Review of The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2015) by Greg B — 07 Mar 2015

"The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel" is the sequel to the movie about a hotel owner (again, Dev Patel) who operates an unconventional hotel in the bazaars of India. In the sequel, Patel travels to America to try to get a financier to back his hotel so he can expand and build a chain.

When he returns to India, an American (Richard Gere) checks in at the hotel, and Patel tries to kiss hiss ass, suspecting him of being a scout for the financing company. This film tries too much to be like "Crash," with separate storylines chronicling the lives of the various people who live in the hotel.

While the film has nice fluff, these stories really leave no impact on the viewer. I asked myself at several parts in the movie, why should I care? which told me that I was not connecting with this movie on some level.

I found it quite boring and dull in parts, and I think the film thought it was more relevant than it was. This film is not going to resonate with anyone under 50, I'm sorry to say. It is just really hard for a producer to make a movie about people living in a hotel and make it relevant at all.

There is a generational gap in this film that I don't think people in my generation could get past. It's not a truly awful film; it's just weighted down by a flimsy script that can't do much given its source material.

Unless you want to learn about Indian culture and what makes a senior citizen tick, pass on this one ------------------------------------------------------ C.