MOVIE REVIEW: THE SECOND BEST MARIGOLD HOTEL (2015)

MOVIE INFO

Now that The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel is full up with its long-term residents, co-managers Muriel Donnelly (Maggie Smith) and Sonny Kapoor (Dev Patel) have a dream of expansion, and they've found just the place: The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. With plans underway, Evelyn and Douglas (Judi Dench and Bill Nighy) venture into the Jaipur workforce, wondering where their regular breakfast dates will lead. Meanwhile, Norman and Carol (Ronald Pickup and Diana Hardcastle) navigate the swirling waters of an exclusive relationship, as Madge (Celia Imrie) juggles two very eligible suitors, and recent arrival Guy Chambers (Richard Gere) finds a muse in Sonny's mother, Mrs. Kapoor (Lillete Dubey) for his next novel. As his marriage to Sunaina (Tina Desai), the love of his life, quickly approaches, Sonny finds his plans for the new hotel making more claims on his time than he has available. Perhaps the only one who may know the answers is Muriel, the keeper of everyone's secrets. As the big day nears, family and guests alike find themselves swept up in the irresistible intoxication of an Indian wedding.​ -- (C) Fox Searchlight

From IMDB:

Ratings: 6.8/10 from 4,201 users Metascore: 51/100 

Reviews: 57 user | 123 critic | 36 from Metacritic.com

From Rotten Tomatoes:

TOMATOMETER 63%

Average Rating: 6/10 | Reviews Counted: 144

Fresh: 90 | Rotten: 54

Critics Consensus: The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel is about as original as its title -- but with a cast this talented and effortlessly charming, that hardly matters.

AUDIENCE SCORE 67% liked it

Average Rating: 3.7/5 | User Ratings: 12,020

This scene happens after they come back from the US. Also the moment where Sonny-boy becomes annoying. ©Fox Searchlight Pictures

So this is the second one...

Yeah, I haven't seen the first one. I wanted to but somehow just missed it and never got round to it. Why did I watch the second one? Well, I was sitting in traffic one day listening to BFM and the folks on air were chatting about some current stuff and then just as they break they talk about giving away free passes to a preview/premiere of this movie. All anyone had to do to get it was answer a simple question and text it to them. So I did. And I won. So yeah, that's why I went to watch it.

So I sort of know what the first one was about and quite a few of my friends said it was really good. Like I said earlier I did want to watch it but it just kept slipping my mind. But come on it's a story about a bunch of old folks who go to India looking for a change of scenery and finding their lives changing completely. How far could it go in the next one? Right? Yeah, well here's my thoughts on the second one.

Watch how Judi Dench tries to read this man's thoughts. ©Fox Searchlight Pictures

I'm  not going to do the usual play by play recall of what I saw. The movie's been out for a while but it's only coming to Malaysian shores on the 9th of April. So if you really want to know what it's about go watch it or go google it, there's a whole bunch of sites with complete synopsis for it or go straight ahead and read the reviews for it after you read mine. I of course didn't bother doing either. I did though check to see how it fared against the first movie. Didn't do as good.

So basically this movie takes place a few months after the first, the hotel is looking to expand and they're talking to an American company the company tells them they'll send an undercover representative to evaluate their hotel before they make a decision. There's also a wedding being planned, a misunderstanding that leads to an assassination attempt, a declaration of love at the end, Richard Gere falls in love, a bunch of other stuff but everything ends well in the end. How could it not, right?

Why is it in pretty much any movie taking place in India someone has to ride the train? ©Fox Searchlight Pictures

How was it? Well, it wasn't bad. It's a quaint little comedy but somehow I think it would be better if I had seen the first one first. It felt like there was so much going on that each characters story arc was just skimmed past. It didn't feel disjointed or anything like that but it felt fleeting to a point that I wasn't or didn't feel all that invested in any of the characters. The only thing I found about the characters on screen was endearing and sort of adorable. Except for Dev Patel's character. He was just a little bit annoying. A touch self absorbed. The characters that I found very endearing were played by Judi Dench, Maggie Smith and Bill Nighy. The rest were sort of background noise.

Was it funny? It had it's moments. Not laugh out loud moments. Very British wit, dry humor sort of thing. A bit of HAHA every now and then but nothing to bring you to tears. I'm sure there's some inside jokes that refer to the first movie but since I hadn't seen it I probably didn't laugh at them. Maybe.

And of course a movie in India is never complete without a dance scene. Richard Gere is really into the dancing. ©Fox Searchlight Pictures

Visually it was all very pretty. India or more specifically Jaipur never looked that way before but then they probably dressed it up a bit. The music was interesting, a mix of bollywood and other stuff.

Honestly speaking, for me it was very much and average movie. A nice way to spend an hour or so. Probably better if you've seen the first one. If you haven't then I'd suggest go watch the first before deciding to watch this one. Or if you've seen all the other movies currently playing and have nothing else to do, yeah go watch this.

All in all, I had a pretty entertaining time. So I'd give it a decent 3 out of 5. I'll probably watch the first one sometime soon. I'll tell you what I think of that one when I do.

THANK YOU BFM RADIO FOR LETTING ME WIN THOSE PASSES!!

THANK YOU GSC CINEMAS @ QUILL CITY MALL FOR HOSTING US!