Entertainment
Film Review: ‘The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel’
Tina Desai and Dev Patel in The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (Courtesy Photo)
By Dwight Brown
NNPA Film Critic
The original Best Exotic Marigold Hotel was so magical: British retirees looking for a place to nest were hoodwinked by fancy brochures into taking up residence in a boutique hotel in Jaipur, India. It turned out to be a dump. Yet, they made that hovel a home and became an extended family. That film had charm and lots of fans ($136 million at the box office). This follow-up takes those endearing pensioners a bit farther down the road.
Sonny Kapoor (Dev Patel), the over-excited 20-something manager of The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel and Muriel Donnelly (Maggie Smith), the elder co-manager, head to the States to wrangle financing for a new hotel. They make their pitch to a hospitality chain and are warned that before investment dollars can flow their way, a representative will visit their first property for an inspection.
Back in Jaipur, Sonny and Muriel are on pins and needles waiting for the inspector. They have one room left to rent and two guests show up. An Englishwomen named Lavinia (Tamsin Greig) books that last room. But when a gray-haired, distinguishing looking American named Guy (Richard Gere) arrives, Sonny thinks he is the advance man and gives Lavina’s room to him. He treats the Yank like a king, and the Brit like a vagrant. But could Sonny be wrong?
Ol Parker is back as the screenwriter, and John Madden returns as the director. Both try to give this sequel the same feel as the first, but they’ve run out of ideas. Buying a new hotel seems like a giddy capitalistic exploit. Tossing in an impending marriage for Sonny to his sweetheart Sunaina (Tina Desai) is not more than a distraction. The ongoing relationships between the other retirees evolve: Evelyn (Judi Dench) buys and sells fabric, Douglas (Bill Nighy) gives guided tours and the two still flirt. Norman (Ronald Pickup) and Carol (Diana Hardcastle) are negotiating their monogamous relationship while cruising anyone who gives them attention. And Madge (Celia Imrie) is dating (bedding) two wealthy Indian men, unable to choose either.
The hotel inspector mix-up is a red herring. Sonny’s anxiety over his wedding and a romantic rival is convoluted hype. The relationships between the hotel guests have run out of gas. The only subplot that catches fire has Guy courting Sonny’s overbearing mom (Lillete Dubey), but their shenanigans are largely kept off screen.
Madden’s direction, this time around, tends toward high-pitched romantic comedy of errors. What’s lacking from the script and his guidance is real drama, an element that gave the first Exotic Hotel depth. Also, the original production was so gritty you could feel the dust on your skin. This film is so glossy looking (cinematographer Ben Smithard, production designer Martin Childs) half the footage looks like it was filmed on a Hollywood lot.
Minus a script with gravitas, Dev Patel’s once charming animated portrayal of Sonny, feels like desperate, swing-for-the-rafters acting. Smith is too subdued and her verbal barbs at Dench have lost their bite. Gere’s performance doesn’t jazz up the cast, except he gives Celia Imrie, as the always-in-heat Madge, the opportunity to blurt out, “Be still my ovaries.” Overall, the ensemble cast still includes top-notch actors, but the material fails them.
Nonetheless, this film has its moments and it builds to a crescendo that is fun. The obligatory Bollywood dance scene works its magic. The Indian setting is still charming and off the beaten path. If the producers are contemplating a third chapter they would be wise to bring back some life-and-death situations that will give the characters a pulse.
This Exotic Hotel is likable. The first Exotic Hotel was lovable. That’s the difference.
Visit NNPA Film Critic Dwight Brown at DwightBrownInk.com
Activism
Oakland Post: Week of April 17 – 23, 2024
The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of April 17 – 23, 2024
To enlarge your view of this issue, use the slider, magnifying glass icon or full page icon in the lower right corner of the browser window. 
Entertainment
O.J. Simpson, 76, Dies of Prostate Cancer
Orenthal James (O.J.) Simpson, who rose to fame as a college football player who went on to the NFL and parlayed his talents in acting and sportscasting, succumbed to prostate cancer on April 10, his family announced.
By Post Staff
Orenthal James (O.J.) Simpson, who rose to fame as a college football player who went on to the NFL and parlayed his talents in acting and sportscasting, succumbed to prostate cancer on April 10, his family announced.
Born and raised in San Francisco, the Galileo High School graduate was recruited by the University of Southern California after he was on a winning Junior College All-American team.
