The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. Directed by John Madden. Starring Maggie Smith, Dev Patel, Judi Dench and Bill Nighy. Rating: 7 (out of 10)
You know it wasn't the money that originally attracted the British stars of the Best Exotic Marigold Hotel: shot on a skimpy $10 million budget, the 2012 release hauled in almost $138 million at the box office worldwide. Not bad for a bunch of old codgers.
A loyal, return crowd is almost a certainty with the next instalment, and that confidence shows in the title. Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel? A gutsy title, given our predilection to throw stones at sequels.
Thankfully, with John Madden (Shakespeare In Love) back at the helm, Ol Parker once again penning the pages, all our actors back in the mix, and a few new faces to spice things up, the Marigold is just as charming the second time around.
With our ex-pats happily ensconced at the Marigold, co-managers Sonny (Dev Patel) and Muriel (Maggie Smith) start thinking about expansion plans. That requires the aid of an American agency (and David Strathairn) and a visit from an undercover inspector, whose arrival leads to some very Fawlty Towers-esque mishaps.
The inspector could be hunky American writer Guy Chambers (Richard Gere, who just squeaks into the senior set at age 65) or pretty Lavinia Beech (Tamsin Greig), who claims to be looking for a suitable home for her mother. Sonny's desperate and comical attempts to discover the inspector's identity means that he starts to seriously neglect plans for his impending wedding to Sunaina (Tina Desai).
The plan was to retire in peace, but our pensioners are busier than ever. Douglas (Bill Nighy) offers tours of Jaipur and engages in a slow-as-treacle courtship with Evelyn (Judi Dench), who is busy in the textile business. Madge (Celia Imrie) is still tirelessly looking for romance and tending bar with Norman (Ronald Pickup), who is having a go at monogamy with Carol (Diana Hardcastle, Tom Wilkinson's real-life spouse).
Meanwhile Sonny's mother, Mrs. Kapoor (Lillete Dubey), seems to be Guy's new muse, much to her son's mortification. There's a rival for Sunaina's affections (Shazad Latif), and of course, a big Bollywood number doesn't disappoint.
There were some big themes at work in the original - elder care and lack thereof, closeted homosexuality, love and sex after middle age, and death, of course. But all were approached with such generous doses of humour that there was no time to be maudlin about it all. There are plenty of bittersweet moments in the sequel, too.
As in Downton Abbey, Maggie Smith gets the best zingers. Muriel may have sweetened her hip replacement in the first movie, but there's still some vinegar left in her. Smith takes centre stage this time around, and her performance makes the film.
Patel excels at the eternally optimistic, high-strung physical comedy; Imrie is best when she's bawdry. There's something for everyone. And with three Oscars, four Emmys and 21 BAFTAs between them, the high-calibre ensemble is hard to resist, even when the story gets a little doddering.
