Losing track of narrative beats is a terrible sin in expensive screenwriting classes, but not so important to actual movies. Here is a modest demonstration.
The plot devices in “The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel” are so stale that the movie itself loses interest in them halfway through its dawdling 122 minutes — and this is a good thing. By that time the contrivances of Ol Parker’s script have done their duty, and we can get to the element that turned the film’s 2011 predecessor into a surprise hit: hanging around with a group of witty old pros in a pleasant location. There are many worse reasons for enjoying movies.
In the first “Best Exotic Marigold Hotel,” a group of elderly British expats in India found themselves warming to the charms of a dilapidated inn. Now, the hotel’s hyperactive manager Sonny (Dev Patel, from “Slumdog Millionaire”) is planning his marriage, and wants to add a second establishment to build his success.
This leads to confusion over a secret visitor from an American finance company. The expats, now installed at the Marigold, have their own problems, which include randy Norman (Ronald Pickup) suspecting he’s inadvertently put a hit on his own girlfriend.
These issues fade away, as director John Madden (“Shakespeare in Love”) allows Maggie Smith, Judi Dench, Celia Imrie, and Penelope Wilton to float around on many years’ worth of accrued goodwill. Especially fine is the spindly Bill Nighy, whose shy Douglas is a hesitant suitor to Dench’s Evelyn, a still-active buyer of fabrics.
Even when the story has him fulfilling sitcom ideas, Nighy maintains his tottering dignity and sense of fun. You’d like to know this guy.
We should note that Patel’s elaborate locutions have not aged well since the era of Peter Sellers’ comical Indian voices. Also that company newcomer Richard Gere looks sheepish throughout the film, as though he’d gotten to the set and belatedly realized he’d be in the company of some bona fide acting legends.
Nevertheless, “Second Best” will be a hit with its original audience, and maybe then some. The languid mood is laced with an appreciation for getting to the End of Things, especially as Maggie Smith’s formerly snappish Muriel mellows into a melancholy leave-taking.
At that point, you wish the slavish devotion to plot could be entirely forgotten in favor of sun-baked character turns and the amiability of a good ensemble. When those things take over, this film hits its stride.
“The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel” (2 1/2 stars)
Sequel to the 2011 hit finds the British expats still at the India hotel, this time with new complications and a new visitor (Richard Gere). The plot points are contrived, but at a certain point they fade away and you can simply enjoy the old-pro ensemble, led by Maggie Smith, Judi Dench, and Bill Nighy.
Rating: PG, for subject matter
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