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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A very entertaining romantic comedy but surprised there are not any special features on the DVD, April 2, 2009
An enjoyable romantic comedy bringing together Hollywood and Bollywood. Featuring beautiful cinematic shots of San Francisco and areas throughout India, an enjoyable storyline with a good dose of humor and wit. Shriya Saran just shines on this film!
The film directed by James Dodson ("Behind Enemy Lines II: Axis of Evil") and written by Tracey Jackson ("Confessions of a Shopaholic") comes a heartwarming and fun storyline that focuses on two individuals in opposite ends of the world.
The first is advertising exec Granger Woodruff (Jesse Metcalfe) who is working on the latest advertising campaign with his co-worker Mike for a major worldwide hotel. Unfortunately, the advertising commercial they have developed so far seems like they are promoting some type of escort service. With his luck starting to run out, he pleads with hotel owner Kit Hawksin (Larry Miller) to give him some time to come up with a good campaign and if he doesn't like it, he and Mike will quite the advertising firm.
For Granger, he's used to these type of challenges but in his personal life, he likes to have fun and dates one of New York's most popular socialites Emory Banks (Sara Foster) but at the same time, messes around with other women.
The second character the film focuses on is Priya Sethi (Shriya Saran), a woman living in Mumbai, India who enjoys American pop culture and works at a call center for City One Bank. Priya goes by the name of Jennifer David and a person supposedly living in the US (despite working at an Indian Call Center). She's able to speak without her Indian accent and sound like an American perfectly and she calls up Granger Woodruff due to suspicious activity on his credit card. Each time Priya tries to call, Granger is either on a date or making love to his girlfriend but Priya manages to get through to him during a day that Granger is sick.
Granger with his flirtatious nature starts having conversations with Priya and suddenly the two start having "business" conversations which lead to personal conversations on the phone.
Priya who sees a photo of Granger on the Internet is just happy when she has these conversations with him but her co-worker reminds her to not get too close to the customer and also that she is engaged, or more like arranged to marry a guy named Vikram who she has no interest in but with family traditions and for her family, she must marry this man.
When Granger invites Jennifer to meet up in San Francisco for a business trip, Priya feels that before she gets married, she wants to have one experience and that is to go to San Francisco and meet with Granger as her call center persona Jennifer David.
Priya then leaves to San Francisco to the dismay of her parents and both are excited to meet each other. But things don't go as expected for Priya. Looking beautiful and all ready to meet Granger, Granger who is expecting Jennifer avoids Priya and starts asking each Caucasian woman if they are Jennifer. Feeling jilted, Priya goes back to her hotel and doesn't know why she bothered traveling to San Francisco.
As for Granger, he feels that Jennifer stood him up and while he heads to the same hotel that Priya is staying, the two accidentally run into each other. Granger then helps Priya and from that point on, the two develop some chemistry and they go out on a date in San Francisco.
After another date with Priya, Granger introduces her to hotel owner, Kit Hawkson who is just amazed by Priya's beauty and how warm she is during conversation and is so pleased that he invites Granger and Priya to his party and even gives Priya a room to stay in his hotel.
Granger, starts to see something special with Priya and the two go on more dates and have fun in their days together as they go throughout San Francisco and have fun.
What Priya doesn't know is that her demanding father Rajeev Sethi (Anupam Kher) and the entire family are just scared out of their wits that some American has captured his daughter's attention and may cause problems with her engagement and her family goes to San Francisco to find her.
With both Granger and Priya starting to feel the attraction towards each other, will Granger find out that Priya is actually Jennifer David? And will he find out the truth that he is engaged? And will Priya find out that Granger may be attached to another woman? Are their feelings for each other genuine?
"The Other End of the Line" is an enjoyable romantic comedy bringing together both Western and Indian culture and thus giving a twist of finding romance with a total opposite, but also someone that lives in another country. Love can sometimes be complex!
In fact, the film is the first collaboration between major Indian film production studio Adlabs and America's MGM. Also, the film was produced by Indian-American Ashock Amritraj and Patrick Aiello.
