‘The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel’ – An Improbable Second Visit That’s Well Worth It

The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel: An Improbable Second Visit That’s Well Worth It

Vanity Fair – March 6, 2015

By Richard Lawson

You might think that a wistful dramedy about elderly British people moving to a hotel in Jaipur, India, and rediscovering themselves doesn’t sound like the kind of movie that’s ripe for a sequel. And yet director John Madden’s charming, poignant The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel was enough of a hit in 2012, grossing more than 10 times its budget, that now along comes The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, once again directed by Madden and written by Ol Parker. This improbable second act (about fifth acts) sports some familiar sequel symptoms, mainly the way it restates stuff that worked in the first film too often and too loudly, but darned if by the end, when Thomas Newman’s dreamy score wraps us in its shimmery pashmina, The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel hasn’t proved the return visit well worth it.