Customer Reviews

Outsourced

5 star:		(31)
4 star:		(27)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is an entertaining, light-hearted, and honest look at India from an American perspective.

I visited India (New Delhi) three times this summer (and counting..) for business projects, and I was able to watch this movie twice during the course of my flights. With each viewing I smiled and laughed at the way the American characters adapted after their first few "transition" days in India, and how the Indian characters earnestly tried to make them feel welcome.

As a previous reviewer mentioned, the movie doesn't mention the grittier side of India, such as the huge slum bordering the Mumbai (Bombay) airport, or the muddy, pot-holed, trash-filled streets and sidewalks of every town. However, it does shows the predominantly sweet nature of the Indian people which IMO is one of an India traveler's best rewards.

Aside, if you are planning to travel to India for the first time, take anti-malaria pills with you, a couple rolls of your favorite toilet paper, a phone that works in the 091 country code, and an openness of different cultures. Also, sit in the back seat of your hired car, because the view out the front will be like a widescreen viewing of the craziest "close-but-no-contact demolition derby" you've ever seen. Most, but not all, of these points are implied in the movie.

I recommend watching this movie after your trip, you will probably appreciate the movie more than if you watch it before. If you watch it before your trip, make sure you watch it again when you get back!

This film is not your typical Bollywood although it is set in India. A sweet and insightful film, it looks at the impact of outsourcing, not just on Americans but others also as we continue our "race to the bottom" economically speaking. In addition the ethnic differences are dealt with humorously but make a point about how much we in the U.S. don't understand other cultures and how enriching it can be to open ourselves up. Throw in a love story (not a chick flick, though), a "hero" that is just an ordinary guy, along with the great location - both beautiful and painful to see at times (the conditions of the "lower" castes)- and the movie is very compelling. I just loved it. Not a "great" as in a "big" movie, but great in the way that a small, quiet yet powerful film is.

What a great find! This is a charming comedy that mixes cross-cultural faux pas with romance. India offers a rich canvas for this original plot. Some scenes were so funny and memorable that we replayed them after watching the film. They were still funny the second time around. I highly recommend this film that will please both men and women.

Funny, sweet and also really cool to see the REAL India on film....without having to take a 20 hour flight. I'm giving this movie to friends who travel; not sure how I missed it in theaters. Would certainly like to see more of the beautiful and talented Ms. Dharker.

I have just returned from India on a business trip. My company has recently opened an engineering department in India and I am on a project using 1/2 American and 1/2 Indian engineers.

I saw the movie on a Luthansa flight on the way home.

This was a wonderful presentation on what it means to do business in India! It's intelligent, well written and entertaining. And, true!

I heard and saw so much in the movie that was part of my own experience. The incomplete buildings, the ramshackle wiring, the cultural divice between east and west.

And, let me not forget to mention, the wonderful people of India! Charming, intelligent, hard working and polite.

See it before you travel!

My only criticism, and not a sharp one, is that no comments were made on the litter and trash on every street or on the thickly polluted air in the big cities.

A few others have said that this is a charming and/or delightful film, and I really don't want to use the same words, but being a bit short on a theasarus at the moment (yeah, yeah, I could fire up the word processor, use the theasarus function there, etc., but why do that when I'd rather have a nice Hindi word to use instead? ;-) ) I think I'll stick with those words.

This is a funny film while also being sweet and charming, but not overly so. It's a typical fish out of water tale, but with a nice modern twist. Take a customer service manager that is comfortable with his existence in a call center in the United States and force him to go run the companies new call center that has been Outsourced to India. Seems simple enough, take a few days, go check out the center and make the required improvements and then climb on the plane and go back home. If only it was that simple.

U.S. citizens tend to think of the world revolving around them and the United States, but that is far from the truth. If you've seen any episodes of the reality TV series Amazing Race you may have learned a bit about the rest of the world and also may have learned about how bad U.S. citizens can behave while visiting the rest of the world. Many times we (U.S. citizens) assume that the rest of the world should automatically understand and speak U.S. English. We also assume that the U.S. dollar should be good everywhere, and that we can find our choices of food items everywhere we go. Such is really not the case, as is evidenced by the realism that shines through this film with comedic flare.

This is a great film to watch whether or not you ever had the priviledge of traveling outside the U.S. or not. If you are lucky, you might have friends and co-workers that are immigrants. I have had just that experience, with a former co-worker that is from India. Having seen this film streamed from the by-mail/internet disc rental company on my gaming console with the green X on the controller, I was very happy to be able to show them that co-worker and her family the movie while visiting one afternoon. She and her husband (also from India) both thoroughly enjoyed telling myself and my family about how realistic things were in the film.

I would dearly love to have this film on Blu-ray or the now defunct HD DVD format. It's a very good film, and for some it might even hit the status of great. It is certainly well worth viewing, and would be a definite buy on Blu-ray (if it was available) if that was possible. On DVD, well, I'm holding out for now in the hopes it eventually comes out on Blu-ray, but at the right price it would be a nice addition to anyone's collection.

This is not our parents' Ugly American. A fish out of water story, yes, but this fish learns to swim, and this really looks and sounds and feels like India. I love the little kid who keeps stealing his cell phone, I love the meal on the street as his new friends share what they have with him, I love the way the dishes get washed, I love the holy day -- "Mr. Todd, do not go out today!" What a little gem.

It's rare to find a film that feels as real as this one. The story is as predictable as life is. Cliches, by definition, lack imagination and heart, and this film has both in spades. Excellent film for discussions of multiculturalism, globalism, and what it means to be human these days.

While I enjoyed this film, I have to say that it did not make the most of either its characters, who were mercilessly bland, or the setting. The premise was wonderful: A young marketing executive finds that his entire department has been outsourced to India. In order to keep his job (and his stock options), he needs to fly to India to train his replacement. With this kind of set-up, the opportunity for inter-cultural gags and misunderstandings was enormous.

So, why wasn't this movie funnier, more poignant, more touching, more quirky, more everything? For one thing, the acting was thoroughly uninspired. Although the Indian cast did its best, the Americans sounded bored with their lines. I can't say that I blame them. The lackluster writing contributed quite a bit to the general lack of flavor in this film, but so did the directing. Scenes which might have generated some tension sounded like read-throughs rather than performances. The unrelenting predictability of the plot certainly didn't help. How difficult could it have been to come up with ONE original plot point? The scene in which the young couple was forced to share a pink, heart-shaped bed at the Kamasutra Hotel actually made me groan.

On the bright side, the film was nicely shot. India is a cameraman's paradise. You simply can't get enough of the colors, the activity, the vitality of the place. India, glorious India, was only thing that kept me watching.

If you like light-hearted romantic comedies, this is one to see. The cross-cultural differences in business, family, social, and romantic relationships provide a number of funny moments and an enjoyable story.

Josh Hamilton and Ayesha Dharker find that working together in India to improve productivity in a mediocre call center not only stirs the passions of these 2 stellar producers but also gets the attention of the corporate execs back in the States.

4+ stars.