movie reviews otto

Movie Reviews

Tv/streaming, collections, great movies, chaz's journal, contributors, a man called otto.

Now streaming on:

In Marc Forster ’s genial, earnest yet unremarkable dramedy “A Man Called Otto,” the titular character Otto can’t pick his daily battles even if his life depended on it. Living in an unfussy suburban neighborhood of identical row houses somewhere in the Midwest, the aging man gets easily annoyed by every little misstep of a stranger. And his protests are so pronounced that they even rival Larry David ’s in an average episode of “Curb Your Enthusiasm.”

Portrayed by the beloved Tom Hanks in an indistinct performance that splits the difference between quirky and grounded, Otto is often right about his grievances, to his credit. Why should he pay for six feet of rope and waste a few extra cents, for instance, when he bought just a little over five? Why shouldn’t he warn inconsiderate drivers who often block garage doors or entitled neighbors who can’t as much as remember to close a gate and respect basic rules about trash disposal? Or pick up a fuss when the soulless real estate guys from the fictional and hilariously named “Dye & Merica” show up to sabotage the community’s peace?

Then again, not everything is as awful as Otto makes them out to be. And he could perhaps afford to have some manners himself, especially when a new, very pregnant neighbor drops by with a bowl of home-cooked meal as a courtesy.

If you’ve already seen 2015’s Oscar-nominated Swedish hit “ A Man Called Ove ” by Hannes Holm , a film that is not any better or worse than this middle-of-the-road American remake (yes, not all originals are automatically superior), you’ll know that Otto hasn’t always been this insufferable. In small doses of syrupy and visually overworked flashbacks, Forster and agile screenwriter David Magee show us that he was socially awkward even from his young days, but at least nice and approachable. With a squarely unstylish side-part haircut that aptly gives out a “nice but unworldly guy” vibe, young Otto (played by the star’s own son, Truman Hanks) had an interest in engineering, in figuring out how things work. His life apparently changed when he accidentally met the dreamy Sonya ( Rachel Keller ), who later on became his wife and passed away recently.

As was the case in “Ove,” Otto can’t wait to join his wife on the other side, but his frequent suicide attempts get interrupted in episodes that are sometimes awkwardly funny, and other times, just plain awkward. The chief interrupters of our get-off-my-lawn guy are the abovementioned new neighbors: the happily married-with-kids couple Marisol (a bubbly and scene-stealing Mariana Treviño , the absolute best thing about the film) and Tommy (Manuel Garcia-Ruflo), who often ask little favors from the grumpy Otto. There are also others in the neighborhood, like a kindly transgender teenager Malcolm (Mack Bayda) thrown out of his house by his dad, the fitness-obsessed Jimmy ( Cameron Britton ), Otto’s old friend Rueben ( Peter Lawson Jones), and his wife Anita (Juanita Jennings), who are no longer on cordial terms with Otto. And let’s not forget a stray cat that no one seems to know what to do with for a while.

The mystery is that none of the supporting personalities in this story can take a hint about Otto, at least not well into the film’s second act. Instead, all the characters collectively treat Otto with patience and acceptance, as if he isn’t being willfully rude to them every chance he gets. For example, it’s anyone’s guess why Otto’s work colleagues bother to throw him a retirement party when it will surely go unappreciated or why Marisol continuously insists on trying to bring out the good side of him when Otto offensively shuts down every one of her genuine attempts.

Still, the story manages to land some charms when Otto finally lets his guard down and starts making all the expected amends, while suffering a rare heart condition on the side. First, he becomes a local hero when he unwittingly saves someone’s life in front of a group of unhelpful people too preoccupied with their phones. Later on, he racks up additional goodwill when he takes Malcolm in and builds a slow yet steady friendship with Marisol, a rewarding storyline in an otherwise predictable tale.

But the biggest win of Forster’s adaptation is its worthwhile message about the small wins of everyday people who operate as a functioning and harmonious community against the evils of faceless corporations. “A Man Called Otto” isn’t exactly as philosophical as “ About Schmidt ” or as socially conscious as “ I, Daniel Blake ,” two films that occasionally hit similar notes. But it’s nevertheless a wholesome crowd-pleaser for your next family gathering.

In limited release now, wide on January 13th.

Tomris Laffly

Tomris Laffly is a freelance film writer and critic based in New York. A member of the New York Film Critics Circle (NYFCC), she regularly contributes to RogerEbert.com , Variety and Time Out New York, with bylines in Filmmaker Magazine, Film Journal International, Vulture, The Playlist and The Wrap, among other outlets.

Now playing

The Garfield Movie

The Idea of You

The Contestant

Monica castillo.

Brian Tallerico

The Big Cigar

Robert daniels.

Film Credits

A Man Called Otto (2022)

Rated PG-13

126 minutes

Tom Hanks as Otto Anderson

Mariana Treviño as Marisol

Kailey Hyman as Barb

Rachel Keller

Manuel Garcia-Rulfo

Cameron Britton

Mike Birbiglia

Elle Chapman as Sarah

Marc Forster
David Magee
Matt Chesse

Director of Photography

Matthias Koenigswieser
Fredrik Backman

Latest blog posts

Cannes 2024: My Sunshine, Rumours, The Balconettes

Cannes 2024: On Becoming a Guinea Fowl, The Village Next to Paradise, Viet and Nam

Reclamation Through Restoration: Thelma Schoonmaker Talks Michael Powell, Martin Scorsese and Peeping Tom

They Are the Best of the Best: Glen Powell on The Blue Angels

Supported by

‘A Man Called Otto’ Review: Tom Hanks Learns Life Lessons

Going against nice-guy type (at first), the star plays a misanthrope who’s pulled into caring for a neighboring family in need.

Share full article

Tom Hanks in a blue jacket sitting with a cat.

By Glenn Kenny

In 2016, reviewing the film “A Man Called Ove” for this newspaper, I mused: “Sweden’s official entry for a best foreign-language film at the Academy Awards proves that Swedish pictures can be just as sentimental and conventionally heartwarming as Hollywood ones.”

That movie, based on a best-selling Swedish novel, is about a thoroughgoing grump who becomes suicidal after the death of his wife, until interactions with new neighbors soften his heart. One supposes an American remake was inevitable, and here it is, directed by Marc Forster and starring Tom Hanks, with the main character renamed Otto.

Usually U.S. remakes of foreign films tend to homogenize the source material. But “A Man Called Otto” is not only more bloated than the Swedish film, it’s more outré, in a way that’s hard to pin down.

Forster handles the flashback of the back story (in which the star’s son, Truman Hanks, plays a younger Otto) in gauzy-arty fashion. When the older Otto — Hanks reaches back to his excellent work in “Catch Me If You Can” to nail down the man’s overarching irritability — contemplates his happy marriage, his mind always goes back to its earliest times. It’s curious, until the film reveals why it has avoided more recent memories, but by then the omission feels like a withholding cheat.

Otherwise, obviousness rules the day here. When Otto visits an incapacitated former friend, the soundtrack spins Kenny Dorham’s version of the jazz chestnut “Old Folks.” Which is always nice to hear, admittedly. Later, a teenager initially upbraided by Otto tells him that Otto’s wife, who had been a schoolteacher, “was the only person who didn’t treat me like a freak, because I’m transgender.” As the television icon Marcia Brady once put it, “Oh my nose!”

A Man Called Otto Rated PG-13 for themes and language. Running time: 2 hours 6 minutes. In theaters.

Explore More in TV and Movies

Not sure what to watch next we can help..

Season 49 of “Saturday Night Live” has ended. Here’s a look back at its most memorable monologues, sketches, product parodies and impressions .

“Megalopolis,” the first film from the director Francis Ford Coppola in 13 years, premiered at the Cannes Film Festival. Here’s what to know .

