No Outsourced in Blockbuster or Walmart

Outsourced ranked #1 in the Netflix most watched instant downloads last week but it is still not available in Blockbuster or Walmart. If you buy or rent movies from either of these places be sure to request Outsourced and ask them why they don't carry it.

Aside from Netflix you can find Outsourced on Amazon.com, Hollywood Video, Target, Best Buy, and many other independent video stores.

For right now, the only place to buy the soundtrack is still www.outsourcedthemovie.com

USA TODAY features Outsourced

USA Today's 'Watch, Listen & Read: The month in media' features OUTSOURCED:

Seattle-based director and co-writer John Jeffcoat researched what life is like on the other end of the phone by visiting call centers in Bangalore and by collecting stories from a source who does training for Microsoft.

One of Jeffcoat's initial aims was to excite Americans about investigating other cultures, but he's been surprised by the attention the film has drawn in the business world and academia.

"I spoke recently at the University of Washington to a group of business students who are about to go to India," Jeffcoat says. "And ShadowCatcher (the film's independent production company) has been producing a curriculum to send to schools because there was an interest in it."

The movie also caught the eye of NBC. Jeffcoat is currently co-writing a pilot for a TV version, which he's billing as a global workplace comedy featuring ex-pats from different companies working under one Indian call-center roof.

Read the entire USA Today column HERE

On DVD in the US, OUTSOURCED

Outsourced is now available on DVD throughout the US on Netflix, Amazon.com and other retail and video stores nationwide. If your local video store is not carrying it, tell them to get it! This DVD includes several bonus features previously unavailable including:
- Director, Producer, actor commentary
- Storyboard to Film comparison
- Interview with director John Jeffcoat
- "What did they say" scene translations
- Behind-the-scenes documentary
- "Holi" music Video

If you still have your heart set on seeing it on the big screen, check www.outsourcedthemovie.com for theatrical locations. There are still a number of theaters that will be screening the film through September.

Outsourced hits Theaters in Canada!

Outsourced will begin its Canadian theatrical release this weekend. Reviews from Toronto and Vancouver papers are below.

Outsourced
By Ken Eisner
Publish Date: August 28, 2008

Starring Josh Hamilton and Ayesha Dharker. Rated PG. Opens Friday, August 29, at the Ridge Theatre

Outsourced, a culture-clash comedy that hits almost everything right, manages to make sharp points about the harshness of globalization without losing sight of the individuals affected by economic ebb and flow.

Kicking and Screaming’s Josh Hamilton is a perfect Everyguy for the role of Todd Anderson, a mid-level telemarketing manager whose world is literally upended when his Pacific Northwest company is suddenly out-you-know-whatted to India, and he’s sent there to supervise the new call centre. Naturally, Todd—dubbed Mr. Toad by everyone he meets in a more rustic town near Bombay—is flabbergasted by the way things work, or don’t. Wandering cows, errant electricity, unfamiliar toilets, and too many family photos in the cubicle are just some of the things soon freaking him out.

Cynical Yank that he is, Todd isn’t entirely closed to new experiences, especially when they come attached to the centre’s best worker, vivacious Asha (Ayesha Dharker). With her giant eyes, razor wit, and mile-wide smile, she undoes some of his assumptions, but the script, by Seattle-based director John Jeffcoat and writer-producer George Wing (50 First Dates), doesn’t depend on the romantic angle to get everything across. And the comedy doesn’t blunt its message about corporate greed, which places cheap labour above all other values. (It would never occur to Todd’s boss, amusingly played by Matt Smith, that there are moral issues attached to any of his checkbook decisions.)

In the end, the good-looking Outsourced steals our hearts with a view of India, and the changing world, that is neither starry-eyed nor overly condescending, even if the outcome is predictable. Come to think of it, this movie is so good, I’ll take two.

In TORONTO:

Outsourced
Take this call
by Glenn Sumi

NOW Rating NNNNN (equivalent to 4 stars)

Movies with great premises usually begin well, then lose steam. Not this one.

Todd (Josh Hamilton) manages a call centre for a company that produces kitschy Americana. When the operation is outsourced to India, he’s forced to move there to train his replacements to take calls and sound like Yanks.

What ensues is part culture-clash comedy, part critique of global exploitation and (sounds cheesy but it’s not) part romantic comedy.

The script is fresh and lively, never more so than in a montage featuring Indians quoting scenes from famous U.S. movies. Boy-next-door Hamilton (Kicking And Screaming, The Bourne Identity) shows lots of comic charm, and Ayesha Dharker as his feisty protege has a smile that could light up Bombay.

A winner.

Outsourced DVD Reviews

On September 2nd Outsourced will be released on DVD throughout the US. You can place it in your queue in Netflix today. Blogcritics.org have already released two reviews ad you can read them here:

Outsourced is a clever, sweet, and surprisingly hilarious movie that uses lighthearted humor and charm to win over just about anyone in need of a carefree movie experience. The combination of likable characters, modest humor, and a cute love story make for a purely enjoyable romantic comedy. With more comedy than romance, the film easily overcomes being predicable and cliched. Director John Jeffcoat has a fondness for his characters and simply guides them in the right direction every step of the way. Not only is it a hugely enjoyable film, but also a beautifully rendered love story.
LINK to complete review

And...

The acting is all quite good. Josh Hamilton hits all the right notes as Todd while he has great chemistry with Ayesha Dharker's Asha. These two really hold down the core of the film. First time feature director John Jeffcoat, who also co-wrote the script with George Wing, directs their performances to great effect. Jeffcoat does a fine job with the material, which is shot beautifully by Teodoro Maniaci.
LINK to complete review

The DVD can also be pre-ordered on Amazon.com.

Outsourced hits Durham

Here's a review excerpt from the INDY Weekly which gave Outsourced four stars and called it "the year's best romantic comedy by far." Outsourced opens Friday, July 11th in Durham at the Galaxy Cinemas:

Outsourced is a romantic comedy that is actually funny—but not in the unfunny potty gags and sexual humiliation we associate with Steve Carell and Mike Myers. Instead, writer-director John Jeffcoat must write from bemused experience, as he shows Todd's initial alarm at chaos and poverty dissolving as he understands the vibrant social connectedness that makes his American wealth, computer solitaire games and estrangement from his parents seem meaningless compared to India's occasionally baffling but enfolding embrace. —Laura Boyes

Read the entire review HERE

Outsourced Interview (German /English)

Check out the Prost Amerika website for the latest Outsourced interview with director / co-writer John Jeffcoat in English and German!

HERE

Outsourced Premiere's in France

Outsourced will make it's French premiere as the closing night film at the Festival International Cinema & Costume De Moulins-sur-Allier which takes place June 26th-29th.

You'll find all of the details HERE

Need a Holiday in Goa???

Buy an Outsourced DVD and you'll be entered to win a trip to Goa, India. You can also send a LIVE singing telegram from India over the phone to your friends!
Click HERE for details.

You can also spread the word on Facebook by clicking on the 'join' icon in the bottom left corner of the video below.

Dreamago screens Outsourced

I spent this past weekend as a guest at the Dreamago Screenwriters retreat in Switzerland. Outsourced was screened to open the week-long workshop of international writers. The goal of the organization is to "help develop, support and promote films that make a difference." Stephen Frears was their guest last year and it was an honor to be there with Outsourced this year.

Pascale Rey's passion for Dreamago and the wonderful people that help support her vision make the organization something very unique and exciting. I would encourage anyone with a screenplay in English, French or Spanish to submit to one of their programs. http://www.dreamago.com