Of course, The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel is the sequel to the original film. The gist of the first was a collection of pensioners in England who chose to move to Jaipur, India, on the promise of a nice relaxing set of golden years. Instead, their accommodations are far from perfect, so they struggle to make the best of an awful situation. The hotel’s condition is essentially their own. Do they accept their fate, or do they overcome it? The first movie ended on a positive note.

The Second Best… picks up a few months after the first. Sonny (Dev Patel) and Muriel (Maggie Smith) have managed to get the hotel into decent shape, and are looking to expand into providing more such facilities. They travel to San Diego to meet with an American corporation who funds retirement communities, to form a partnership.

Sonny and Sunaina became engaged, and the wedding is near. An old boyfriend of Sunaina appears, and interferes with Sonny’s plans to expand the business. New Guests arrive at the hotel, including Guy(Richard Gere), who Sonny guesses is an inspector for the company they are trying to do business with. The other guests are thriving, but failing in some ways to get their lives in order. It’s difficult to address these events without giving away too much.

This is a fine movie. The dialogue is really well written, and these actors give the words the appropriate gravitas. There’s one exchange between Muriel and Evelyn (Judi Densch) that really sunk home, and I doubt any other actresses could’ve done that scene as well. While this movie is a bit schmaltzy, and some of the revelations are telegraphed, I still recommend this film.