Sonny Kapoor (Dev Patel) and Muriel Donnelly (Maggie Smith) go on a road trip to America in attempts at expanding/franchising the hotel they’re both involved with in India. Filled to the brim with residents, the hotel must expand or make room for competition. Much like the hotel, the residents are feeling the same way.
Ah, love stories. They’re just the best when done right, and the worst when done wrong. The key element to any love story is building up the characters properly and cleverly intertwining moments together. It’s a tough task when the story is concentrating on just two characters, but even tougher when it’s concentrating on multiple couples. That’s where I think The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel struggles, as it doesn’t leave itself enough time for us to get to know the people involved. It tries really hard, but never quite succeeds because it’s worried about finishing everyone’s tale.
Let’s break this down.
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The first act begins as we’re introduced to Sonny and Muriel. They’re attempting to get funding for hotel expansion across India, since they’re hotel is working out so well. The investors aren’t sold on their presentation, so they inform the duo that they’ll be sending someone to check out the establishment, though they won’t say whom that person might be. Back from the trip, the players in the film are introduced. We have lonely husband, who is soon-to-be-separated, Douglas Ainslie (Bill Nighy) and his secret crush, and fabric expert, Evelyn Greenslade (Judi Dench). There is also the lonely, single vixen, Madge Hardcastle (Celia Imrie). Norman Cousins (Ronald Pickup) and his on again/off again love, Carol Parr (Diana Hardcastle). Add two more to the mix with new visitor Lavinia Beech (Tamsin Greig) and a charming, lovable rogue in Guy Chambers (Richard Gere).
So many people introduced. John Madden must have had his hands full with giving enough screen time to develop some of these characters. You can tell from the opening act that this was going to be a packed occasion. Don’t get me wrong, I loved the variety of personalities in the movie, though, as I think Madden and crew had gathered the right people to make this story work. Sadly, right from the first act you can tell the story was in a rush and nothing really worked well to bring it together.
The second act reveals the individual issues each couple (or person) had and what they offered to the overall story. Douglas is confused with his feelings for Evelyn, even though his wife has given him the blessing (and a divorce) to move forward with his life. he is stuck at the hotel trying to figure everything out. Evelyn is confused with this situation as well and with a job she is newly hired to do, which is seek out fabrics for cheap. She has to juggle whether she wants to work, love or just live in peace. Madge is in love with her taxi driver and doesn’t know the best way to tell him. Norman and Carol are having issues, including lying to each other, though they don’t realize how much in love they are with one another. And it’s revealed that Guy is lonely, unhappy and beginning to fall in love with Sonny’s mom. That is a lot to process and figure out in a short span.
Yep, that’s a lot there in the second act to develop, unfold and push towards a resolution properly. The story is just a complete mess in the second act, as it doesn’t give any time for us to feel anything for the players. We’re jumping from one place to another, trying to get to know the dilemma for each person, though not quite hanging around long enough to see the entire problem. Normally, you want to cheer for people to fall in love, but here you’re desperately trying to figure out why the character should be in love with whom they’re in love with. The only solid storylines are between Douglas and Evelyn, and between Madge and her taxi love. There is enough time there to develop, but the rest of the characters/stories are just moments of humor or sadness, nothing more or less. The story is too large to fit into the container that Madden and group created. More time was needed, or less characters.
The third act has a lovely resolution for everyone, but again by this point you’re not really going to feel anything for a lot of the characters. There’s too much unexplained and too much left behind in the film to really see it all pull together into one lovely crescendo.
On the bright side, the film is gorgeous in terms of location and costumes. There are stunning colors displayed in HD. If you were loving this film in the theaters, then you’re going to adore it on Blu-ray. 20th Century Fox hit a home run with this release in the transfer department. It’s absolutely exquisite. Bravo to them for this rare perfect transfer. Hopefully, they can keep that trend going with future releases.
On the special features side of this Blu-ray release, here’s what you’re getting:
– Story
– Cast
– Returning to the Marigold Hotel
– Blossoming Relationships
– The Marigold Wedding
– Filming in India
– Gallery
There are a bevy of promo featurettes included with this release that give you some insight on cast, story and what the filmmakers were expecting the end result to be. What’s great about these features are that you can see what could have been and what they were shooting for the end product to become. There are also some good trailers and some good additional featurettes that add more value to the overall package. Definitely good stuff for a film that needs it.