Oh, to be young again. You have all the fun, you have the stamina, you have the, oh who am I kidding? Plenty of us oldies have a damn good time and no truer words could be said than those in The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel.
Now don’t get confused with the The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, even though it was also directed by John Madden. The Second Best Marigold Hotel is not a sequel but rather another movie with some of the same cast in the same hotel… Wait what? Perhaps Madden himself can put us straight here:
“I’ve always insisted on a ‘companion piece.’ I think ‘sequel’ smacks of, ‘Hey, we made a good one, it worked, let’s do another one.” It certainly isn’t the same movie again.”
Okay… Hey, he is saying it. He goes on to try and clarify adding “We were very aware of wanting the experience to be completely fresh. If somebody simply walked into this film knowing nothing about the first, they would be just fine.” Well that’s good to know as I sadly haven’t seen the original sleeper* hit that brought in $135 million. I must say though that after watching this trailer I think I may have to, as it has some rather marvelous actors in and looks very charming.
The obviously non-sequel still features young Sonny (Dev Patel, Slumdog Millionare) as the hotel manager with the main plot revolving around his marriage to Sunaina (Tena Desae, also from the first, I mean Best Exotic Marigold Hotel).
Returning cast include legends like Bill Nighy, Judi Dench and Maggie Smith but are also joined this time round by Richard Gere who plays a smooth yank that the ladies can’t resist. You know, just for a change.
The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel checks in on March 6, 2015.
*I’ve finally been able to watch the The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel and it is a charming and well scripted movie. Absolutely loved it and even ALMOST shed a tear, it was them onions dammit!
Last Updated: August 8, 2014