Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, The

image for Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, The

Short takes

Not recommended under 12; parental guidance 12-14 (sexual references and lack of interest for young viewers)

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This topic contains:

  • overall comments and recommendations
  • details of classification and consumer advice lines for Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, The
  • a review of Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, The completed by the Australian Council on Children and the Media (ACCM) on 3 March 2015.

Overall comments and recommendations

Children under 12 Not recommended due to sexual references and lack of interest for this age group
Children 12 to 14 Parental guidance recommended due to sexual references
Children 14 and over OK for this age group

About the movie

This section contains details about the movie, including its classification by the Australian Government Classification Board and the associated consumer advice lines. Other classification advice (OC) is provided where the Australian film classification is not available.

Name of movie: Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, The
Classification: PG
Consumer advice lines: Mild coarse language and sexual references
Length: 122 minutes

ACCM review

This review of the movie contains the following information:

A synopsis of the story

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel has been such a success for Sonny Kapoor (Dev Patel) that he is now facing the problem of running out of rooms for the ‘elderly and the beautiful’. Muriel (Maggie Smith), now the assistant-manager, and Sonny travel to the US to raise funds to buy another hotel.

Two new guests arrive at the hotel, Guy (Richard Gere) and Lavinia (Tamsin Grieg) causing a dilemma as there is only one vacant room. Sonny immediately believes that Guy has been sent to inspect the hotel and offers him the best room in the hotel. Sonny is frantically trying to impress Guy while arranging his wedding plans to his fiancé Sunaina (Tina Desai).

Meanwhile the relationships of the residents are becoming more entangled. Evelyn and Douglas (Judy Dench and Bill Nighy) are both hesitant about moving their relationship on, while Norman and Carol (Ronald Pickup and Diana Hardcastle) both think the other is having an affair and Madge (Celia Imrie) has to choose between two suitors. Trying to manage all of this is proving difficult for Sonny who moves from one disaster to another but eventually finds a way solve all his problems.

Themesinfo

Children and adolescents may react adversely at different ages to themes of crime, suicide, drug and alcohol dependence, death, serious illness, family breakdown, death or separation from a parent, animal distress or cruelty to animals, children as victims, natural disasters and racism. Occasionally reviews may also signal themes that some parents may simply wish to know about.

Relationships; ageing

Use of violenceinfo

Research shows that children are at risk of learning that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution when violence is glamourised, performed by an attractive hero, successful, has few real life consequences, is set in a comic context and / or is mostly perpetrated by male characters with female victims, or by one race against another.

Repeated exposure to violent content can reinforce the message that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution. Repeated exposure also increases the risks that children will become desensitised to the use of violence in real life or develop an exaggerated view about the prevalence and likelihood of violence in their own world.

There is no physical violence but there is some arguing between Sonny and Sunaina

Material that may scare or disturb children

Under fiveinfo

Children under five are most likely to be frightened by scary visual images, such as monsters, physical transformations.

Nothing of concern

Aged five to eightinfo

Children aged five to eight will also be frightened by scary visual images and will also be disturbed by depictions of the death of a parent, a child abandoned or separated from parents, children or animals being hurt or threatened and / or natural disasters.

Nothing of concern

Aged eight to thirteeninfo

Children aged eight to thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic threats and dangers, violence or threat of violence and / or stories in which children are hurt or threatened.

  • Carol nearly gets hit by a car
  • Norman thinks he may have accidentally taken out ‘a hit’ on his girlfriend.

Thirteen and overinfo

Children over the age of thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic physical harm or threats, molestation or sexual assault and / or threats from aliens or the occult.

Nothing of concern

Product placement

The following products are displayed or used in this movie:

  • Sony and Toshiba computers

Sexual references

There are some sexual references in this movie, including:

  • Sonny thinks Guy is so handsome that he questions his own sexuality.
  • The Viceroy club has bedrooms for when ‘members get tired or fortunate’.
  • Douglas won’t admit to committing adultery to his ex-wife who then asks if Evelyn doesn’t fancy him.
  • Carol has been having affairs with other men because she thinks Norman is.

Nudity and sexual activity

None of concern

Use of substances

Social drinking at a variety of events

Coarse language

There is some coarse language in this movie, including:

  • bloody; piss; Oh God; bum; screwing up; Jesus; piss off

 

In a nutshell

The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel is a delightful, star-studded comedy, which displays the rich tapestry and brilliant colours of India at its best and worse. The movie will appeal to older teens and adults.  Although there is nothing particularly disturbing for younger viewers, the movie is very long and the themes are unlikely to hold their interest.

The main messages from this movie are:

  • Don't make assumptions about people by outward appearances
  • You are never too old to enjoy yourself.

Values in this movie that parents may wish to reinforce with their children include respect for other cultures