**Spoiler Alert**
Director: John Madden/Starring: Judi Dench, Bill Nighy, Dev Patel, Maggie Smith, David Strathairn, Celia Imrie, Ronald Pickup, Diana Hardcastle, Tina Desai, Shazad Latif, Lillete Dubey, Tamsin Greig and Richard Gere
The (mostly) merry band of senior expatriates are back in John Madden's The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, which apart from an unwieldy title, offers no surprises and no departures from the safe, the pleasant and the bland. At least dementia didn't work its way into the story. Or maybe that would have helped.
One might feel like a right bastard dismissing a movie mainly conceived for an audience in their dotage; one that is so inoffensive and like one of the characters, Sonny Kapoor (Dev Patel), so eager to please. So I'll tread lightly because though I'm no spring chicken myself, I'm hardly the target audience for the film.
This time around, an American has come to stay. The mysterious Guy Chambers, played by Richard Gere, may or may not be a hotel inspector appraising the The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel for a possible American investor who Sonny and Muriel Donnelly (Maggie Smith) hope to coax into pouring dollars into a prospective franchise in Jaipur, India. The film opens with the ever curmudgeonly Muriel and her young, Indian partner Sonny motoring on the San Diego freeway to meet said potential investor Ty Burley (David Strathairn). Sonny's overly-ingratiating manner and manic motor of a mouth almost hobble their modest proposal until Muriel intervenes. Unfortunately for Sonny and Muriel, an agreement or promise is denied them as they return to Jaipur.
Back in Jaipur, we reacquaint ourselves with the permanent fixtures of the Marigold Hotel as Sonny conducts a morning roll-call to insure none of the occupants we have come to know have passed during the night (the morning roll call also serves as a kind of running gag). Still around are Evelyn Greenslade (Judi Dench), Douglas Ainslie (Bill Nighy), the ferocious flirt Madge Hardcastle (Celia Imrie), Norman Cousins (Ronald Pickup) and Carol Parr (Diana Hardcastle) and of course Muriel, who can never answer morning roll call without a grumble. Sonny and his fiancee Sunaina (Tina Desai) manage the hotel and see to the needs of all who stay.
The film then does its best to create a story where each of the character's problems and desires make up multiple narrative threads. The situations:
• Sonny and Sunaina's marital plans are threatened by Kushal, a potential rival for the fiancee's affections, who instructs the couple on their wedding dance moves and whose purchase of another hotel jeopardizes Sonny's plans for his franchise.
• Muriel, who receives a devastating diagnosis; the details we're never made privy to. She never shares the grim news with the other hotel guests but our awareness of her condition casts a pall of gloom over the entire film.
• Evelyn, who resists Douglas' very subtle courting initiatives. The two spend the entire movie flirting then backing off one another. Evelyn also accepts a position with a big time textile exporter, which provides her an income and a sense of purpose. Douglas must contend with his estranged wife, who has returned to India to formalize their divorce.
• Madge Hardcastle, who woos everyman who doesn't wear a wedding ring. Though several wealthy Indian men serve as strong candidates, she ultimately finds her man where she least expects.
• Norman Cousins, who first believes Carol, the love of his life, is a target of an assassination attempt, which means clinging to her side at all hours of the day and tailing her, only to discover a truth less life-threatening but nevertheless unpalatable.
• Lavinia Beech (Tamsin Grieg), a newcomer to the Marigold, whose seemingly casual nature masks something more sinister. Lavinia, like some of the other occupants of the Marigold, finds romance, which is fulfilled by romancing Sonny's rival Kushal.
• And Guy Chambers, who, like Lavinia, may not be who he appears. And like Lavinia, he too is smitten by a native's charms. That he falls for Sonny's mother (Lillete Dubey) complicates life at the Marigold, for Sonny believes Guy is secretly the inspector whose assessment of the hotel will make or break his plans. While Sonny toadies up to Guy, he is also adamant about driving a preemptive wedge between his mother and the American.
It is difficult for a filmmaker to make a multi-thread, multi-character story compelling, though director John Madden and screenwriter Ol Parker make an earnest attempt. The operative word here is attempt, for very few of the stories are able to hold one's interest for very long. Every story proceeds according to a narrative blueprint and every conflict in the story is sorely stretched to give the illusion of dramatic arc. It becomes abundantly clear that many of the narrative threads could be resolved in minutes if the characters were simply allowed to pull their heads out of their asses. If Evelyn and Douglas simply asked one another, "Is this going to happen, or what?", we might be spared the tedium of watching two people play a coy game that carries little drama or romance. Given their ages, one might think they wouldn't want to waste precious time in a protracted state of doubt. This criticism might also apply to Guy and Sonny's mother, who play a similar, romantic cat and mouse game with few surprises.
But this is the The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, not an Alain Resnais drama, so the anticipation of character nuance is unreasonably unrealistic.
Even with little twists, which never register as shocks, it is very simple to chart every story and character. Will Sonny and Sunaina overcome premarital jealousy and strife? Will Sonny find a way to buy Kushel's hotel to secure funding for his chain? Will Norman and Carol survive their marital crisis? What will become of the other characters? Do you really need to ask?
The film has its charms: the scene where Madge and the lover she's long hoped to find make a connection as they drive through the city, ostensibly to meet one of her suitors, is one of the film's few, touching moments. I liked all the scenes with Bill Nighy and Judi Dench, in spite of being woefully underwritten. Muriel is often fun with her tart witticisms. And I like that Muriel keeps her condition a secret, which gives the film a touch of gloom to counteract its sweetness. And it isn't only Muriel who must contend with the hovering specter of death but all the denizens of the hotel, who face the formidable foe of time. The film needs a ticking clock's lurking menace because without it, The Exotic Marigold Hotel would be a treacly sweet Nirvana without end.
Which brings me to the inevitable question: will there be a Third Best? There will be if box office receipts have their say. Weekend business was very healthy. And in spite of the franchise's pretty blandness, don't we want to see Evelyn and Douglas marry? Is it worth another film?
I keep coming back because I find Smith, Nighy and Dench to be colossal talents who are always worth the admission price. If only they had more to work with.