At USC, he gained wide acclaim as a running back leading to him becoming the No. 1 pick in the AFL-NFL draft in 1969 and joining the Buffalo Bills, where he had demanded – and received — the largest contract in professional sports history: $650,000 over five years. In 1978, the Bills traded Simpson to his hometown team, the San Francisco 49ers, retiring from the game in 1979.
Simpson’s acting career had begun before his pro football career with small parts in 1960s TV (“Dragnet”) before “Roots” and film (“The Klansman,” “The Towering Inferno,” Capricorn One”).
He was also a commentator for “Monday Night Football,” and “The NFL on NBC,” and in the mid-1970s Simpson’s good looks and amiability made him, according to People magazine, “the first b\Black athlete to become a bona fide lovable media superstar.”
The Hertz rent-a-car commercials raised his recognition factor while raising Hertz’s profit by than 50%, making him critical to the company’s bottom line.
It could be said that even more than his success as a football star, the commercials of his running through airports endeared him to the Black community at a time when it was still unusual for a Black person to represent a national, mainstream company.
He remained on Hertz team into the 1990s while also getting income endorsing Pioneer Chicken, Honey Baked Ham and Calistoga water company products and running O.J. Simpson Enterprises, which owned hotels and restaurants.
He married childhood sweetheart Marguerite Whitley when he was 19 and became the father of three children. Before he divorced in 1979, he met waitress and beauty queen Nicole Brown, who he would marry in 1985. A stormy relationship before, during and after their marriage ended, it would lead to a highway car chase as police sought to arrest Simpson for the murder by stabbing of Brown and her friend Ron Goldman in 1994.
The pursuit, arrest, and trial of Simpson were among the most widely publicized events in American history, Wikipedia reported.
Characterized as the “Trial of the Century,” he was acquitted by a jury in 1995 but found liable in the amount of $33 million in a civil action filed by the victims’ families three years later.
Simpson would be ensnared in the criminal justice system 12 years later when he was arrested after forcing his way into a Las Vegas hotel room to recover sports memorabilia he believed belonged to him.
In 2008, he received a sentence of 33 years and was paroled nine years later in 2017.
When his death was announced, Simpson’s accomplishments and downfalls were acknowledged.
Sports analyst Christine Brennan said: “… Even if you didn’t love football, you knew O.J. because of his ability to transcend sports and of course become the businessman and the pitchman that he was.
“And then the trial, and the civil trial, the civil case he lost, and the fall from grace that was extraordinary and well-deserved, absolutely self-induced, and a man that would never be seen the same again,” she added.
“OJ Simpson played an important role in exposing the racial divisions in America,” attorney Alan Dershowitz, an adviser on Simpson’s legal “dream team” told the Associated Press by telephone. “His trial also exposed police corruption among some officials in the Los Angeles Police Department. He will leave a mixed legacy. Great athlete. Many people think he was guilty. Some think he was innocent.”
“Cookie and I are praying for O.J. Simpson’s children … and his grandchildren following his passing. I know this is a difficult time,” Magic Johnson said on X.
“I feel that the system failed Nicole Brown Simpson and failed battered women everywhere,” attorney Gloria Allred, who once represented Nicole’s family, told ABC News. “I don’t mourn for O.J. Simpson. I do mourn for Nicole Brown Simpson and her family, and they should be remembered.”
Simpson was diagnosed with prostate cancer about a year ago and was undergoing chemotherapy treatment, according to Pro Football Hall of Fame President Jim Porter. He died in his Las Vegas, Nevada, home with his family at his side.
He is survived by four children: Arnelle and Jason from his first marriage and Sydney and Justin from his second marriage. He was predeceased son, Aaren, who drowned in a family swimming pool in 1979.
Sources for this report include Wikipedia, ABC News, Associated Press, and X.
Activism
Oakland Post: Week of April 10 – 16, 2024
The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of April 10 – 16, 2024
To enlarge your view of this issue, use the slider, magnifying glass icon or full page icon in the lower right corner of the browser window.