Why is the “Planet of the Apes” franchise so gripping and effective? Because it doesn’t monkey around, our movie critic writes .

Luke Newton has been in the sexy Netflix hit “Bridgerton” from the start. But a new season will be his first as co-lead — or chief hunk .

If you are overwhelmed by the endless options, don’t despair — we put together the best offerings on Netflix , Max , Disney+ , Amazon Prime and Hulu to make choosing your next binge a little easier.

Sign up for our Watching newsletter to get recommendations on the best films and TV shows to stream and watch, delivered to your inbox.

an image, when javascript is unavailable

The Definitive Voice of Entertainment News

Subscribe for full access to The Hollywood Reporter

site categories

‘a man called otto’ review: tom hanks in a predictable but touching portrait of grief and resilience.

The Oscar winner plays the title role in this remake of the hit Swedish film about a curmudgeonly widower learning to embrace life again.

By Frank Scheck

Frank Scheck

Share on Facebook
Share to Flipboard
Send an Email
Show additional share options
Share on LinkedIn
Share on Pinterest
Share on Reddit
Share on Tumblr
Share on Whats App
Print the Article
Post a Comment

Full credits

Thr newsletters.

More from The Hollywood Reporter

‘atlas’ review: jennifer lopez and simu liu in another netflix movie made to half-watch while doing laundry, alfonso cuarón says he directed ‘harry potter’ movie only after guillermo del toro called him an “arrogant a**hole”, ‘beating hearts’ review: love conquers all, including good taste, in overwrought french crime romance starring adèle exarchopoulos, ‘all we imagine as light’ review: a moving and luminous chronicle of two women searching for connection in mumbai, jason schwartzman, eva longoria, danielle brooks join michelle pfeiffer in amazon mgm holiday comedy ‘oh. what. fun.’ (exclusive), ‘the village next to paradise’ review: somali family drama doubles as a potent portrait of life in the shadow of war.

Log in or sign up for Rotten Tomatoes

Trouble logging in?

By continuing, you agree to the Privacy Policy and the Terms and Policies , and to receive email from the Fandango Media Brands .

By creating an account, you agree to the Privacy Policy and the Terms and Policies , and to receive email from Rotten Tomatoes and to receive email from the Fandango Media Brands .

By creating an account, you agree to the Privacy Policy and the Terms and Policies , and to receive email from Rotten Tomatoes.

Email not verified

Let's keep in touch.

Sign up for the Rotten Tomatoes newsletter to get weekly updates on:

Upcoming Movies and TV shows
Trivia & Rotten Tomatoes Podcast
Media News + More

By clicking "Sign Me Up," you are agreeing to receive occasional emails and communications from Fandango Media (Fandango, Vudu, and Rotten Tomatoes) and consenting to Fandango's Privacy Policy and Terms and Policies . Please allow 10 business days for your account to reflect your preferences.

OK, got it!

Movies / TV

No results found.

What's the Tomatometer®?
Login/signup

Movies in theaters

Opening this week
Top box office
Coming soon to theaters
Certified fresh movies

Movies at home

Fandango at Home
Netflix streaming
Prime Video
Most popular streaming movies
What to Watch New

Certified fresh picks

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga Link to Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga
Hit Man Link to Hit Man
Babes Link to Babes

New TV Tonight

Evil: Season 4
Stax: Soulsville, U.S.A.: Season 1
Jurassic World: Chaos Theory: Season 1
Tires: Season 1
Lolla: The Story of Lollapalooza: Season 1
Trying: Season 4
Fairly OddParents: A New Wish: Season 1
Mulligan: Season 2
The 1% Club: Season 1

A Man Called Otto Reviews

A Man Called Otto is not a waste of time by any stretch, but it also does not demand your attention in any strong measure.

Full Review | Original Score: C | Feb 28, 2024

I did occasionally find it just a bit too pat and too contrived to melt my more critical lens entirely, but it won me over with its nicely handled comedic touches, lovely performances, and both its clear-eyed positivity and its shamelessly huge heart.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | Jul 31, 2023

If not for Tom Hanks, "A Man Called Otto" might be a boring tale of one grumpy man's perseverance against the elements trying to take him down. But it's because of Hanks that the film succeeds.

Full Review | Jul 25, 2023

The drama movie is touching but never truly remarkable.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Jul 25, 2023

Despite having a somewhat interesting start with the presence of Hanks as the unfriendly neighbor, it is a remake that loses the desired dramatic effect by sometimes going down the route of calculated poignancy. [Full review in Spanish]

Full Review | Original Score: 6/10 | May 19, 2023

Tom Hanks was an absolute blast to watch on screen, and his interaction with his co-stars were some of my favorite scenes in the movie. He commanded the screen with his betrayal of Otto.

Full Review | Apr 29, 2023

It proves again, the everyman of the movies, can play any mood or soul. The movie is patient, and a special shoutout to Mariana Trevino for taking a slightly underwritten role and giving it depth.

Full Review | Original Score: B | Apr 27, 2023

Subtle, sincerely redemptive comedic drama...Tom Hanks delivers a carefully modulated, understated performance, as does his 'real-life' son Truman, but the script tends to be overly melodramatic.

Full Review | Original Score: 7/10 | Apr 6, 2023

The director is Marc Forster of Monster's Ball. For sure, his saccharine movie is not hard to like, if only because he is a pro at manipulating heartstrings and Hanks cannot help but be affable, however ill-suited for his role here.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Mar 23, 2023

Tom Hanks gets in touch with his inner Larry David as the curmudgeonly sexegenarian at the heart of Marc Forster’s lukewarm English-language remake of Hannes Holm’s Oscar-nominated “A Man Called Ova.”

Full Review | Original Score: B- | Mar 13, 2023

With Hanks as its star, Marc Forster’s safe Hollywood remake is all the more predictable.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Mar 2, 2023

A Man Called Otto is mechanically engineered for maximum lachrymosal extraction.

Full Review | Feb 28, 2023

Tom Hanks is trying to channel his inner Clint Eastwood for this US adaptation of Fredrik Bachman’s Swedish best-seller - the problem is, he simply isn’t grouchy enough

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Feb 26, 2023

A film that gets by thanks to Hanks' unwavering watchability though there's not a beat or a revelation we haven't seen before and taking its biggest emotional cue directly from She's Having a Baby is an annoyingly misguided choice.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Feb 16, 2023

This slice of superior schmaltz has Tom Hanks as a fastidious late-middle-aged grump who hates everyone, from overcharging shop assistants to neighbours who put their recycling in the wrong bin.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Feb 15, 2023

Tom Hanks does his best to look mean, but his inherent affability never fails to shine through. Otto discovers to his disgust that there is no avoiding mushiness.

Full Review | Feb 11, 2023

With a terrific supporting cast – Mariana Trevino is the MVP of this journey, and she’s a force of nature as the kind neighbor Marisol. Without her as a counterpart, this would be a difficult, one-note story.

Full Review | Original Score: B+ | Feb 3, 2023

It’s the kind of schmaltzy, big performance studio drama that used to get a billion Oscar nominations, and darn it, I kind of miss those being in vogue.

Full Review | Feb 2, 2023

A sweet story of the power of community to bring someone back from the brink of suicide. A film like this depends on the performances - and here there are some weak links and some standout performances.

Full Review | Original Score: 7/10 | Feb 1, 2023

A predictable tear-jerker made no less enjoyable or heartfelt by its predictability.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Jan 31, 2023

Review: Tom Hanks gives ‘A Man Called Otto’ an easygoing sincerity

A woman and a man, wearing warm jackets, standing outside

Show more sharing options
Copy Link URL Copied!

