A Man Called Otto is a warm, if overly saccharine movie that is uplifted by the ensemble cast led by Tom Hanks. The film — an American take on the 2015 Swedish film A Man Called Ove, which is itself an adaptation of the 2012 novel Fredrik Backman — is a slow burn, and Hanks’ curmudgeonly character can grate on occasion, but the story’s heart is in the right place. Even when things can get unnecessarily overwrought and inane, David Magee’s script reigns it back in. A Man Called Otto aims to be a crowd-pleasing, heartwarming film, and, despite its many flaws and speed bumps, is a success on that front.
Otto Anderson (Tom Hanks) is a grumpy old man. He hates conversing with people, throws a fit when anything is out of place in his small suburban neighborhood, and has a generally unpleasant demeanor that puts off his neighbors. It’s revealed early on that Otto lost his wife Sonya six months prior to the start of the film, and her death has left him in a bad state. Though Otto can be unbearable, his kindness shines through occasionally. But it isn’t until Marisol (Mariana Treviño) and her family move in across the street that Otto’s heart begins to thaw, and he rekindles the strong, close relationships he had with his neighbors.
A Man Called Otto plays into the “grouchy man has a heart deep down” stereotype, usually for laughs. It doesn’t always work, but there are certainly chuckle-worthy moments littered throughout the film that keep the story from being too much of a downer. Hanks’ Otto huffs and puffs throughout, content to keep everyone he cares about at arm’s length, but it’s in his interactions with others where he ultimately finds belonging — a purpose and kinship that evaded him following the death of his wife. To that end, it’s Otto’s relationship with Marisol — who seems to innately understand that there’s more to her cranky neighbor than meets the eye — that is the beating heart of the film and makes for its best scenes.
Hanks and Treviño have excellent chemistry together and the latter is especially charming as Marisol. Her energy, kindness, and patience with Otto is a guiding light for the film. Hanks isn’t doing anything particularly memorable as Otto, but the combination of his gentle nature, grumpiness, and comedic timing give the actor’s performance some oomph. The film is ultimately at its strongest when Otto is interacting with Marisol and the rest of his neighbors, each of whom have some quirk that makes their interactions stand out. Be they awkward, funny, or tragic, A Man Called Otto is most interesting and heartwarming when focused on Otto’s relationships in the present.
Unfortunately, a lot of the film’s runtime is wasted on flashbacks to Otto’s past. Quite a few scenes showcase the younger Otto (played by Hanks’ son Truman Hanks) and his relationship with Sonya (Rachel Keller), including their meet-cute and Otto’s marriage proposal. These scenes add next to nothing to the film, though director Marc Forster draws them out unnecessarily. It’s as if these scenes were written to give the younger Hanks something to do, but they miss the mark completely, especially as they’re overly saccharine while lacking any sincerity. The worst part is that the flashbacks don’t humanize Sonya, nor does the audience learn anything about her. She acts as a dreamlike figure, the dead wife who was always smiling and happy. The flashbacks are often jarring, taking time away from the present and pulling the story in a direction it didn’t need to go.
The film’s message about how a community can rise up against an exploitative corporation looking to make a profit by kicking them out of their homes is heartening. Community building is a strength, and A Man Called Otto suggests that it needs every single person to contribute if the community is to rise up and prosper together. The neighborhood that Otto loves so dearly extends to the people who live in it, and the film is great at developing his relationship with his neighbors, and the peace that comes in knowing they have his back just as much as he has theirs, personally tragedies or not. This is what makes A Man Called Otto decent despite its conventional storytelling, and even heartwarming and tender when it dares to be sincere.
A Man Called Otto released in limited theaters December 30 and will expand to nationwide theaters January 13. The film is 126 minutes long and rated PG-13 for mature thematic material involving suicide attempts, and language.