Outsourced Movie Review

The offshoring of U.S. jobs remains a hot topic in the news... and now it's a hot topic in the movies, too. (At least four projects called Outsourced have been produced in the last three years alone!)

Everyman Josh Hamilton carries this premise handily: His game of computer Solitaire is interrupted by his boss, who's telling him the customer service call center he manages is being shipped overseas, to India. If Todd (Hamilton) wants to keep his job, he'll fly over there and train the new folks, getting their time-per-call numbers down to something more profitable.

What follows is plenty of the expected culture shock as Todd deals with stomach ailments, busted infrastructure, language barriers, and other stranger-in-a-strange-land difficulties once he sets foot in India. It's funny enough, but nothing much we haven't seen before. But Outsourced soon also becomes a romance, as Todd falls for his #1 rep Asha (Ayesha Dharker), a headstrong woman who questions authority (insomuch as the culture allows) and proves to be more than a match for Todd's redneck-focused cultural lessons, spinning the process right back at him. (A memorable moment has each person imitating the stereotype of the other, with impressive comedic results.)

For a film shot almost entirely on location in India, Outsourced is a tiny movie that ultimately says more about how easy it is to cross cultural divides than it does about the evils of globalism and corporate greed. (That's probably for the best... do we really need another one of those movies?) No, it's not your meet-cute Reese Witherspoon/Kate Hudson rom-com, but if you're looking for a humble movie with a lot of genuine heart, Outsourced has more than enough to go around.