It says something about the current state of studio filmmaking in Hollywood that all the things that make “A Man Called Otto” stand out are things that really should make it commonplace. The film is made with a level of craft and simple competence that has become shockingly rare. A genuine movie star is allowed to radiate charisma and charm, and all the performances have character nuance and emotional depth.

These should be the basic building blocks of Hollywood moviemaking and yet here we are, with “A Man Called Otto” feeling special for being a winsome dramedy with some effective moments of tearjerking tenderness. It’s not so much a matter of they don’t make them like this anymore as they should be making them like this all the time.

For your safety

The Times is committed to reviewing theatrical film releases during the COVID-19 pandemic . Because moviegoing carries risks during this time, we remind readers to follow health and safety guidelines as outlined by the CDC and local health officials .

Directed by Marc Forster, the film is based on the 2012 novel “A Man Called Ove” by Fredrik Backman, which became an international bestseller and previously was adapted into a 2016 Swedish film that earned two Oscar nominations. From a screenplay by David Magee, who this year also wrote the adapted screenplays for “Lady Chatterley’s Lover” and “The School for Good and Evil,” the new film finds enough ways to update the core material to keep it fresh.

As the film opens, Otto (Tom Hanks) is buying a few bits and pieces at a hardware store and then gets into an argument with a clerk about whether he is being overcharged by a few cents for a length of rope. Once he is back at his modest, meticulously kept row house, it is revealed that Otto plans to kill himself, but life keeps getting in the way.

There are his new neighbors, Marisol and Tommy (Mariana Treviño and Manuel Garcia-Rulfo), a young couple with two small children and expecting another. The trans kid who delivers the newspapers was a student of Otto’s deceased wife, a teacher. Otto also finds himself reconnecting with a pair of longtime neighbors with whom he had a falling-out. Even a self-styled “social media journalist” won’t leave him alone after Otto, who had intended to throw himself onto the tracks, saves a man from being struck by a train.

A man and two children look skeptically at a colorfully dressed clown.

Otto seems at first to be a rigid, stuck-in-his-ways old man similar to the type Clint Eastwood has played recently in films such as “Gran Torino,” “The Mule” and “Cry Macho,” men who must learn to overcome their prejudices. Otto, largely because of circumstances revealed around his late wife (played in flashbacks by Rachel Keller), is more readily open-minded and open-hearted than those Eastwood characters. He is nevertheless endlessly aggravated by others for a perceived lack of knowledge or abilities.

The film is an odd companion to Hanks’ recent, more willfully weird turn as Colonel Tom Parker in “Elvis,” which found him working against an accent and prosthetics and a fanciful villainous characterization. His role in “Otto” plays to Hanks’ more obvious strengths, his essential affability even when he is presenting a gruff, unyielding exterior. The sweet heart of the character is never too far below the surface.

“A Man Called Otto” is also something of a family affair, with Rita Wilson, Hanks’ wife, as one of the producers and co-writing and performing the song “Til You’re Home.” In flashback scenes, young Otto is played by one of Hanks’ and Wilson’s children, Truman Hanks. And in one of the film’s slyer jokes, the hip-hop song “White Boy Summer” by their son Chet Hanks is used to personify a certain kind of clueless obliviousness in others.

The real standout in the supporting cast is Treviño, a comedy star in her native Mexico who brings real energy and feeling to her role as one of Otto’s new neighbors. She barges into Otto’s orderly life and brings a bit of chaos with her, inserting a much-needed liveliness into the movie as well. Mike Birbiglia is also well cast playing against type as a sleazy real estate developer.

It is not meant as faint praise to say that “A Man Called Otto” is nice. The film has an easygoing, please-like-me quality that somehow never comes off as desperate but instead gives it a reassuring quality, like a mug of warm tea. It’s borderline corny, but sometimes corny can mean unselfconscious, willing to be unguarded in its sincerity. The tender message of hopefulness and spiritual renewal is a welcome tonic as the year comes to a close.

'A Man Called Otto'

Rated: PG-13 for mature thematic material involving suicide attempts, and language. Running time: 2 hours, 6 minutes Playing: Starts Dec. 30, AMC the Grove, Los Angeles; AMC Century City

Review: In ‘The Fall Guy’ with Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt, what’s a stuntman to do? Shake it off

May 2, 2024

A Man in Full. (L to R) Jeff Daniels as Charlie Croker, Sarah Jones as Serena Croker in episode 101 of A Man in Full.

In ‘A Man in Full,’ Jeff Daniels plays a real estate mogul whose life crumbles. Sound familiar?

A woman and a man connect while sitting in the pews.

Review: Director Ken Loach’s compassion remains a sturdy, reliable virtue in ‘The Old Oak’

April 12, 2024

Only good movies

Get the Indie Focus newsletter, Mark Olsen's weekly guide to the world of cinema.

You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.

Mark Olsen writes about all kinds of movies for the Los Angeles Times as both a feature writer and reviewer.

More From the Los Angeles Times

A shocked dog and a spherical cat have an altercation.

Review: Stuffed with in-jokes for parents, ‘The Garfield Movie’ isn’t a cat-astrophe

May 24, 2024

Alec Baldwin speaks with investigators following a fatal shooting on a movie set in Santa Fe, N.M.

Company Town

New Mexico judge denies Alec Baldwin’s motion to dismiss criminal case in ‘Rust’ shooting

Kelly Rowland poses for photographers upon arrival at the premiere of the film 'Marcello Mio' at the 77th international film festival, Cannes, southern France, Tuesday, May 21, 2024. (Photo by Andreea Alexandru/Invision/AP)

Kelly Rowland explains her viral Cannes red-carpet confrontation: ‘I have a boundary’

Cole, Carolyn –– B582002172Z.1 NEW YORK, NEW YORK––APRIL 3, 2012–– Documentary filmmaker Morgan Spurlock has a new film titled "Comic Con Episode IV: A Fan's Hope," which centers on the annual Sand Diego pop culture expo.(Carolyn Cole/Los Angeles Times)

Morgan Spurlock, filmmaker who documented dangers of McDonald’s-only diet, dies at 53

site categories

‘atlas’ review: brad peyton’s ai futurism film falls short despite jennifer lopez’s star power, ‘a man called otto’ review: tom hanks, mariana trevino & a cat make this american remake irresistible.

By Pete Hammond

Pete Hammond

Awards Columnist/Chief Film Critic

2023 Domestic Box Office To Hit $9 Billion Fueled By 33 Tentpoles, But How Does Hollywood Prevent Original Adult Pics From Falling Into Further Jeopardy?

2024 Premiere Dates For New & Returning Series On Broadcast, Cable & Streaming

Screenwriter David Magee and director Marc Forster have not altered the basic plot for this Pittsburgh-set remake titled A Man Called Otto , but unlike another Pittsburgh-set Hanks movie, 2019’s A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, which earned Hanks a Supporting Oscar nomination as the gentle Mister Rogers, this one gives its star to operate at full-crank levels until we inevitably see his transformation into a man with a very big heart. We know it is coming, and that is what makes the familiarity of this tale work so well. It is comforting, and Hanks navigates it with the expert skill you would expect. It is nice to see him doing comedy again as well. It has been awhile, but this earns its laughs and smiles in completely believable ways, never forced, thank God.

Forster and Magee also use flashbacks of the younger Otto (played by Hanks’ real-life youngest son and uncanny lookalike Truman Hanks) and Sonya (Rachel Keller) as they meet, marry, endure tragedy and share a life. The flashbacks are not intrusive and really add to our understanding of just who Otto was, and perhaps why he became the way he is today. Both young stars are well cast in a movie that knows exactly what it is doing in order to win our hearts. Also in the cast is Mike Birbiglia as a corporate real estate company rep who plays the “villain” of sorts, but his character is pretty one-dimensional.

