Outsourced (2006)

When Seattle employee Todd Anderson (Josh Hamilton) finds out his fulfillment team at Western Novelty is being outsourcing to India, he has seconds to decide whether or no to go there himself and train his successor at the call center or lose his job.

When we see him next, he has landed in Bombay and is assaulted by the new smells, colors and chaos. As he makes India’s acquaintance, he likes it less and less. Idealistic and excited Purohit (Asif Basra), future call center manager, finds Todd as he arrives from Bombay. Cultural nuances follow as we learn that Todd has ventured to India without any cultural preparedness. As he opens up to India, his experiences change.

Josh Hamilton masters facial expression control and anchors Outsourced as the metamorphosing lead. We learn about Indian culture in thoughtful ways that don’t ridicule the characters or dumb down the story. You get the Indian perspective on experiencing training at the hands of foreigners who know nothing about India. Expect culturally specific humor rich in confusion and social commentary. The ending is not the usual saccharin type for this sort of dram/rom/com hybrid; you want things to work out for Todd but it’s alright that it doesn’t serve up a half-baked ending. Savory plot twists abound.

Director: John Jeffcoat

Country: USA

Genre: Drama-Comedy

Run time: 99 minutes

Scale: 3.5