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Ah, globalism

By BRETT MICHEL | December 12, 2007

3.0 Stars

CULTURE-CLASHING COMEDY: But not too cliché’d.

When Todd Anderson (Josh Hamilton) loses his job managing a Seattle catalogue-fulfillment call center, he soon finds himself on a plane to India . . . to train his own replacement. A stolen cellphone and a little diarrhea later, this fish-out-of-water arrives in Gharapuri, a charming village rife with street urchins and cows prone to wandering in and out of half-constructed concrete office spaces. How delightfully cliché’d. And yet, John Jeffcoat’s culture-clashing comedy (inspired by a semester spent abroad) avoids triteness by way of a winsome cast. Stage-trained Hamilton is a real find, conveying just enough genial befuddlement to win both the trust of his successor, Puru (Asif Basra), and the heart of outspoken employee Asha (Ayesha Dharker), as he imparts the secrets of peddling “kitsch to redneck schmucks” –– unfamiliar words to Indians cheerfully posing as Americans from “Chi-cah-go” to sell cheap crap produced in China. Ah, globalism. Hindi + English | 103 minutes | Kendall Square

Topics: Reviews , Josh Hamilton

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I've seen the movie and it's a gem. Sure there are the laughs you'd expect from cross-cultural gaffes but to me it was something anyone who has been a stranger in a strange land could relate to, not cheap stereotypes. The movie also gets at the appreciation and respect that can emerge across cultures. The NY Times and Roger Ebert gave great reviews and it makes sense to me that sites like Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic show that it's a much better liked movie than the other current "set in India" movie, The Darjeeling Limited. One week only at Kendall. Perfect for a snowy weekend.

By Marcos on 12/13/2007 at 4:48:31

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