VIDEO & AUDIO:
"The Other End of the Line" is featured in widescreen (1:85:1) and although some shots of New York are stock video, there are some really awesome cinematography in India and San Francisco and creating this romantic vibe throughout the film. If anything, I was amazed of how many location shots there were for this film. But overall, the film has quite a good number of beautiful moments. The only part of the film that was just too fake was the use of an ultra large full moon in different parts of the film that just looked quite fake but other than that, really good outdoor shots and the various colors really come through for the picture quality on DVD.
As for audio, the film is presented in English 5.1 Dolby Surround and the film is primarily a dialogue film and very easy to understand. The film features a good number of Indian music and thus giving the film a Bollywood type of feel but the music does set the mood for the overall film. Audio and music come clear from your front channel speakers.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
Unfortunately, there are no special features which is a shame because I would love to have seen special features of behind-the-scenes shots in San Francisco, India and even deleted scenes or interviews. For a film that features talent shooting in both countries, it would have been great if they included something on the DVD but unfortunately, there aren't any special features.
JUDGMENT CALL:
I really enjoyed "The Other End of the Line". To tell you the truth, outside of "Passions" and "Desperate Housewives", I haven't been too familiar with Jesse Metcalfe's acting for the past five years. And the same goes for Shriya, she's absolutely beautiful and both talents really shined in this film.
What makes the film work is that there are no really over-the-top situations, just two people who found chemistry and enjoying their time in the city of San Francisco and again, I was pretty pleased by the acting and also how the cinematography really elevated the feel of romance throughout the film.
If anything, having Larry Miller (Kit Hawksin) known for his role in "Pretty Woman" (as the clothing salesperson in Rodeo Drive) calling the hotel operator "Mary Pat" and then a scene with "Pretty Woman" being played, I'm guessing that the film creator's wanted to create that magical vibe from the classic romantic comedy film with "The Other End of the Line".
I also enjoyed the humor of the film in regards to Anupam Kher as Priya's father Rajeev going crazy about his daughter leaving to America and seeing how far he and the family would go to find her. Also, just certain scenes of interaction between Granger and Priya. But then of course, there are serious moments as well. Knowing how an arranged marriage to a good (and wealthy) family can be good for the whole family and that a person should not think about their own personal happiness but their own entire family's happiness. Also, a scene where Granger looks to find Jennifer David and he just simply avoids Priya (being the only non-Caucasian woman standing at the bar and looking at him with happiness and hoping to get notice) and just asking every Caucasian woman.
As for the finding love via talking to someone on the call center, it's not as farfetched as it seemed as I know people who like to flirt and have conversations with the person on the other line, especially to find out if the individuals are actually living in the city that they are saying in the conversation. And also, those who managed to develop nearly daily conversations with the women they talk on the opposite end of the line during a service call. So, to me, this ever happening is not as farfetched as it would seem.
If anything, I was very surprised by the actual employee meetings/workshops on how people in foreign countries are trained to say names correctly and also learning about the cities of customers that they talk to. So, it was good to see a glimpse of how people at call centers in other countries get prepared to talk with those in the US.
Now with many scenes that I did enjoy, what didn't I enjoy about the film?
There are some parts of the storyline that I did have some problems with. There is a scene featuring Granger at his best friend's wedding ceremony and as he gives a speech, he stops and runs off leaving everyone at the wedding ceremony a bit surprised. That was a bit abrupt.
Also, there was something about the final end scene which was enjoyable but one of those things was a wee bit far-fetched but I'll give the director the benefit of the doubt on that one.
And of course, the biggest offender for me in the film was to see this superimposed digitally of a huge moon that they kept adding in a few scenes...
