The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.5

The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel Blu-ray Movie Review

Second best may be good enough.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman July 15, 2015

Old age ain’t for sissies.

It might hit you when you’re 40, or more likely when you pass that half a century mark, but there will come a time when your mortality ceases to be quite as abstract as you might wish it would be. Along with the typical vagaries of age, you know, things like all those aches and pains your parents or grandparents used to bore you to tears with when you were young, is the dawning awareness that you may indeed be living on borrowed time, and that that figurative countdown clock could reach “zero” at any given moment. That rather melancholic idea provided quite a bit of the emotional subtext of The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, and it continues to inform the winning if hardly revelatory The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, a film which coasts rather amiably on the combined star wattage of its iconic cast. In a scene that seems to exist only for its scenery, Sonny Kapoor (Dev Patel) is driving Muriel Donnelly (Maggie Smith) to San Diego on Route 66, in a convertible, no less (did they drive from New York? from India?). Muriel is of course less than thrilled with the ride, but she’s quite adamant that she remain in charge once the pair reaches their destination, a tony hotel run by a huge corporation called Evergreen (those with a low tolerance for obvious symbolism may be permitted a quick roll of the eyes at this point). It turns out Sonny and Muriel are there to pitch the idea of (yep, you guessed it) a second hotel in Jaipur which would cater to elders, since the original hotel is at its occupancy limit. Entrepreneur Ty Burley (David Straitharn) is suitably intrigued, and it seems like there may be a deal in the offing, though Burley makes it clear he wants one of his chosen acolytes to travel to India to inspect the original facility. In the meantime, Sonny, now over the moon with the prospect of veritable piles of cold, hard cash falling into his hands, video conferences with his fiancée Sunaina (Tina Desai), informing her it’s finally time to complete their wedding plans (and, obviously, the wedding itself). A small wrench is thrown into the proceedings when it turns out Sonny’s old nemesis Kusah (Shazad Latif) has reentered the picture, ostensibly to help Sunaina choreograph the all important wedding dance.

While that very wedding gives The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel at least a bit of a through line, this follow up film is probably even more vignette driven than the first entry was. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, mind you, for it gives each of the rather large featured cast his or her own moment to shine, but it also tends to give the film something of a patchwork quilt quality, something that it struggles fitfully (and mostly unsuccessfully) to overcome. As with that first entry, the sequel doesn’t really shy away from tugging rather forcefully at the heartstrings on several occasions, something that only adds to the rather (and perhaps unavoidably) elegiac tone of the entire piece.

The faltering relationship between Douglas Ainslie (Bill Nighy) and Evelyn Greenslade (Judi Dench) plays out in largely predictable fashion, though Evelyn at least has the offer of a real, bonafide career to contend with, something that both excites and terrifies her. Douglas has his own issues to contend with when estranged wife Jean (Penelope Wilton) shows up with their daughter in tow. Somewhat less effective is a silly subplot involving Norman Cousins (Ronald Pickup), the would be lothario who is currently bedding Carol Parr (Diana Hardcastle). When a rather drunken Norman hands over a huge wad of cash to a taxi driver one night after having discussed how he’d like Carol to “disappear,” some resultant “accidents” cause Norman to believe he’s inadvertently placed a hit on his lover’s life.

The “newcomer” this time around is one Guy Chambers (Richard Gere, the veritable “kid” of the older cast), who shows up and is immediately pegged by Sonny as the undercover spy that Burley has sent to check out the hotel. That plot point never really pays any sufficient dividends, despite a twist or two, and instead it’s Guy’s rather sweet wooing of Sonny’s mom, Mrs. Kapoor (Lillette Dubey), that tends to resonate more effectively (Mrs. Kapoor’s “lack” of a first name is played for fitful laughs). Also in the romance game is Madge Hardcastle (Celia Imrie), who is involved in something of a cross-cultural ménage à trois. Finally, Muriel’s health issues offer Maggie Smith a field day for her patented steely and thorny persona which only partially masks what is obviously a heart of gold.

While there’s nothing very earth shattering in The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, the film is effortlessly entertaining and packs some surprising emotional wallop, especially for those who are watching that aforementioned countdown clock themselves (and who would be expected to be this film’s “natural” demographic). There’s a sweetness to a lot of the interactions here, and a rather beautiful wisdom imparted that many of these characters may in fact be nearing the end of the line, but haven’t reached it yet—so why not dance, Bollywood style?

The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.39:1. Unlike The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, which was shot on film, The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel was shot digitally with the Sony CineAlta 65 (hey, it's expensive to get a cast and crew to India). The image here is often wonderfully sharp and precise, bringing the panoply of colors which seem to be an almost genetic component of Indian life fully to life. Close-ups offer abundant fine detail, mapping out the cross hatched wrinkles and creases in many of the elderly faces. A number of exterior scenes offer excellent depth of field and appealing clarity and sharpness even in wide shots. Things are a tad less commendable in some of the dimly lit or nighttime sequences, where a light haze accompanies some of the visuals, depleting detail and fine detail incrementally. Some of these darker moments have a very light dusting of noise which is frankly almost imperceptible.

The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The cacophonous sounds of Jaipur are capably represented on The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel's often extremely boisterous lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix. The wonderful score by Thomas Newman, along with some of the indigenous source cues, give this track a lot of "local flavor," with some excellent low end courtesy of the battery of percussion instruments utilized in several scenes. Both the score and the busy ambient environmental effects of the bustling cityscape provide ample immersion and good use of the side and rear channels. Dialogue is cleanly presented and always well prioritized. Fidelity is excellent and dynamic range surprisingly wide (for this "type" of film) on this problem free track.

The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Promotional Featurettes are all brief and offer interviews with various cast and crew, along with occasional behind the scenes footage and snippets from the completed film:

  Story (1080p; 3:06)

  Cast (1080p; 3:38)

  Returning to the Marigold Hotel (1080p; 2:52)

  Blossoming Romance (1080p; 2:54)

  The Marigold Wedding (1080p; 2:35)

  Filming in India (1080p; 2:34)

• Gallery (1080p; 2:10) offers both an Auto Advance and a Manual Advance option. The timing is for the Auto Advance option.


• Theatrical Trailers (1080p; 3:42) offers two trailers.

The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Though my teenage sons delight in (repeatedly) reminding me of what a geezer I am, I'm probably not quite at the point of wistful old age that the characters in this film are, but for you young 'uns out there, don't judge this book by its somewhat wrinkled cover. The Second Best Marigold Hotel may have been marketed to the AARP crowd, but it's colorful, bright and at times surprisingly moving, certainly attributes which should appeal to a broader demographic. Technical merits are first rate, and The Second Best Marigold Hotel comes Recommended.