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Anti-Theft Bill with Jail-Time Requirement Gets Wide Ranging Support
Oakland WNBA Player to be Inducted Into Hall of Fame
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Entertainment
Film Review: ‘The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel’
Tina Desai and Dev Patel in The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (Courtesy Photo)
By Dwight Brown
NNPA Film Critic
The original Best Exotic Marigold Hotel was so magical: British retirees looking for a place to nest were hoodwinked by fancy brochures into taking up residence in a boutique hotel in Jaipur, India. It turned out to be a dump. Yet, they made that hovel a home and became an extended family. That film had charm and lots of fans ($136 million at the box office). This follow-up takes those endearing pensioners a bit farther down the road.
Sonny Kapoor (Dev Patel), the over-excited 20-something manager of The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel and Muriel Donnelly (Maggie Smith), the elder co-manager, head to the States to wrangle financing for a new hotel. They make their pitch to a hospitality chain and are warned that before investment dollars can flow their way, a representative will visit their first property for an inspection.
Back in Jaipur, Sonny and Muriel are on pins and needles waiting for the inspector. They have one room left to rent and two guests show up. An Englishwomen named Lavinia (Tamsin Greig) books that last room. But when a gray-haired, distinguishing looking American named Guy (Richard Gere) arrives, Sonny thinks he is the advance man and gives Lavina’s room to him. He treats the Yank like a king, and the Brit like a vagrant. But could Sonny be wrong?
Ol Parker is back as the screenwriter, and John Madden returns as the director. Both try to give this sequel the same feel as the first, but they’ve run out of ideas. Buying a new hotel seems like a giddy capitalistic exploit. Tossing in an impending marriage for Sonny to his sweetheart Sunaina (Tina Desai) is not more than a distraction. The ongoing relationships between the other retirees evolve: Evelyn (Judi Dench) buys and sells fabric, Douglas (Bill Nighy) gives guided tours and the two still flirt. Norman (Ronald Pickup) and Carol (Diana Hardcastle) are negotiating their monogamous relationship while cruising anyone who gives them attention. And Madge (Celia Imrie) is dating (bedding) two wealthy Indian men, unable to choose either.
The hotel inspector mix-up is a red herring. Sonny’s anxiety over his wedding and a romantic rival is convoluted hype. The relationships between the hotel guests have run out of gas. The only subplot that catches fire has Guy courting Sonny’s overbearing mom (Lillete Dubey), but their shenanigans are largely kept off screen.
Madden’s direction, this time around, tends toward high-pitched romantic comedy of errors. What’s lacking from the script and his guidance is real drama, an element that gave the first Exotic Hotel depth. Also, the original production was so gritty you could feel the dust on your skin. This film is so glossy looking (cinematographer Ben Smithard, production designer Martin Childs) half the footage looks like it was filmed on a Hollywood lot.
Minus a script with gravitas, Dev Patel’s once charming animated portrayal of Sonny, feels like desperate, swing-for-the-rafters acting. Smith is too subdued and her verbal barbs at Dench have lost their bite. Gere’s performance doesn’t jazz up the cast, except he gives Celia Imrie, as the always-in-heat Madge, the opportunity to blurt out, “Be still my ovaries.” Overall, the ensemble cast still includes top-notch actors, but the material fails them.
Nonetheless, this film has its moments and it builds to a crescendo that is fun. The obligatory Bollywood dance scene works its magic. The Indian setting is still charming and off the beaten path. If the producers are contemplating a third chapter they would be wise to bring back some life-and-death situations that will give the characters a pulse.
This Exotic Hotel is likable. The first Exotic Hotel was lovable. That’s the difference.
Visit NNPA Film Critic Dwight Brown at DwightBrownInk.com
Activism
Oakland Post: Week of April 17 – 23, 2024
The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of April 17 – 23, 2024
To enlarge your view of this issue, use the slider, magnifying glass icon or full page icon in the lower right corner of the browser window.
Entertainment
O.J. Simpson, 76, Dies of Prostate Cancer
Orenthal James (O.J.) Simpson, who rose to fame as a college football player who went on to the NFL and parlayed his talents in acting and sportscasting, succumbed to prostate cancer on April 10, his family announced.
By Post Staff
Orenthal James (O.J.) Simpson, who rose to fame as a college football player who went on to the NFL and parlayed his talents in acting and sportscasting, succumbed to prostate cancer on April 10, his family announced.
Born and raised in San Francisco, the Galileo High School graduate was recruited by the University of Southern California after he was on a winning Junior College All-American team.
