Belaboured

Outsourced is a flat romcom about a
Western worker relocated to India

CULTURE CLASHER: Josh Hamilton

by MATTHEW HAYS

It sounds like a not-entirely-bad idea in basic description. A guy in Seattle gets unwillingly relocated to India by his unfeeling bosses. There, he is supposed to oversee a new call centre, where Indians will work for a fraction of the cost that North Americans would. This sets the stage for culture clashes galore, lessons to be learned about differing attitudes, and various continental divisions.

It doesn’t take a whole lotta imagination to drum up the scenarios, and they clearly didn’t really use a whole lot of it here—everything from the gee-the-food-here-sure-is-different to the gosh-what’s-that-dot-on-your-forehead set-up. If it sounds forced and not terribly inspired, I’m describing it very well indeed.

Our hero is played by Josh Hamilton, who I suppose is meant to personify white-bread, so as to contrast with the surrounding Indian cast to an even greater degree. There’s something low-key about his performance, which is perhaps best described as competent. I think they might have gone with someone with a bit more charisma. I guess Alex Trebek was booked.

I know this is a low-budget film, and I know the people behind Outsourced probably aren’t serial killers (actually, it might have been kind of interesting if they were), but honestly, this thing induced more groans than the Asiatic Flu. At one point, Hamilton asks a cab driver for a ride somewhere far away. The cabbie at first says no, so Hamilton pauses. This prompts the cabbie to begin dropping the price for the ride he’d initially said he wasn’t willing to do. You see? Hamilton ends up bargaining with the cabbie, even though he didn’t mean to! Jesus, guys, did you have to jump through every possible bloody hoop while writing this thing?

Then there’s the romance, so our hero can get his rocks off with Asha (Ayesha Dharker), one of the telemarketing natives. She seems a nice gal, though again, there really aren’t so many surprises here. When the two check into a hotel, they are offered the last vacant spot: the Kama Sutra Room. Another zinger!

Certainly, Outsourced did raise my political awareness. By the final credits, I was aware that globalization has brought us some really, really toxic things.

OUTSOURCED OPENS FRIDAY, OCT. 10