The fans demanded more and what they got was Richard Gere (Guy Chambers) goes to Bollywood! This sequel was created on the back of fans demanding more - and that is exactly what it delivers - more of the same. But that's okay because that's what is so endearing about the film - people struggling with relationships, commitment, acceptance, love - the important things we all struggle with. These subjects usually appear in films featuring people going through a mid-life crisis of existential angst or teenagers coming of age and trying to develop a sense of self.
What gives this film its unique twist is that the main characters are well advanced in years and cannot afford to wait to let things take their natural course. It is interesting to see that with a whole lifetime's experience behind them, they face the same struggles, questions and doubts as any teenager. The things that matter most carry a high price tag. I would love to watch this with a group of younger people and ask them to explore the parallels between the challenges faced and feelings felt by the characters in the film and their own experiences.
The narrative arc of the film is quite simple but largely peripheral to the story. What drives this film is the character's search for love, affirmation and intimacy in a form that befits their age. Dev Patel as Sonny Kapoor, owner of the Best Exotic Marigold Hotel is perhaps the character that shows least development over the course of the two films - except perhaps he has turned the volume up! I found his character a little too strident and fatiguing. All the other characters seemed to develop in some way.
The film is filled with marvellous one-liners again: "Lord have mercy on my ovaries", "There's no present like the time", "He is so handsome, he has me urgently questioning my own sexuality", "Why die here when I can die there?", "You win some and you learn some" and "'How was America?' 'It made death more tempting'".
This is a warm and uplifting film. It pulls few surprises. Mercifully Mrs Donnelly (Dame Maggie Smith) has lost her strident racism and is the wise keeper of everyone's secrets, Douglas Ainslie (Bill Nighy) is still painfully unable to say what he means and is so deferential it hurts and Evelyn Greenslade (Dame Judi Dench) needs to hurry up before death overcomes her!
I would encourage you to go and see this film - and probably the Third Best Exotic Marigold Hotel if the ageing stars manage to keep going for long enough. The warm reviews are spot on you will not be disappointed. I'm going to give this 7/10.
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