting a little film called \u201cGuardians of the Galaxy\u201d) Ben Smithard does a fine job.\u00a0 Although much of the film doesn\u2019t have quite the same vibrancy of color and light as the first film, there is a more subtle visual texture that is softer, more comfortable in keeping with the now-comfort level of the hotel residents.\u00a0\u00a0 More night scenes provide for touches of moonlight that only enhance blossoming romance among the seniors while a starker, brighter tone permeates the freneticism of Sonny\u2019s experiences.\u00a0 A lovely layer of cinematographic storytelling.\u00a0 But look out for the wedding of the century and all the traditional preparations and dances of a Bollywood-style affair.\u00a0 Smithard\u2019s lens dazzles with eye-popping beauty making exquisite use of twinkle lights that sparkle and dance.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n