Matthias Koenigswieser’s fine cinematography fulfills the changing needs of the film’s visual style perfectly, Barbara Ling’s production design serves the story well, and there is a lovely score to match by Thomas Newman. A song by Rita Wilson and David Hodges, “Til You’re Home,” is a perfect touch at the end and already has been Oscar-shortlisted .

The reason this American remake is so vital, at least to me, is that it ultimately is a story of human connection coming at a time of unprecedented divisiveness and heartlessness in an America that seems to have truly lost its way. This is somewhat a return to a bit of old-style Frank Capra spirit in a social media age, and a family film that serves a purpose to remind us the good within us, no matter how deep down you have to dig.

Producers are Hanks, Wilson, Gary Goetzman and the Swedish film’s original producer Fredrick Wikstrom Nicastro. Sony Pictures opens the Columbia release Friday in a limited LA/NY exclusive run before going wide on January 13.

Must Read Stories

Streamer’s latest viewership data touts dramas, reality & a german miniseries.

Zendaya Watches Tom Holland’s First Night In ‘Romeo & Juliet’

Netflix buys world on powell-mackie-dern ‘monsanto’ & u.s./uk for ‘emilia pérez’, ‘inside out 2’ poised for highest opening of 2024 so far with $80m-$85m.

Subscribe to Deadline Breaking News Alerts and keep your inbox happy.

‘A Man Called Otto’ Review: Tom Hanks Plays a Florid Grump

Hanks is well-cast as a misanthropic loner, but the film lacks the courage of his caustic conviction.

By Owen Gleiberman

Owen Gleiberman

Chief Film Critic

‘Ernest Cole: Lost and Found’ Review: Raoul Peck’s Documentary Rediscovers the Fearless Photographer of South African Apartheid 1 day ago
‘Armand’ Review: An Accusation at a Primary School Results in a Drama So Convoluted It’s Claustrophobic 2 days ago
‘The Shrouds’ Review: David Cronenberg Makes a Movie About Grief — and Body Horror, and Digital Gravestones — That in Its Somber Way Verges on Self-Parody 3 days ago

(l to r) Luna (Christiana Montoya), Abbie (Alessandra Perez), and Otto (Tom Hanks) are entertained by a clown as they wait in Columbia Pictures A MAN CALLED OTTO. Photo by: Niko Tavernise

Popular on Variety

Hanks harumphs with an irresistible self-justifying logic, and the clueless response on the part of the store’s millennial clerks, who are doing all they can to accommodate his tantrum, is the icing on the high-dudgeon cake. The secret weapon of a scene like this one is that even though Otto is overreacting like a jerk, in his petty and snappish way he’s sort of right. It should bother people, a little bit, that a corporation designs it so you can’t just buy five feet of rope.

But David Magee, who wrote the script of “A Man Called Otto” (inspired by the 2015 Swedish film “A Man Called Ove”), and Marc Forster, who directed it, don’t have anything that witty in mind. The film starts off rooted in the real world but turns into a soft-headed “redemptive” fairy tale. Everything gets turned up a notch; even the potentially uproarious scene of Otto dishing out abuse to a hospital clown withers in the clown’s telegraphed overreaction. The movie is trying so hard to be a crowd-pleaser, in its reach-for-the-synthetic, sitcom-meets-Hallmark heart, that it will likely end up pleasing very few. It’s the definition of a movie that Tom Hanks deserved better than.

Otto, in case you were wondering, plans to use that five feet of rope to kill himself. He’s still reeling from the recent death of his wife, and he intends to hang himself in his living room (from a hole he punches into the ceiling — a doomed plan or what?). I’ve never been crazy about botched-suicide comedy, going back to the prelude sequence of “Harold and Maude” (sorry, not a fan of that calculated cult ’70s quirkfest). The reason isn’t that I think it’s so scandalous but that it’s actually, under the surface, quite sentimental. The joke is always the same: that the suicides fail because the person… really wants to live . In this case, the idea that Hanks’ Otto has given up on life is a conceit the audience scarcely pretends to buy.

Otto occupies a condo in the same soothing blue prefab row-house development he has lived in ever since he married Sonya (Rachel Keller), the true love he first spotted on a Philadelphia train platform — she dropped her book! He picked it up and ran after her! All the way to the other side of the platform! — when he was a young man.

The film is threaded with flashbacks to their relationship, and they’re built on the potentially effective stunt casting of Truman Hanks, Hanks’s 27-year-old son, as the younger Otto, who came to Philly to enlist in the military, which turned into a doomed mission. Hanks’ acerbic actor son Colin has often seemed a chip off the old block, but Truman Hanks comes off as notably sweeter, softer, and more benign than his dad. In almost any movie you’d have to squint to buy him as the young Tom Hanks, but in this movie, where we have to believe that this angelic nerd evolves into a sharp-tongued malcontent, it’s far too jarring a leap.

In case all those don’t get to you, the movie makes a point of throwing in a transgender former student of Sonya’s, who’s there to demonstrate that Otto may grouse at the world but that he sees it entirely without prejudice. He’s a hater with a heart of gold. “A Man Called Otto” wants to lift our spirits, but the trouble with it is that the nicer Otto gets, the more naggingly fake the movie becomes. It should have been called “Florid-est Grump.”

Reviewed at AMC Lincoln Square, Dec. 16, 2022. MPAA Rating: PG-13. Running time: 126 MIN.

Production: A Sony Pictures Entertainment release of a Columbia Pictures, Stage 6 Films, SF Productions, Play-Tone production. Producers: Fredrik Wikström Nicastro, Rita Wilson, Tom Hanks, Gary Goetzman. Executive producers: Marc Forster, Renée Wolfe, Louise Rosner, David Magee, Michael Porseryd, Tim King, Sudie Smyth, Steven Shareshian, Celia Costas, Neda Backman, Tor Jonasson.
Crew: Director: Marc Forster. Screenplay: David Magee. Camera: Mathuas Koenigswieser. Editor: Matt Chessé. Music: Thomas Newman.
With: Tom Hanks, Mariana Treviño, Rachel Keller, Truman Hanks, Mike Birbiglia, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo.

More From Our Brands

Ncaa agrees to revenue-sharing with college athletes in $2.8 billion settlement, woodford reserve’s new bourbon is a delicious accident, ncaa, power five ok $2.7 billion antitrust settlement, the best loofahs and body scrubbers, according to dermatologists, grey’s anatomy recap: [spoiler] is fired — and as one couple breaks up, another one hits the sheets, verify it's you, please log in.

Stranger Things Season 5
Deadpool and Wolverine
The Batman 2
Spider-Man 4
Yellowstone Season 6
Fallout Season 2
The Last of Us Season 2
Entertainment

A Man Called Otto review: Tom Hanks anchors a sweet drama

Tom Hanks holds a cat in A Man Called Otto.

“A Man Called Otto is a straightforward drama that often veers too far into sentimentality but is nonetheless frequently saved by Tom Hanks' reliably charming lead performance.”

Tom Hanks' moving lead performance
Mariana Treviño's breakout supporting performance
The film's surprisingly deadpan sense of humor
Several superfluous, overly sweet flashbacks
A few poorly-placed needle drops
An inconsistent tone

A Man Called Otto is the kind of straightforward, inoffensive dramedy that used to be incredibly common. Nowadays, Hollywood seems less and less interested in producing movies like A Man Called Otto , though, even during the end-of-the-year holiday season that has always seemed well-suited for middling-budget, family-friendly dramas like it. That fact doesn’t make A Man Called Otto a particularly unique or boundary-pushing film. It does, however, make it feel like a relic from a different time.

