Film Review: The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

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The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. Rated PG (mild coarse language and sexual references). 122 minutes. Directed by John Madden. Screenplay by Ol Parker.‬

Verdict: The magic of the Best Exotic Marigold Hotel refuses to fade.

When The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel became an unexpected smash hit of 2012, it was only a matter of time before a sequel would find its way onto the screen. The first film’s perfect mixture of wonderful performances from Britain’s finest actors (including Judi Dench, Maggie Smith, Bill Nighy and Tom Wilkinson) and its intoxicating Indian locations, ensured that audiences flocked to it.

It’s perfect blend of humour, romance, adventure, drama and quiet worldly contemplation found its way into the hearts of its audiences – and Australian audiences, in particular, loved it.

With his Best Exotic Marigold Hotel now at capacity, Sonny (Dev Patel) and Muriel (Maggie Smith) travel to America to try and secure finance to enable them to purchase another hotel to continue to build on their dream of owning a chain of Best Exotic Marigold Hotels. If the investors’ inspector approves of the new location, the funds will be provided. When a wealthy American, Guy (Richard Gere), arrives, Sonny believes him to be the inspector, and does everything he can to make sure that he will have no choice but to approve his plans for expansion.

There is no faulting the performances from the outstanding cast, most of who are reprising their roles. Patel is wonderfully entertaining as the desperately ambitious Sonny, and Maggie Smith is simply divine as Muriel. On the back of her popularity in Downtown Abbey, Smith has been enjoying a luxury of big screen opportunities recently, and she never disappoints. The camera adores her, and she
receives excellent support from the superb Dench and Nighy, both of whom play the delicate theme of finding genuine love, late in life, to absolute perfection.

This review was commissioned by the West Australian Newspaper Group.

Film Review: Arthur Christmas

Arthur Christmas. Rated G. 97 minutes. Directed by Sarah Smith. Screenplay by Peter Baynham and Sarah Smith.

Even in spite of the occasional lapses in pace and a mountain of exposition, it’s impossible not to be won over by the originality and abundant charms of this post-modern riff on the story of the Claus family – led by an utterly charming turn from James McAvoy (Wanted, Atonement, The Last King of Scotland) who provides the voice of the title character.

As Santa (Jim Broadbent) prepares for retirement, his uptight and ambitious eldest son Steve (Hugh Laurie), with the help of an army of elves, oversees the military operation that ensures children all over world receive their presents. When a glitch in the hi-tech, space-age delivery system results in a little girl’s bicycle failing to be delivered, the youngest son and black sheep of the family Arthur (Mr McAvoy), sets off with his Grandsanta (Bill Nighy) and elf Bryony (Ashley Jensen), a gift-wrapping expert, to deliver the present using more conventional (and reliable) methods.

The animation from Aardman (Wallace & Gromit, Chicken Run, Flushed Away) is typically full of singularly engaging, oddball characters and situations, and the departure from their celebrated plasticine-inspired, stop-motion animation techniques results in some glorious picture-book settings and sequences. The good, old-fashioned ‘reindeer and sleigh’ sequences are bravura displays of consummate skill – even if the screenplay does become a little too bogged-down in unwieldy complications.

With its mixture of sci-fi inspired logistics (the running gag about a recalcitrant GPS is hilarious) and the reliance on more trustworthy, if outmoded, methods of transport, Arthur Christmas makes some fine and important points about values, consumerism and the joys of Christmas for children. The scene where Arthur watches young Gwen discover her bicycle under the Christmas Tree is, simply, quite beautiful – and a timely reminder that, more often than not, giving can be equally as rewarding as receiving.

This review was commissioned by the Geraldton Newspaper Group and the print edition is included below.

Film Review: Wild Target

Wild Target. Rated M (Violence and infrequent coarse language). 98 minutes. Directed by Jonathan Lynn. Screenplay by Lucinda Coxon. Based on the French film Cible émouvante (1993), written and directed by Pierre Salvadori.

As quirky, British comedies go, Wild Target is a diverting little gem – thanks mostly to the charming performances of its leads Bill Nighy, Emily Blunt and Rupert Grint who, both individually and together, light up the screen with truck-loads of charisma.

Victor Maynard (Mr Nighy) is a professional hitman who finds himself increasingly captivated by his latest target – con-woman Rose (Ms Blunt). When it becomes obvious that Victor has no intention of carrying out the ‘hit’, another hitman, Hector Dixon (Martin Freeman), is sent to do the job instead. With young stoner Tony (Mr Grint) along for the ride, Victor and Rose escape to Victor’s country estate to hide and work out how they can resolve their major life-and-death problem.

Jonathan Lynn (perhaps better known as the writer and creator of the acclaimed British television series Yes, Minister, and Yes, Prime Minister), has the good sense to leave his actors alone and they never let him down. While it occasionally feels a little too conveniently contrived, Ms Coxon’s English-language version of the French original is pretty much a case of more hits than misses, and Nighy’s perfect comedic timing is absolutely delightful to behold.

Ms Blunt (The Devil Wears Prada, the unfortunate The Wolfman, the soon-to-be-released Gulliver's Travels) is fabulous as the feisty ‘wild’ target, while Mr Grint (currently also onscreen in his continuing role as Ron Weasley in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1) is totally endearing as the orphaned young apprentice who Victor takes under his wing (to tutor, yet again) in the hope that he might one day take his place in the ‘family business’. Dame Eileen Atkins absolutely revels in her wonderfully offbeat cameo as Victor’s not-to-be-trifled-with mother, Louisa.

While Wild Target occasionally drags its heels as far as pace and action is concerned, it is a perfectly entertaining distraction from the mayhem that signifies this time of year.

This review was commissioned by the Geraldton Newspaper Group.