The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

Review by Pamela Zoslov

More than three years have passed since the release of THE BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL, a sunny trifle and surprise hit that spent many months pleasing older audiences at independent theaters like Cleveland's Cedar Lee. The movie, based on a novel by British author Deborah Moggach called These Foolish Things, told of a group of British seniors who, displaced by the overburdened National Health System, took up residence in a once grand, now rather ramshackle retirement hotel in Jaipur, India. Under the tutelage of the eager hotelier Sonny Kapoor (SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE star Dev Patel), the spry residents entangle romantically, find new careers, and experience rejuvenation within the teeming, colorful, disheveled culture of Jaipur, India.

Now comes a sequel, THE SECOND BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL, which finds the same elders a few years on, dealing with romantic and career problems. The sequel is the work of the same writer-director team of Ol Parker and John Madden.