That’s OK, because Otto, as played here by Tom Hanks , is a bit of a relic himself. Not only is Hanks’ likable curmudgeon one of the oldest residents of his Midwest neighborhood when A Man Called Otto begins, but he’s also desperate to shuffle off this mortal coil as quickly and efficiently as he can. Of course, Otto isn’t nearly as stone cold as he makes himself out to be, nor is his desire to die as unwavering as he claims. His path from embittered pessimist to renewed optimist is clear from the moment A Man Called Otto begins, and the film itself doesn’t have too much to offer in terms of ingenuity or originality.

Tár review: Cate Blanchett soars in Todd Field’s ambitious new drama
Where the Crawdads Sing review: a bland murder mystery
Both Sides of the Blade review: Juliette Binoche shines in cutting domestic drama

The film is, in fact, exactly what any reasonably well-versed moviegoer may expect it to be, but that doesn’t mean it’s without its charms.

A Man Called Otto is the second film adaptation of Fredrik Backman’s 2012 novel, A Man Called Ove , which was previously adapted as a Swedish-language movie in 2015. Both Backman’s original novel and director Hannes Holm’s 2015 adaptation tell virtually the same story as A Man Called Otto . The new film follows Hanks’ grumpy older man as his attempts to end his life are repeatedly interrupted by the sudden arrival of his newest neighbors, Marisol (a scene-stealing Mariana Treviño) and Tommy (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo), as well as their two plucky young daughters.

It isn’t long before both Marisol and Tommy have inserted themselves into Otto’s life. In doing so, they open the door for Otto’s past to be explored via a series of often saccharine flashbacks that offer glimpses into Otto’s marriage to Sonya (Rachel Keller), who died just a few months prior to Marisol and Tommy’s arrival. Sonya’s death, combined with his forced retirement, briefly but understandably render Otto uninterested in life. Fortunately, his unexpected friendship with Marisol gives Otto’s previously sweet self the chance to reemerge.

The film’s story is not, by any means, a particularly original one. Marc Forster’s direction and David Magee’s open-hearted screenplay don’t go out of their way to inject many new surprises or instances of structural invention into A Man Called Otto , either. Instead, the film is perfectly content to rely solely on the dramatic strength of its undeniably simple story and the performances given by its cast members.

Thankfully, Forster’s instincts aren’t totally off base in A Man Called Otto , a film that has, among other things, Tom Hanks going for it. As Otto, Hanks alternates between cartoonishly grumpy and understatedly sorrowful with the kind of precision that only a performer as experienced as him could muster. Throughout the film, Forster effectively juxtaposes Hanks’ seasoned, unassuming presence with the live-wire energy conjured by his scene-stealing co-star, Treviño. Together, Treviño and Hanks make for an infectiously likable duo.

The two stars’ chemistry is so good that A Man Called Otto is often at its best whenever it’s focusing on Marisol and Otto’s growing friendship. Otto’s relationships with several of his other neighbors, including the endlessly joyful Jimmy (Cameron Britton), provide the film with moments of effective humor and heart as well. However, while Hanks’ real-life son, Truman, makes for a believable version of Otto’s younger self, the flashbacks involving him and Keller’s Sonya are often so one-note that they add little except extra minutes to A Man Called Otto ’s runtime.

In addition to the film’s superfluous flashbacks, Forster makes a handful of creative mistakes throughout A Man Called Otto , including one badly timed needle drop. Magee’s script also invests little time in setting up or exploring Mike Birbiglia’s unnamed real estate agent, who just so happens to be the closest thing the film has to an antagonist. Altogether, these decisions lead the film toward a strangely lackluster climax. The film itself also runs about 10 or 15 minutes longer than it should, which similarly takes some of the weight away from A Man Called Otto ’s otherwise bittersweet final moments.

For all of its faults, though, A Man Called Otto still succeeds solely on the power of Hanks and Treviño’s performances. The film is not, by any means, as cohesive or emotionally stirring as many of its team members’ previous efforts, but it’s a harmless and charming affair nonetheless. Ultimately, that’s just another way of saying that A Man Called Otto really is just like the family-friendly, end-of-the-year dramas that Hollywood used to annually put out, the best of which could be relied upon to supply enough laughs and heartwarming moments to justify their holiday-timed releases. A Man Called Otto , for its part, does just that.

A Man Called Otto is playing in theaters now.

Editors' Recommendations

Like A Man Called Otto on Netflix? Then watch these 3 movies that are just like it
God’s Creatures review: an overly restrained Irish drama
Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris review: a sweet film with too much sugar
Cha Cha Real Smooth review: A lovestruck, kindhearted gem
Lost Illusions review: A sexy and entertaining costume drama
Product Reviews

In 2019, Adam Sandler proved he still has what it takes to be one of Hollywood’s most versatile and charismatic performers with his performance in the Safdie Brothers’ adrenaline-fueled Uncut Gems. Not since 2002’s Punch-Drunk Love had Sandler played a character so different from his usual goofball archetype, and he earned some well-deserved acclaim for his turn as the film's self-destructive lead. But Uncut Gems did more than just reaffirm Sandler’s status as a more versatile leading man than his filmography would have you believe.

The film also offered the promise of being the first entry in a new chapter in Sandler’s career, one featuring more variety and legitimately dramatic stories from the Happy Gilmore star than viewers had seen in previous years. While it remains to be seen if that’s the direction Sandler’s career will ultimately take in the coming years, Hustle certainly seems to suggest that it might be.

In the final act of director Terence Davies’ achingly beautiful new film Benediction, a son asks his father, “Why do you hate the modern world?” The father responds, “Because it’s younger than I am.” It is a wry, observant, and delicately funny response, but it also speaks to a sense of disconnection — namely, the separation one man feels between himself and the world around him.

That feeling of isolation and loneliness is at the heart of Benediction, Davies’ film about the life and work of British war poet Siegfried Sassoon. In the film, Sassoon is played by two actors, Peter Capaldi and Jack Lowden, and across Benediction’s 137-minute runtime, Davies’ script jumps between the various stages of Sassoon’s life. By doing so, Davies gradually builds an intricate portrait of the various moments of regret, shame, heartbreak, and devastation that not only shaped Sassoon’s life but also his poetry.

Julian Fellowes loves the British aristocracy. Much more than fellow Brit and anglophile Peter Morgan (who gave us The Crown, The Queen, and a half dozen films, shows, and plays about Queen Elizabeth II and the House of Windsor), Fellowes has defined his career by chronicling the upstairs/downstairs class system of Great Britain in the early 20th century. He first gained worldwide attention in 2001 when he collaborated with Robert Altman on Gosford Park, a withering social satire set in an English manor in the 1930s. He then created Downton Abbey, a massively successful series focusing on, you guessed it, an English manor at the turn of the century, only without Altman's trademark cynicism and masterful direction.

Six seasons and one sleeper hit feature film later, Fellowes is back with more servants and stiff upper lips with Downton Abbey: A New Era. What was once a sly look at the often tense relations between the classes as British society slowly woke up from the Victorian era has now devolved into long-winded fan service, with characters whose stories have long ago wrapped up standing around trying to find something, anything, to do while the threat of real change is teased but never delivered.

A Man Called Otto Review

A Man Called Otto

The 2015 Swedish film A Man Called Ove — adapted from the novel of the same name by Fredrik Backman — is a very Scandinavian brand of feelgoodery: one which sees its hero regularly try to kill himself. It became a huge hit in its native country, beloved for its flinty anti-hero and morbid sense of humour, and remains the third biggest film of all time at the Swedish box office. Hollywood, inevitably, came calling soon after.

Like many English-language remakes, A Man Called Otto doesn’t totally justify its existence — you can’t help but wonder, when films are so easily available online, why not just point audiences to the original? But it does at least pull off a significant casting coup, in the form of Tom Hanks .

