Outsourced (2008)
Director: John Jeffcoat
Studio: Ocean Park 1060
Video: Enhanced for 16:9 color
Audio: English & Hindi DD 5.1, DD 2.0
Extras: Behind the Scenes featurette, Music Video, Storyboard featurette, Audio commentary by director, Interview with director, Theatrical trailer
Length: 103 minutes
Rating: *****
A charming and sweet film which is certainly not your typical Bollywood film even though most of it takes place in India. With more and more American companies doing business in India, it could serve as a fine introduction to staff going there, as well as being quite entertaining. Josh Hamilton plays a junior exec sent by his boss to Mumbai to train his own replacement there for a company doing phone sales of kitschy Americana gifts. Todd’s misadventures start out on the crowded train to Mumbai, then missing the person sent to pick him up because the man was holding a sign saying “Mr. Toad.”
Todd has great difficulty bridging the cultural divide, in spite of the cordiality of most of the Indian people. He demonstrates how much we don’t appreciate other cultures than our own. He finally follows the advice of a fellow older American working in the same industry there and gives himself over to the Indian way of life. In the process he finds not only himself but also a pleasurable “vacation in Goa.” (You’ll have to see the film to understand that.) Not a blockbuster film, but full of quietly intelligent observations. The extras are as illuminating as the feature; it was the director’s first feature and he was shooting in India – quite a challenge.
– John Sunier