The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
Fox Searchlight Pictures | Release Date: March 6, 2015 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
51
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 36 Critic Reviews
Positive:
16
Mixed:
18
Negative:
2
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
80
EmpireNev PierceFeb 23, 2015
An entirely charming extension of the most unlikely franchise, gently handling big themes and dissolving cynicism with laughter. Maggie Smith is superb. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleThomas LeeMar 5, 2015
I would gladly see the movie again, if just to see Smith do her trademark grumpy English thing. Read full review
75
ObserverRex ReedMar 4, 2015
The senior set deserves a few crumpets with their tea, and Part Two, which takes up where the original left off, aims to satisfy. Read full review
70
Village VoiceStephanie ZacharekMar 3, 2015
In the end, listing this sequel’s flaws and charms is a loser’s game, and I throw up my hands: I just had fun, maybe mostly because watching these actors brings me so much joy. There’s nothing second best about that, or about them. Read full review
70
VarietyPeter DebrugeFeb 17, 2015
It’s not so common to find an ensemble of this caliber so enthusiastic to work together, and that chemistry comes across. Read full review
67
Entertainment WeeklyChris NashawatyMar 6, 2015
Predictable, corny, and mild. Read full review
67
Christian Science MonitorPeter RainerMar 6, 2015
If Hollywood must have franchises, we could do worse than one highlighting people who have lived a long life and are not on altogether friendly terms with technology. But imagine what this cast could do with something less tutti-frutti! Read full review
67
The A.V. ClubA.A. Dowd Mar 4, 2015
True to its title, The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel is a mildly inferior sequel, diluting the modest charms of its predecessor. Said charms do remain, however. Read full review
67
The PlaylistKimber MyersMar 4, 2015
Smith, Nighy, and Dench aren’t delivering audacious, reaching performances here, but there’s still plenty of charm and authenticity. Read full review
63
Philadelphia InquirerSteven ReaMar 6, 2015
All manner of subplots weave their way through the film, which teems with "colorful" characters and saccharine cliches. But, like the first film, it's next to impossible not to find diversion in the company of such stalwarts as Dench and Nighy and Smith. And George Thorogood is, happily, never heard from again. Read full review
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Liam LaceyMar 5, 2015
Once again, a first-rate cast helps slightly elevate this sentimental Britcom. Read full review
63
USA TodayClaudia PuigMar 5, 2015
More like a serving of lukewarm treacle than savory tikka masala. Read full review
63
Miami HeraldConnie OgleMar 5, 2015
You can’t shake the feeling the script is trying too hard to please, upping the drama despite the fact that what made the first film so enjoyable was its relative simplicity. Read full review
63
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsMar 5, 2015
The movie's smooth to the point of blandness, but its faces really do tell a story. And having Gere's silverly mane share the same film with Strathairn's is almost too much fabulous hair for one diversion. Read full review
63
Rolling StonePeter TraversMar 5, 2015
Dench and Nighy are class personified. The secret here is merely to luxuriate in the pleasure of their company. Read full review
63
Slant MagazineElise NakhnikianMar 3, 2015
Like its predecessor, the film is a charming example of what great actors can do with mediocre material. Read full review
60
Arizona RepublicBarbara VanDenburghMar 5, 2015
It's asked in the film, "How many new lives can we have?" The answer, it turns, is however many we want. And as long as Dench, Smith, Nighy and Imrie stick around, the same probably is true of "Marigold" movies. Read full review
60
CineVueAllie GemmillFeb 26, 2015
John Madden's The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel offers just as much joy, heart and chuckles as its hugely successful predecessor. Read full review
60
Time Out LondonDave CalhounFeb 23, 2015
Luckily, there are just enough truths about ageing beneath its corny, farcical surface. Also, it’s hard not to enjoy two hours in the company of this cast. Read full review
60
The TelegraphRobbie CollinFeb 18, 2015
We all know Smith can deliver barbs like blow-darts, but Parker’s screenplay gives her a too-rare chance to do something more – and when she delivers a bittersweet, profound monologue towards the end of the film, it feels like you’re watching a classic Ferrari reach the end of an average speed check zone and whistle off into the distance. Read full review
58
Portland OregonianJeff BakerMar 5, 2015
Also effective is the romance between Gere and Lillete Dubey, an Indian actor who play's Patel's mother. Read full review
50
Los Angeles TimesMark OlsenMar 5, 2015
The film has only the sheer charm of its cast to get it by, and it says a lot about the actors that they nearly pull it off. Read full review
50
Washington PostAnn HornadayMar 5, 2015
Thanks to its funny, attractive, emotionally on-point cast, The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel puts the lie to F. Scott Fitzgerald’s pronouncement about life having no second acts. In fact, it goes one step further to question why on Earth anyone would stop at just two. Read full review
50
St. Louis Post-DispatchJoe WilliamsMar 5, 2015
If you can’t guess that the whole thing ends with a big dance number, you’ve been snoozing in your samosas. Read full review
50
Movie NationRoger MooreMar 4, 2015
Director John Madden and his crew make India the most alluring, scrubbing any hint of squalor from Jaipur, and filming in the cooler months. Nobody sweats. That means that this time, this “Exotic” hotel is more a place to check into briefly, in passing, and not the sort of place you’d want to lose yourself in. Read full review
50
The DissolveKeith PhippsMar 4, 2015
Where the first film kept insisting that drama and liveliness need not disappear in the golden years, its sequel feels almost like a rebuttal. Hopefully everyone involved will find something better to do before this unexpected franchise opens up a third location. Read full review
42
Tampa Bay TimesSteve PersallMar 5, 2015
The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel is a downgrade from the first, doing lots of thing wrong that 2012's sleeper hit did right. Read full review
40
Total FilmKate StablesMar 9, 2015
This genial, over-stuffed return boasts more national treasures than the British Museum. But tinny plots and predictable scripting mean it lives up to its title. Read full review
40
New Orleans Times-PicayuneMike ScottMar 6, 2015
"Second Best" might not be second-rate, but neither is it the match of the first "Best Exotic Marigold Hotel." Read full review
40
Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternMar 5, 2015
Even the Bollywood ending, a pleasant echo of “Slumdog Millionaire,” is intercut with darker reminders of dwindling days. Much of this sequel is clumsy, and awfully silly, but consistently shallow it is not. Read full review
40
The New York TimesStephen HoldenMar 5, 2015
In aggressively sunny picker-uppers like the Marigold movies, there is a thin line between adorable and insufferable. And in the second “Marigold,” Mr. Patel has succumbed to his tendency toward cuteness. Read full review
40
New York Daily NewsJoe NeumaierMar 4, 2015
Yes, there are good moments from a team of veteran British actors, but overall, this return visit to the 2012 gray-set rom-com is deadly dull. Read full review
40
Austin ChronicleMarc SavlovMar 4, 2015
The appearance of Richard Gere as a new guest whom everybody assumes is a plant from the multinational hotel chain that Muriel and Sonny have been wooing is straight out of the “Hotel Inspectors” episode of Fawlty Towers. Where’s John Cleese when you really need him? Read full review
40
The Hollywood ReporterLeslie FelperinFeb 17, 2015
The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel is a sluggish also-ran compared to its predecessor. Read full review
38
RogerEbert.comChristy LemireMar 5, 2015
The result feels strained and slapped together, crammed as it is with silly mistaken identities and misunderstandings, adolescent jealousies and slapstick jokes. It’s a sitcom in a sari. Read full review
38
New York PostLou LumenickMar 4, 2015
This sequel sorely misses the presence of Tom Wilkinson, whose out-of-the-closet character grounded the first film (but died at the end). Read full review
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