Tom Hanks is so good that the film suffers somewhat when he's not on screen.

Last seen this grouchy when announcing there was no crying in baseball, Hanks is clearly relishing playing against type here, abandoning his “America’s Dad” persona to step into Otto’s short-fused slippers. It’s a typically excellent lead performance, misanthropic yet good-hearted, Hanks finding and elevating the humanity in the character. (He is particularly adept at smiling without ever losing his frown.)

He’s so good, in fact, that the film suffers somewhat when he’s not on screen. It’s undoubtedly a lovely touch to cast Hanks’ real-life son Truman as the younger Otto in repeated flashbacks, fleshing out his early life and marriage to Sonya (Rachel Keller), but those scenes are by far the weakest, treacly and overly rose-tinted, and have an adverse effect on the film’s pace. It’s a constant tonal plate-spinning act, balancing the comic elements with the repeated scenes of attempted suicide, and despite its sharper edges, director Marc Forster doesn’t quite avoid sugary clichés.

What keeps it consistently likeable, Hanks aside, are the actors surrounding him. There’s a great role for Juanita Jennings as one of Otto’s estranged neighbours, and a surprisingly moving subplot about a trans teen in Otto’s life, played by trans actor Mack Bayda. Best among the ensemble is Mexican actor Mariana Treviño as Marisol, the mother of a new family living across the street from Otto; her vivacity and genial zest for life gives a supposedly grouchy film its warm heart. The It’s-A-Wonderful-Life -y message that eventually comes — that no man is a failure who has friends — is ultimately hard to snub.

Movies | 20 10 2022

Review: 'A Man Called Otto' follows an obvious plot that can be seen from outer space

Tom Hanks saves the film from being a total loss.

Tom Hanks is one of our best actors, a gentleman star in the classic tradition of Jimmy Stewart and Gary Cooper. It's affection for the 66-year-old legend that helps ease the sugar shock of "A Man Called Otto," a theaters-only crowdpleaser that merely wants to entertain.

There's no crime in that. But this risk-free, rigorously conventional adaptation of the Swedish bestseller and Oscar-nominated 2015 foreign-language film, "A Man Called Otto," follows the broad strokes of a glaringly obvious plot that can be seen from outer space.

Hanks plays Otto Anderson, a grumpy old man who's been depressed to the point of attempting suicide since the death of his beloved wife. Hanks has played the dark side before, most recently in a fat suit and prosthetics as Elvis Presley's malevolent manager Col. Tom Parker in "Elvis."

PHOTO: Jimmy, played by Cameron Britton, jogs by Otto, played by Tom Hanks, in Columbia Pictures' "A Man Called Otto."

But critics and audiences tend to prefer Hanks in gentler mode, such as his Oscar-nominated turn as children's TV host Mr. Rogers in "A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood." Not to worry, Otto is cranky all right, but his ill will is mostly on the comic surface.

"Idiot," is the word Otto, a retired engineer, throws around to insult everyone else living in his Pittsburgh neighborhood, especially those who don't recycle, don't know how to parallel park and don't get out of his way when he swan dives onto train tracks.

Hostile Otto grunts his disdain for the world at large. He doesn't turn Scrooge and mumble "Bah-humbug," but that's probably because it isn't Christmas yet. Poor Otto can't even enter a hardware store to buy 5 feet of rope -- he wants to hang himself -- without suffering pricing pushback from a clueless, millennial clerk.

MORE: Review: 'See How They Run' is a wicked fun whodunit that goes down easy

Flashbacks show us what a sweetie Otto was as a young man, played by Truman Hanks, the star's son, as he meets and falls hard for the literate and lovely Sonya (Rachel Keller), a teacher whose kindness gives his life meaning until an accident, hers, throws their lives out of balance.

Princess Kate portrait draws strong reactions

May 22, 3:44 PM

Priest bites woman while giving Sunday Communion

May 24, 3:55 AM

Johnson disappointed with chaotic House meeting

May 17, 3:34 PM

The director is the German-born Marc Forster, who made the worst James Bond movie ever in 2008's "Quantum of Solace," but showed an admirable edge in such films as "Monster's Ball" and "World War Z." That sharpness is totally MIA in the Otto story.

PHOTO: Tom Hanks is Otto Anderson in Columbia Pictures' "A Man Called Otto."

The catalyst for Otto's change of heart is his pregnant new neighbor Marisol (a swell Mariana Treviño), who's moved in with her husband Tommy (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo) and their two young daughters. Otto thinks Tommy is an idiot, but Marisol earns his grudging respect.

As for Otto's bias against immigrants, it's skin deep like Clint Eastwood's in "Gran Torino." Otto sees in Marisol the spark he so loved in his late wife. Soon he's giving this overworked mom driving lessons and eating her Mexican home cooking. And did I mention that Otto takes in a stray cat. He does. Shameless.

MORE: Review: 'M3gan' is a miracle of modern horror cinema that leaves you reeling

A rubbed-raw drama this is not. Things get worse when Otto befriends a former student of his wife who is transgender. It's not like Otto is getting woke -- he was always woke on the inside.

With a lesser actor than Hanks, the movie would suck you down into sentimental quicksand. Even with Hanks, the gooey stuff is hard to hold back. But if all you're looking for in a movie during these stressful times is harmless fluff, then "A Man Called Otto" delivers the goods.

'Super Size Me' documentary filmmaker dies

May 24, 11:43 AM

Lawmaker's daughter, son-in-law killed in Haiti

May 24, 1:18 PM

ABC News Live

24/7 coverage of breaking news and live events

Common Sense Media

Movie & TV reviews for parents

For Parents
For Educators
Our Work and Impact

Or browse by category:

Get the app
Movie Reviews
Best Movie Lists
Best Movies on Netflix, Disney+, and More

Common Sense Selections for Movies

50 Modern Movies All Kids Should Watch Before They're 12

Best TV Lists
Best TV Shows on Netflix, Disney+, and More
Common Sense Selections for TV
Video Reviews of TV Shows

Best Kids' Shows on Disney+

Best Kids' TV Shows on Netflix

Book Reviews
Best Book Lists
Common Sense Selections for Books

8 Tips for Getting Kids Hooked on Books

50 Books All Kids Should Read Before They're 12

Game Reviews
Best Game Lists

Common Sense Selections for Games

Video Reviews of Games

Nintendo Switch Games for Family Fun

Podcast Reviews
Best Podcast Lists

Common Sense Selections for Podcasts

Parents' Guide to Podcasts

App Reviews
Best App Lists

Social Networking for Teens

Gun-Free Action Game Apps

Reviews for AI Apps and Tools

YouTube Channel Reviews
YouTube Kids Channels by Topic

Parents' Ultimate Guide to YouTube Kids

Real-Life Heroes on YouTube for Tweens and Teens

Family Tech Planners
Digital Skills
All Articles
Latino Culture
Black Voices
Asian Stories
Native Narratives
LGBTQ+ Pride
Best of Diverse Representation List

Celebrating Black History Month

Movies and TV Shows with Arab Leads

Celebrate Hip-Hop's 50th Anniversary

A man called otto, common sense media reviewers.

Neighborly love warms comedy about suicidal curmudgeon.

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

While movie deals with suicidal ideation and suici

Marisol, an immigrant and mother, is persistent, c

Positive characters who are diverse in terms of ag

Several suicide attempts (hanging, carbon monoxide

A married couple's love story is told from beginni

Strong language includes "bastard," "crap," "godda

Recurring joke about men who identify with certain

Positive Messages

While movie deals with suicidal ideation and suicide attempts, ultimate message is that life has more to offer than we may think -- we just need to hang in there and be open to what it brings us. Cranky people likely have a painful reason behind their rude behavior. Themes of love, loss, compassion, finding family in unexpected places.

