Did the first “Exotic Marigold Hotel” really need a sequel? Of course not, but a movie hasn’t needed a sequel since Francis Ford Coppola made “The Godfather II” so I’m not going to hold Hollywood’s sequelitis against a well-made, uplifting film. In fact, I think this new trend of indie or modest film sequels (like the great “Before Sunset” trilogy) is actually a good thing, and I might like to see more sequels to character driven trifles, especially if they’re as good a time as “Marigold” Part 2.
What Works: I won’t say it’s quite as good as the first one, but it is pretty close, and all the things people might have liked about the first one (a positive message for seniors, light comedy, beautiful scenery, seasoned actors having fun cutting loose) are also here. And Richard Gere even gets in on the action and strikes up a genuinely sexy romance with Dev Patel’s character’s mother. It’s not often you see sixty-year-old (plus) romances portrayed in movies as anything but comical, so it’s refreshing to see that these two generate genuine heat. Plus, who isn’t rooting for Bill Nighy and Judi Dench to get together? And even though the message of “is it too late to start over? Can we still get what we really want?” resounded more strongly in the first one, there’s still enough of it here to make even the most cynical viewer smile.
What Doesn’t: There’s a strange side plot involving an (accidentally) hired hitman and then unfaithfulness that feels like it belongs in a different movie. And even though it makes total sense to bring back Bill Nighy’s wife from the first film, her character’s sourness doesn’t really jibe with the vibrant and lively movie we’re watching.
What I Would Have Done Differently: Despite a couple of extraneous subplots, this is still a film encouraging “old” people to live their dreams or find out what they are, and how often do you really see that? These are older, not-always-wiser characters stumbling towards happiness and a better life, and only the most bitter reviewer could not root for them to find it. All you really want from a comedy sequel is to spend more time with characters you really like, and “Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel” fulfills that requirement.