Welcome back to the Marigold Hotel! Well actually, we don’t start there. We start in California as Sonny (Dev Patel) and Muriel Donnelly (Maggie Smith) heading to look for investment in Sonny plans to buy a new property & expand his hotel empire. Meanwhile back in Jaipur, our familiar residents appear to be settling in just fine: Evenlyn (Judi Dench) is a fabric sourcer for a company, Douglas (Bill Nighy) is a ‘tour’ guide, Norman & Madge (Ronald Pickup & Celia Imrie) are managing the The Viceroy Club & Carol (Diana Hardcastle) is in the travel agency
And here in lies the problem: Once you’ve been re-introduced, the film seems slow and, in some points, a little dragged out, not the haphazardness of the first one that kept the pace. There are still the laughs though it feels not in as much quantity of the first. The return of Jean (Penelope Wilton) halfway through the film, looking for a divorce from Nighy’s character Night, feels awkward and almost disjointed leaving you feel that there is either a)something missing or b)just an excuse to bring back this particular character. In some instances, if it had only been Douglas’ daughter Laura (played by Claire Price) & not Jean, it may have worked better.
Joining the cast this time around is Guy (Richard Gere) and Lavina Beech (Tamsin Greig) as the newest residents at the Marigold Hotel…but what are they really here for? Thankfully the film divides it time equally between the different characters and their lives rather than sorely being focused on just a few.
Was a sequel needed? Probably not as the first did finish on a nice little note and left you wondering what did happen next but felt complete. This one however we feel does leave a few unanswered questions and loose ends. As much as we love our friends at the Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, we are hoping that the plan is to leave things are they are here. There is a danger of ruining a good thing here is a three-qual was to be made. Maybe it’s time we checked out and allowed them to get on with their lives.
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