Positive Role Models

Marisol, an immigrant and mother, is persistent, caring, unapologetically herself. Neighbors, co-workers, and people Otto comes into contact with are remarkably patient and cheery despite his rude behavior.

Diverse Representations

Positive characters who are diverse in terms of age, gender, race, disability, and economics. Focus on issues related to aging, including forced retirement, loss, and health problems. Title character, director, and writer are all White men, but a Latino family is the heart of the film; the matriarch is a Mexican immigrant (played by Mexican actor Mariana Treviño) who frequently speaks in unsubtitled Spanish. Significant supporting characters with disabilities. Transgender character shares his struggle with family acceptance.

Did we miss something on diversity? Suggest an update.

Violence & Scariness

Several suicide attempts (hanging, carbon monoxide poisoning, shooting, train) that fail in ways that are depicted as humorous; ultimately, the character comes to understand that life has much to offer him, and he has much to offer others. Vehicular accident with bodies strewn about; strong emotional consequences. Hostile but humorous behavior from main character toward small animals. Peril when a person falls onto railroad tracks. Road rage incident: driver pulled out of vehicle.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

A married couple's love story is told from beginning to end in flashbacks. Kissing.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

Strong language includes "bastard," "crap," "goddamn," "pr--ks," "s--t," "son of a bitch," "suck," and "what the hell." Cranky character calls people "idiots" and calls the neighborhood stray "stupid cat."

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Products & Purchases

Recurring joke about men who identify with certain car brands, so vehicles are highlighted with close-ups on the ornament or logo.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that Tom Hanks produced and stars in A Man Called Otto, an ultimately life-affirming dramedy that deals frankly with suicidal ideation. Adapted from Fredrik Backman's bestselling book and the Academy Award-nominated 2015 Swedish film A Man Called Ove , it centers on a man named Otto (Hanks), the epitome of the cranky "get off my lawn" type, who wants to end his life as a matter of efficiency. The movie presents a series of humorously interrupted attempts at his death via suicide (using a rope, asphyxiation, a gun, etc.), all of which lead to the point at which Otto realizes that, while his wife and career are gone, life can still be fulfilling. The movie encourages giving others grace, since you may not be aware of what they're going through. The residents in Otto's housing complex are diverse in terms of age, gender, race, economics, disability, and health, and they're the definition of "neighborly." Otto is counterbalanced by Marisol ( Mariana Treviño ), a positively portrayed Mexican immigrant mother of two who moves in across the street. In addition to Otto's attempts at ending his life, there's a road rage incident. Otto is impatient with others and calls them "idiots," "bastards," and "pr--ks." Other language includes "s--t" and "goddamn." Characters kiss. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

Where to Watch

Videos and photos.

Community Reviews

Parents say (24)
Kids say (24)

Based on 24 parent reviews

Multiple Realistic and Long-Form Depictions of Suicide

Could be triggering to those with mental illness, what's the story.

Tom Hanks is A MAN CALLED OTTO, the neighborhood crank who has no tolerance for those who don't follow the rules. After retiring and the loss of his wife, Otto feels he has nothing else to live for. But his pesky neighbors keep interrupting his attempts to end his life.

Is It Any Good?

With this remarkably warm and fulfilling film, Hanks and director Marc Forster pull off the impossible: making a family-friendly suicide comedy. Even though the 2015 Swedish original starring Rolf Lassgård was quite successful, after watching A Man Called Otto , it feels impossible to picture anyone else in the starring role. Hanks' grumpy old man trumps all of those who came before him: Clint Eastwood , Walter Matthau , Jack Lemmon , etc. He's so beloved that every rude thing he says is likely to make you laugh, and Forster smartly balances the crankiness by surrounding Otto with warmhearted souls who return his barbs with a knowing look and a smile: Yep, that's Otto! They don't take his mean streak to heart, and it allows viewers to go on the journey and care about him.

While we might understand that Otto "is something special," he's also the dark to the light that is Marisol (Mariana Treviño), the very pregnant woman who moves across the street from Otto. She's a flutter of radiant energy that just refuses to be pushed aside by Otto's hostility. And she's just one strong example of positive diverse representation in the film. The residents in Otto's townhouse complex represent "community" in every sense of the word: They're a family in their own unique way, with residents from all stages and walks of life who look out for each other in good times and bad. While Otto's suicide attempts do make the film too mature for younger children, it's a strong choice for movie night with teens and grandparents.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about how A Man Called Otto plays on viewers' compassion . How can we practice patience for those who exhibit bitter behavior while also not indulging unacceptable treatment?

How does the movie portray depression and suicidal ideation? What should you do if you're worried about a friend or family member? What resources are available to help both kids and adults ? (If you or someone you love is in crisis, you can contact the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline by dialing 988.)

Even though Otto is impatient and unkind, did you find yourself rooting for him? What skills does Hanks use to make Otto likable and vulnerable?

Talk about the diversity represented in Otto's neighborhood. Does this accurately reflect real life? Why is positive representation in the media important?

Movie Details

In theaters : December 30, 2022
On DVD or streaming : February 28, 2023
Cast : Tom Hanks , Mariana Treviño , Manuel Garcia-Rulfo
Director : Marc Forster
Inclusion Information : Female actors, Latino actors
Studio : Columbia Pictures
Genre : Comedy
Topics : Book Characters
Character Strengths : Compassion
Run time : 126 minutes
MPAA rating : PG-13
MPAA explanation : mature thematic material involving suicide attempts, and language
Last updated : April 20, 2024

Did we miss something on diversity?

Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

Suggest an Update

Our editors recommend.

Grumpy Old Men

Want personalized picks for your kids' age and interests?

It's a Wonderful Life

The Bucket List

Groundhog Day

Feel-good family movies, best family comedy movies, related topics.

Book Characters

Want suggestions based on your streaming services? Get personalized recommendations

Common Sense Media's unbiased ratings are created by expert reviewers and aren't influenced by the product's creators or by any of our funders, affiliates, or partners.

Election 2024
Entertainment
Newsletters
Photography
Personal Finance
AP Investigations
AP Buyline Personal Finance
AP Buyline Shopping
Press Releases
Israel-Hamas War
Russia-Ukraine War
Global elections
Asia Pacific
Latin America
Middle East
Election Results
Delegate Tracker
AP & Elections
Auto Racing
2024 Paris Olympic Games
Movie reviews
Book reviews
Personal finance
Financial Markets
Business Highlights
Financial wellness
Artificial Intelligence
Social Media

Review: A grumpy Tom Hanks stars in ‘A Man Called Otto’

This image released by Sony Pictures shows Tom Hanks in a scene from “A Man Called Otto.” (Niko Tavernise/Sony Pictures via AP)

This image released by Sony Pictures shows Tom Hanks, left, in a scene from “A Man Called Otto.” (Niko Tavernise/Sony Pictures via AP)

This image released by Sony Pictures shows Tom Hanks, right, and Mariana Treviño in a scene from “A Man Called Otto.” (Niko Tavernise/Sony Pictures via AP)

This image released by Sony Pictures shows Tom Hanks, left, and Mariana Treviño in a scene from “A Man Called Otto.” (Dennis Mong/Sony Pictures via AP)

Copy Link copied

Sentimental tales about grumpy old men and American decline have, until recently, typically been the domain of Clint Eastwood.

But in “A Man Called Otto,” Marc Forster’s adaptation of Fredrik Backman’s bestseller and a remake of the 2016 Swedish film “A Man Called Ove,” it’s Tom Hanks prowling the neighborhood and irritably grumbling about how things used to be. In the original, Rolf Lassgård richly inhabited the role of Ove, a curmudgeonly widower — a Forrest Grump —whose suicide attempts are foiled by needy neighbors and, ultimately, his grudging, sincere devotion to them.