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Formulaic but it'll do, March 24, 2009
When you juxtapose two cultures on top of each other you have incredible potential for comedy. You can use a variety of device to mine the premise for all its comedic gold: fish out of water (Coming to America), misinterpretation (The Gods Must Be Crazy), full-out mockery (Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls), and so on. These are the overarching themes that combine smaller tools of comedy to make a full movie. The Other End of the Line falls short of completing one of these themes and never rises any higher than joke after joke of colloquialisms.
Granger Woodruff (Jesse Metcalfe) runs a small marketing firm that has recently run into a few snags. Their biggest potential client, a major hotel chain, rejects their latest pitch sending them back to the drawing board. To make matters worth, Granger discovers that he's been the target of credit card fraud and must spend hours on the phone with a credit card representative to sort the legitimate charges from the fraudulent ones. On the other end of the line, Priya Sethi (Shirya) in India has perfected the art of Americanization. She has the lingo, the pop culture references and the accent down pat. Convinced Priya lives in California, Granger and Priya blossom a phone relationship that sweeps the two up in a romance neither expected (even if we did).
Over in India, Priya's parents have their hearts set on a man for her arranged marriage unaware that Priya's heart belongs to a man she's never actually met. Pushing her and her fiancée-to-be ever closer, the parents are shocked to discover that Priya has suddenly left for California for a rendezvous with Granger. Where The Other End of the Line had a chance to escape from You've Got Mail's shadow is when Granger and Priya's rendezvous goes awry after he fails to recognize her at their meeting place. With the uncomfortable circumstance of explaining who she really is out of the way, she starts her relationship with Granger anew using her actual name in place of the telephone pseudonym she'd been using all along.
The Other End of the Line doesn't stray outside the lines - ever. It finds its niche, its groove, and just rides it all the way to the end. The moment Granger and Priya will have their first conflict - you'll see it coming. The new slogan that wins Granger the contract - you see it as soon as it pops up. The movie dances about with the grace of Roseanne Barr and pretty much lumbers into each and every formulaic checkpoint.
Jesse Metcalfe was at least entertaining in John Tucker Must Die - but then again, he didn't have to carry that one on his shoulders. The Other End of the Line doesn't bode well for his leading performance capabilities. It's a shame too, as he's certainly charming enough, but just can't elevate material without any inspiration. Shirya is another one of those beautiful gems from India who can act but really doesn't have much presence. It's all in all a very basic piece with neither Metcalfe nor Shirya having to do much beyond read their lines with a hint of love struck wonder in their eyes.
In all fairness, The Other End of the Line isn't a bad film. It just isn't all that great either. It straddles the line of mediocrity and never lets go no matter how hard the actors and director would try to shake it. If you trust the casting and directorial choice, there was never any intention to rise above that mediocre level. The film was aimed at and hit its middle of the road mark. If you're not looking for anything special - maybe you want a new light comedy without any of the serious padding of an Oscar drama - then The Other End of the Line will deliver. If you don't expect too much substance, you'll enjoy it.
DVD Extra Features:
None at all.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
When love calls, sometimes it's from across international waters and has a fake accent, April 16, 2009
Sometimes it really does just boil down to the appeal of the actors in the thing. THE OTHER END OF THE LINE tends to get bogged down by its share of cliches and contrived situations, but damn if Indian actress Shriya Saran isn't so endearing onscreen that she pulls and tugs and drags the movie into this side of quite watchable. THE OTHER END OF THE LINE happens to be one of those cross-culture romantic comedies which often gets labeled as sweet and cute but predictable, and, with this movie, that's pretty much on point. But, still, check this out for the terrific Shriya Saran and also for her romantic lead Jesse Metcalf, who rocks them Pete Sampras/Carson Daly looks but who thankfully seems to have more charisma than those two champions of bland.
The plot: Granger Woodruff (Jesse Metcalf) is an up-and-coming New York adman who, whilst falling victim to electronic identity theft, ends up making a strong connection with his friendly credit-card tech support operator, Jennifer David. The phone conversations start out as strictly business, yes, but then something clicks between the two and, soon, their chit chats are wandering into the personal. Since Jennifer is based out of San Francisco, and since Granger has to be there for a crucial business meet, it's only natural that a curious Granger asks to see Jennifer in person.
