"The Other End of the Line" is a decent film but it frustrated me to no end. It seemed that there was an awful lot of good but also a lot of clichés and a plot that seemed to need some editing. However, on balance, it's still worth seeing this multinational production.
When the film begins, you are introduced to and American named Granger--an incredibly shallow and difficult to like guy. One day, he receives a phone call from his credit card company, as his credit card has been compromised. Because him number has been stolen, he ends up spending a lot of time on the phone with the credit card rep, Priya. However, like many companies, they outsource this work to India and Priya has learned well to sound just like an American--and she tells Granger she lives in San Francisco, not Mumbai.
Over time, the pair talk more and more and Granger becomes interested in actually meeting her face to face. After all, his job is taking him to San Francisco. So, she hops a plane to San Francisco to meet him. However, she makes a lot of insane choices. First, she does NOT meet him in their prearranged location. Second, they end up meeting by chance and they begin to date--and she does NOT tell him that she's the lady on the phone. Third, she never tells him she's engaged--and this ends up causing LOTS of problems when her very protective parents drop everything and chase Priya to America. Through some silly misunderstandings, they think Granger has kidnapped her! What's next? See the film.
So here are the problems with the film. First, when the film begins Granger is a shallow, selfish jerk and is sleeping with another shallow, selfish jerk. This makes it VERY hard to care about him. Second, while you initially really like Priya, she lies again and again for practically no reason at all and ends up behaving rather selfishly herself. You know that by convention they SHOULD eventually have their happy ending together, but the writers just didn't provide the proper context for this. But, on the plus side, if you can ignore the clichés and predictability of the film, the supporting characters are WONDERFUL and the film has a nice sense of humor. In particular, Priya's father (Anupam Kher--who is ALWAYS wonderful) and Granger's boss (Larry Miller--I loved his bluntness combined with his sweetness) made the film very enjoyable. Overall, I say this is a very flawed but enjoyable film. Had they simply polished a few of the sharp edges, it could have been great. As is, it's a decent enough date movie if you are not especially demanding. Odd, though, how the weakest aspect of the film are the two main characters.
