The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2015)

The sequel to a film nobody expected to become a phenomenon returns to Jaipur, where the Best Exotic Marigold Hotel has one vacancy and its proprietor, Sonny Kapoor, dreams of a second property. John Madden reassembles his troupe of distinguished British actors and lets them fret about romance, retirement, and real estate for two hours. Dev Patel works himself into a lather. Maggie Smith observes. The whole affair is as comfortable as a cardigan, and about as confrontational.

The film's relationship with its Indian setting is affectionate and entirely decorative. Jaipur supplies color, traffic, and a wedding, but the perspective stays that of the visiting expatriate, and the culture serves as a backdrop for other people's personal growth. The women in the ensemble make choices about work and marriage, and Judi Dench's character takes a job at seventy-nine, which is pleasant to watch and stops well short of any argument about the structures surrounding her. There is no queer thread, no environmental concern, no critique of the commercial expansion the plot celebrates. This is, in fact, a story about a small business seeking investment, and it regards that pursuit as admirable. The cast is stocked with established British thespians doing what they have always done, which is its own kind of tradition.

Nothing here lectures. No speech explains how things ought to be, no attempt is made to correct the historical record, and there is no interest in bodies, brains, or the climate. The film offers charm, and charm is not a political program. It is a sequel, it is amiable, and it asks nothing of its audience beyond a willingness to spend time with fine actors in a warm place. On the scale of cultural instruction, it is inert. That may be its greatest achievement.