At USC, he gained wide acclaim as a running back leading to him becoming the No. 1 pick in the AFL-NFL draft in 1969 and joining the Buffalo Bills, where he had demanded – and received — the largest contract in professional sports history: $650,000 over five years. In 1978, the Bills traded Simpson to his hometown team, the San Francisco 49ers, retiring from the game in 1979.
Simpson’s acting career had begun before his pro football career with small parts in 1960s TV (“Dragnet”) before “Roots” and film (“The Klansman,” “The Towering Inferno,” Capricorn One”).
He was also a commentator for “Monday Night Football,” and “The NFL on NBC,” and in the mid-1970s Simpson’s good looks and amiability made him, according to People magazine, “the first b\Black athlete to become a bona fide lovable media superstar.”
The Hertz rent-a-car commercials raised his recognition factor while raising Hertz’s profit by than 50%, making him critical to the company’s bottom line.
It could be said that even more than his success as a football star, the commercials of his running through airports endeared him to the Black community at a time when it was still unusual for a Black person to represent a national, mainstream company.
He remained on Hertz team into the 1990s while also getting income endorsing Pioneer Chicken, Honey Baked Ham and Calistoga water company products and running O.J. Simpson Enterprises, which owned hotels and restaurants.
He married childhood sweetheart Marguerite Whitley when he was 19 and became the father of three children. Before he divorced in 1979, he met waitress and beauty queen Nicole Brown, who he would marry in 1985. A stormy relationship before, during and after their marriage ended, it would lead to a highway car chase as police sought to arrest Simpson for the murder by stabbing of Brown and her friend Ron Goldman in 1994.
The pursuit, arrest, and trial of Simpson were among the most widely publicized events in American history, Wikipedia reported.
Characterized as the “Trial of the Century,” he was acquitted by a jury in 1995 but found liable in the amount of $33 million in a civil action filed by the victims’ families three years later.
Simpson would be ensnared in the criminal justice system 12 years later when he was arrested after forcing his way into a Las Vegas hotel room to recover sports memorabilia he believed belonged to him.
In 2008, he received a sentence of 33 years and was paroled nine years later in 2017.
When his death was announced, Simpson’s accomplishments and downfalls were acknowledged.
Sports analyst Christine Brennan said: “… Even if you didn’t love football, you knew O.J. because of his ability to transcend sports and of course become the businessman and the pitchman that he was.
“And then the trial, and the civil trial, the civil case he lost, and the fall from grace that was extraordinary and well-deserved, absolutely self-induced, and a man that would never be seen the same again,” she added.
“OJ Simpson played an important role in exposing the racial divisions in America,” attorney Alan Dershowitz, an adviser on Simpson’s legal “dream team” told the Associated Press by telephone. “His trial also exposed police corruption among some officials in the Los Angeles Police Department. He will leave a mixed legacy. Great athlete. Many people think he was guilty. Some think he was innocent.”
“Cookie and I are praying for O.J. Simpson’s children … and his grandchildren following his passing. I know this is a difficult time,” Magic Johnson said on X.
“I feel that the system failed Nicole Brown Simpson and failed battered women everywhere,” attorney Gloria Allred, who once represented Nicole’s family, told ABC News. “I don’t mourn for O.J. Simpson. I do mourn for Nicole Brown Simpson and her family, and they should be remembered.”
Simpson was diagnosed with prostate cancer about a year ago and was undergoing chemotherapy treatment, according to Pro Football Hall of Fame President Jim Porter. He died in his Las Vegas, Nevada, home with his family at his side.
He is survived by four children: Arnelle and Jason from his first marriage and Sydney and Justin from his second marriage. He was predeceased son, Aaren, who drowned in a family swimming pool in 1979.
Sources for this report include Wikipedia, ABC News, Associated Press, and X.
Activism
Oakland Post: Week of April 10 – 16, 2024
The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of April 10 – 16, 2024
To enlarge your view of this issue, use the slider, magnifying glass icon or full page icon in the lower right corner of the browser window.
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Activism4 weeks ago
Oakland Post: Week of March 27 – April 2, 2024
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#NNPA BlackPress4 weeks ago
COMMENTARY: D.C. Crime Bill Fails to Address Root Causes of Violence and Incarceration
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#NNPA BlackPress4 weeks ago
Mayor, City Council President React to May 31 Closing of Birmingham-Southern College
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#NNPA BlackPress4 weeks ago
Beloved Actor and Activist Louis Cameron Gossett Jr. Dies at 87
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Community1 week ago
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