Rich in Love 2 2023 Movie Review
While 2020’s Rich in Love was an uplifting romantic comedy about a spoilt brat finding true love in a kind doctor, its sequel is not remotely close to that. In all honesty, its sequel is more of an entrepreneurial filler, and unfortunately, not even a good one. Unlike the first film, Teto and Paula’s relationship just felt incomplete and out of place.
Rich in Love 2 is a Portuguese-language film written and directed by Bruno Garotti. Like its predecessor, this too stars Danilo Mesquita and Giovanna Lancellotti as the lovebirds, Teto and Paula. But unlike Rich in Love, the new movie takes place in the Amazon Rainforest instead of Brazil.
“When Paula leaves Rio de Janeiro to resume her work as a volunteer doctor in the Amazon, Teto hatches an impulsive plan to follow her — and chaos ensues.”
Although it is not mandatory to watch Rich in Love to understand its sequel, it will certainly help. The first film saw Teto as the spoiled son of a ketchup businessman who pretends to be poor. He falls in love with a young doctor called Paula, but unfortunately, she had to move to the Amazon Rainforest to volunteer as a doctor.
This new film starts right where the first film ended, with Paula leaving Rio de Janeiro and moving to the Amazon with another male doctor called Dr. Tawan. Back at home, Teto had opened his own sub-company called Teto Fresco under his father’s banner. But his father decided to close this brand and give him the responsibility of handling the entire company.
A heartbroken Teto quit and decided to follow Paula and be with her. It was here that he discovered his love for the tomato business. This just comes out of the blue, as anyone who would go into a film’s sequel would expect some continuity from the first movie. Unfortunately, Rich in Love 2 is completely out of place and sometimes even hard to understand.
There is hardly any emphasis on Teto and Paula’s story. The filmmakers even tried to turn it into a love triangle at the time with the introduction of Dr. Tawan, but that too seemed like a failed experiment. Paula and Dr. Tawan shared almost no chemistry, and in all seriousness, neither did Paula and Teto.
Teto and Paula even saw many problems in their relationship, but for some bizarre reason, they always patched things up. There was also no proper explanation as to why this relationship was having so many ups and downs. Furthermore, it is extremely weird to see so much emphasis on Teto’s passion for tomatoes and ways to make a living out of them. They could have just made a spinoff about his father if they wanted to emphasize this part.
Many subplots even felt completely out of place, especially the part where Tito gets involved with the tribal Amazonians and his rivalry with the “Tomato” gangster head. Rich in Love 2 was a reflection of Tito’s personal growth and his efforts to build his empire. It’s a one-time watch, but it’s highly recommended not to go into it with major expectations.