Ah-ha! but then the rub: Jennifer David from Frisco, it turns out, is actually Priya Sethi (Shriya Saran) who flaunts a flawless American accent and toils at a credit card call center in Mumbai, India. So Priya not only is far, far away from Frisco but she's also engaged to be married, in one of those traditional arranged marriage deals. But Priya nurses a restlessness within her, and she longs for one big adventure before she does get married (her fiance, as we come to learn, is dull as the dickens). So Priya Sethi a.k.a. Jennifer David agrees to a date with Granger and off she flies to San Francisco, her heart a-burstin' and hope, this starry gleam in her eyes.
Absolutely, you've seen plenty of romantic comedies like THE OTHER END OF THE LINE before. But, then again, you don't watch stuff like this for its originality as much as for its familiar warmth and crazy romance and its just plain "comfort food" sensibilitity. THE OTHER END OF THE LINE also functions as an easy intro to Indian cinema. And, believe me, if you at all enjoyed the exotic elements featured here, then experiencing an actual Indian film (whether Bollywood, Tamil, or Telugu) will blow you away. Indian cinema is awesome and will drown you in vivid colors, splendid costumes, all-out musical numbers, unabashed emotion, and sweeping romances. That last sentence is a shout-out for all the ladies who haven't yet experienced Indian cinema. For the guys, all I'll say is that Indian women are absolute hotties. On the down side, Bollywood and its like tend to also indulge in infantile humor and mawkish melodrama, as well as being really long (an average Indian film runs to around two and a half hours). But, odds are, once you get hooked into Bollywood, you're then a fan for life.
If you're hankering for more romantic East Meets West shenanigans, I recommend Outsourced (also about a call center romance) and Bride and Prejudice (which isn't, but it does showcase the stunning Aishwarya Rai).
Going back to THE OTHER END OF THE LINE, the huge plus, as mentioned, is lead actress Shriya Saran, who turns in a self-assured and very sympathetic performance, as well as exhibiting a pretty convincing American accent. Jesse Metcalf is also good. Larry Miller, mischievous in that deadpan way of his, comes in for a great supporting role, playing the owner of an international chain of posh hotels. One subplot centers on Granger Woodruff and his advertising partner struggling to secure the ad campaign for Larry Miller's hotel chain, and it's a tough road to hoe when the most winning catch phrase they can come up with is "Our mini-bars will get you maxi-drunk."
Two miscues really bother me. First, there's an unconvincing scene at a party in which Priya overhears a conversation between Granger and his inebriated buddy and she instantly assumes the worst. To me, this smacks simply of the writer(s) trying to come up with something, anything to generate tension and to temporarily put the two leads at odds. Which is fine, but please come with something stronger and not so trumped-up and lazy. Then there's a scene near the end in which Granger is in the middle of making a toast at his best friend's wedding when he's clobbered by an epiphany and abruptly takes off. Now, given, the man had just realized that Priya is slipping away from him and so he must take immediate steps blah blah blah... But all I could think of in watching that scene is how he left his best friend hanging and probably very unamused. I think these two moments, more than anything else, undermine what otherwise is an entertaining film. See if you agree.
While I dug all the lovey-dovey courtship going on between Priya and Granger, I found the workplace sequences in India to be pretty compelling stuff and very funny. To add to the Ugly American reputation, there seems to be this disturbing insular behavior which the movie attributes to Americans. Thus, polite overseas workers like those in India not only have to pretend to an American accent but also must attend classes on American pop culture. Else, the American customer may not be so accepting. And, sadly, that's probably a valid thing. It's funny that the most undesirable assignment for these overseas operators is the New Jersey section, with its hordes of rude, profane customers. Basically, all new hires start out in Jersey and must work their way out. Which just goes to show that everyone really does poke fun at Jersey. It figures.
3.5 out of 5 stars for THE OTHER END OF THE LINE.
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