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‘The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel’ is Indeed Second Best

The movie has a lot of business to get through before it can show the audience its titles.

It takes about fifteen minutes before The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel gets to its opening credits. The movie has a lot of business to get through before it can show the audience its titles. Sonny and Muriel (Dev Patel and Maggie Smith) are in America, courting an investor. Sonny is also preparing for his impending nuptials, and has grown worried about the arrival of an old friend. Evelyn (Judi Dench) is given an exciting opportunity, which might be an impediment to her burgeoning romance with the lovestruck Douglas (Bill Nighy). Madge (Celia Imrie) is dealing with the attention of various suitors, and Norman (Ronald Pickup) seems to have inadvertently hired a tuktuk driver to take out his girlfriend.

And this is all before two more guests arrive at the hotel. None of the conflicts the film presents are very exciting. The thing about these characters is that their problems were mostly resolved in the last movie. And so the film spends most of its time spinning its wheels, contriving non-issue for the cast to deal with. The answers are obvious from the start, and the audience ends up spending two hours waiting for the characters to catch up.

With Sonny being the youngest character and having the most to learn, it only makes sense that the film would spend the most time dealing with his issues. But the film turns the character into a buffoon, so obviously wrong right from the start that it becomes impossible to sympathize with his plight. And the story doesn't actually provide him with moments of growth. His character just keeps making ridiculous choices until he gets to a point where it is necessary for him to be right.

Inexplicably, the right choice doesn't seem to have much to do with what he went through in the film. The movie waves a magic wand and provides him with a resolution that he doesn't really earn. With this plotline taking up the core of the film, the entire endeavor comes off as dramatically hollow. There is just nothing to hold on to, the entire picture built around waiting for a buffoon to just finally come to his senses.

The film fares better on the fringes, though not by much. Again, these stories just aren't very exciting. Everyone is given a clear solution to his or her problem, which most of the time is just talking honestly about something. But what elevates these segments is the presence of some of the greatest actors alive today. Bill Nighy and Judi Dench can turns even the sappiest speeches into emotional gold. Maggie Smith doesn't actually get to do much in the movie, but her sheer presence is enough to provide the role with some appeal.

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Perhaps there is some acknowledgement of this sequel's inferior status in the title. The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel is indeed second best, the movie left with scraps of narrative following the resolutions of the first chapter. While it is always a pleasure to see such formidable talent on screen, the material just doesn't rise to the occasion. While there is some magic in how this cast improves every scene, it would have been a greater pleasure to watch them handle material that is worthy of their efforts.

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