Edgar Halcyon The original was good. The "Second Best" - forget it. Too much time wasted in Bollywood dance scenes. Sonny putting up with Sunaina's antics was disgusting. Her prima-donna, shove my ex-boyfriend in my future husband's face, attitude is something no one entering marriage should have to put up with. Of course, I'm old fashioned about marriage, believing that couples should always strive to support and build each other up.

l_rawjalaurence The sequel to THE BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL (2011) contains some familiar cinematic stereotypes about India: the extraordinarily bright light; the teeming streets; the slightly comic citizens who agree with the British yet pursue their own lives; and the colorful dance sequences and wedding ceremony straight out of SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE (2008). The star is the same as well: Dev Patel has a leading role in both films.Yet John Madden's film still retains a certain charm of its own. This is partly due to the sharp script (by Ol Parker) that gives a fair proportion of acerbic one-liners to Muriel Donnelly (Maggie Smith). Smith has always had a penchant for delivering such material effectively dating right back to her early career at the National Theatre in the mid-Sixties. There are also some delightful cameos from Ronald Pickup as a randy pensioner discovering to his cost that his long-time partner (Diana Hardcastle) is equally as sexually adventurous as himself; and David Strathairn as an American tycoon much taken with Mrs. Donnelly's down-to-earth negotiating style.The film is multi-plotted, encompassing two will-they-won't-they romances between Sonny (Patel), Sunaina (Tina Desai), and Evelyn (Judi Dench) and Douglas (Bill Nighy). We know perfectly well that both will end happily, but it's rather fun to see how they get there, with Sonny having to overcome his pathological jealousy of Kushal (Shazad Latif), and Douglas dealing with his vindictive wife Jean (Penelope Wilton).Throughout the action there is always the persistent presence of death; that this group of pensioners having such a wonderful time will soon be broken up. The film has a tragi-comic ending, which perhaps takes longer than it should to unfold (rather too many dance-sequences intercut with long close-ups of one actor), but eventually we understand how and why the hotel has become such a success, giving people the chance to flourish rather than to fester away in some anonymous looking retirement home.

The Couchpotatoes First of all drama's are not my favorite movies to watch. It's just not my kind of soup. But since I saw the first one and that I didn't really hated it I thought about giving this one a go. And honestly the first one was better. There is not much enjoyable to watch in the second one. Unless you like to watch old people with a quite boring life and that for two hours long. I don't get why old people also want to start working at their age instead of trying to enjoy their last days on earth. And being uncertain of dying alone or with a partner. What's the point of that? Two hours I had to endure this. Don't get me wrong, the actors are all good, the filming is good, but the story is just boring. Unless you like boring stuff like that. Then you will like it. I also don't get why it is categorized as comedy because I didn't laugh once. I couldn't, even if I would try hard.

KineticSeoul I enjoyed the first one much better, but this sequel still carries certain essence from the first film. It's not a film I would watch again, but I personally thought it was a worthwhile watch. It doesn't have the endearing, wonderful, magical and enriching experience the first one had. However this one goes in a more realistic direction, with the main message of acceptance and letting go in this journey called life. The performances in this is great and very charming, however the character that stood out the most to me in this film this time around is Sonny Kapur (Dev Patel). Sure, some audiences could think of him as this selfish and whinny. But I personally thought his flaws made this character stand out, maybe it's because of the empathetic side of me. But the story that revolved around Sonny Kapur stood out to me the most. Although the dialogue and conversations isn't really all that memorable or impactful, unlike the first film where I wanted to jot down some of the quotes on paper. The main plot revolving around the hotel is very generic and has been done before, except it's done in a more adult like direction in this. Like I said, still has enough to make it a worthy sequel. Not a great sequel, but a worthy one.6/10