The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel in Jaipur is doing such good business these days that there is only one unoccupied room which causes a problem when two new guests arrive at the same time to claim it . It’s ladies first but before Lavinia Beech can check into the Hotel’s best room the key is swiped out of her hands and is given to Guy Chambers as Sonny the Hotel’s over exuberant young owner believes he is a Hotel Inspector. Sonny has just returned from the USA to seek investors to help him expand and buy a second premises and before they will give him a decision they have promised to send someone undercover to check out the Hotel to see if it is really as good as the picture he has painted.
What started out as run-down refuge for an eccentric group of British retirees who couldn’t afford to eke out an existence on their reduced circumstances and had been lured by the idea of a cheap life in the sun has turned into a vibrant hotel, albeit still run with more than a touch of chaos. Now almost a year later far from being retired all of them are now fully employed and very busy; Douglas gives tours of sites he knows precious little off, Evelyn has become a textile sourcer, Madge and Norman tend Bar at the ex-Pats club, Carol is a travel agent and Muriel is the Hotel’s co-manager.
Adding the silver fox Richard Gere into the mix this time was a clever touch and gave Madge (played by the brilliant Celie Imrie) the perfect opportunity to make some wicked sexist remarks. The whole movie is quite a delight and there is nothing not to like in this entertaining piece of make believe. Even the India it is set in is colorful and idyllically romanticized that it bears no resemblance to reality.Despite the presence of these acting greats who can mesmerize by simply reading the telephone directory out loud, there were however times when the lightweight plot was stretched too thin and we were just left hanging waiting for something to happen. After all compared to the original film this really was The Second Best.
Labels: 2015, British, romantic comedy