Exasperation, whether directed at a crying ballplayer or a slobbering canine, has always been squarely in Hanks’ wheelhouse. But despondency or even plain get-off-my-lawn orneriness are less obvious traits possessed by the actor sometimes called “America’s Dad.” Following Hanks’ villainous turn as Col. Tom Parker in “Elvis,” the 66-year-old has found in “A Man Called Otto” another role that interestingly, if not always entirely successfully, caters to his strengths while tweaking his familiar screen presence.

It also may rob “A Man Called Otto,” which opens with Otto buying rope to hang himself with, of some of its spirit. We know there are dark roads that Hanks just isn’t going to go down, and some of the early, more caustic scenes of Forster’s film strike a false note. But as “A Man Called Otto” makes its way through Otto’s life, cutting between his present-day squabbles and flashbacks of happier times with his wife, Sonya (Rachel Keller), Hanks movingly tailors the role to himself. How “A Man Called Otto” unfolds won’t surprise anyone, but it does the trick for a little post-holidays heart-warming.

ADDING IDs OF PEOPLE IN PHOTOGRAPHS Director Mohammad Rasoulof holds up photographs of actors Soheila Golestani, right, and Missagh Zareh alongside Soheila Golestani, left, upon arrival at the premiere of the film 'The Seed of the Sacred Fig' at the 77th international film festival, Cannes, southern France, Friday, May 24, 2024. (Photo by Scott A Garfitt/Invision/AP)

“A Man Called Otto” is set in the prefab row-house development Otto has long lived in, where he tirelessly tisk-tisks any rule breakers, re-sorts misplaced recycling and berates drivers who violate the street’s regulation against through traffic.

Screenwriter David Magee (“Life of Pi,” “Finding Neverland”) hues closely to the Swedish film as a kind of parable of community. Up and down the street are all the people the freshly retired Otto barely tolerates: friends-turned-enemies (Peter Lawson Jones, Juanita Jennings), a friendly exerciser (a delightful Cameron Britton), a transgender paper deliverer and former student of Otto’s wife (Mack Bayda). Most of all there is Marisol (a terrific Mariana Treviño), a pregnant mother of two has just moved in with her husband (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo). Various needs — a stray cat, a borrowed ladder, driving lessons — intrude on Otto’s desires for a peaceful death and, in between aborted suicide attempts, gradually rekindle his will to live.

It’s sometimes too broadly drawn. Mike Birbiglia plays a predatory real estate agent from a company not-so-subtly called Dye & Merica. (“Sounds like Dying America, which it is,” says Otto.) But “A Man Called Otto” is less after realism than it is a modern-day fable, with shades of Scrooge and the Grinch. As a tale of a solitary man, Hanks has made it a poignant work of family. Rita Wilson, his wife, is a producer and is heard singing a song in the film. The younger Otto is played in flashbacks by their son, Truman Hanks. Even Chet Hanks’ “White Boy Summer” blares from a car radio.

Another tune, though, is a more thrilling needle drop. The less said probably the better, but suffice to say, it could be a sign that the Kate Bush renaissance so hearteningly kicked up by “Stranger Things” has not yet abated. If that’s not life-affirming, I don’t know what is.

“A Man Called Otto,” a Sony Pictures release, is rated PG-13 by the Motion Picture Association for mature thematic material involving suicide attempts, and language. Running time: 126 minutes. Two and a half stars out of four.

Follow AP Film Writer Jake Coyle on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/jakecoyleAP

Notice: All forms on this website are temporarily down for maintenance. You will not be able to complete a form to request information or a resource. We apologize for any inconvenience and will reactivate the forms as soon as possible.

DVD & Streaming

A Man Called Otto

Comedy , Drama

Content Caution

In Theaters

January 6, 2023
Tom Hanks as Otto Anderson; Mariana Treviño as Marisol; Manuel Garcia-Rulfo as Tommy; Cameron Britton as Jimmy; Mack Bayda as Malcolm; Rachel Keller as Sonya; Juanita Jennings as Anita; Peter Lawson Jones as Reuben; Truman Hanks as Young Otto Anderson; Kailey Hyman as Barb; Max Pavel as Andy; Christiana Montoya as Luna; Alessandra Perez as Abbie; Greg Allan Martin as Lucas; Kelly Lamor Wilson as Shari Kenzie

Home Release Date

February 28, 2023
Marc Forster

Distributor

Columbia Pictures

Movie Review

“ Idiots ,” Otto grumbles with every step he takes.

He makes his rounds through the neighborhood, grumbling at every mistake people around him make. How hard is it to put your parking pass on the rearview mirror, close the neighborhood gate or put your bike in the bike rack? He grouses.

As far as he’s concerned, the America that Otto knew is dying. No one knows how to fix anything anymore. A predatory real estate agent looks for ways to buy the neighborhood properties out from under people. And take just yesterday, when Otto tried to buy five feet of rope, and they told him he would still need to pay for six feet—because it’s policy to only charge by the yard.

All of the problems of the world are only accentuated by the passing of Otto’s wife, Sonya, six months before. If Otto were to think about it, she was the real reason why the world was so great. She gave Otto’s world color. Now that she’s gone, the whole world’s gone greyscale.

But today, that’s all going to change. Because using that purchased rope to craft a noose, Otto’s going to rejoin his wife. He steps up on his coffee table and prepares to slip his head through the hole.

Just then, Otto is interrupted by the sound of new neighbors Tommy and Marisol, backing their U-Haul over the curb and into their property. Apparently, no one knows how to parallel park with a trailer anymore.

Idiots . Otto can’t stand it. He slips the noose off his head and goes over to teach these neighbors how to do it properly. He can always get back to his suicidal plans later—if only these amicable and caring neighbors would stop appearing so frequently in his life.

Positive Elements

Otto longs for better days—days when Sonya was alive, people knew how to fix things, and everything was a bit simpler. Otto says of his deceased wife, there’s “nothing before or after” her.

But Otto’s fixation on the things of the past is an idol in his heart, and it’s dragging the elderly man down into a bitter depression. As the story unfolds, we’re warned about how making anything an idol in our lives can quickly ruin us.

Though Otto’s love for Sonya reminds us of the value of marriage, his idolization of his wife has made her a crutch for the aging man; when she passes, Otto must learn how to walk on his own once again. He hangs onto those former days, refusing to get rid of his wife’s coats, which still hang on the coat rack. But when young Marisol discovers Otto’s pain, she gently shows him how moving on is good for him, and how it won’t disrespect Sonya’s memory to do so.

Otto learns another important lesson: You can’t do everything alone. Though Otto thinks the world is nothing but “idiots,” Marisol shows him how it’s OK to get help from others—even if you may need to teach them a thing or two before they can help.

And as for Marisol and Tommy (as well as a couple other neighbors), they put up with Otto’s many bitter remarks in order to befriend him. Otto, for his part, does help his neighbors when asked, even if he isn’t the friendliest about it (though he would disagree—he was being friendly, he insists).

Spiritual Elements

Otto often speaks with Sonya at her grave, telling her of how he plans to meet her again soon.

[ Spoiler Warning ] During one of Otto’s suicide attempts, the ghost of his wife speaks to him, discouraging him from taking his life. Later, Otto eventually does pass away (from natural causes), and a minster leads his funeral service.

Sexual Content

A prominent character named Malcolm is transgender. Malcolm’s father kicks him out for identifying in that way. Otto exclaims that anyone who disagrees with transgender ideology is “an idiot.”

A man wearing tight, revealing pants stretches, causing Otto to ask the man’s girlfriend if she can tell him to “stop stretching his groin in public.” A young Otto and Sonya kiss a couple times. Marisol and Tommy kiss, too.

Violent Content

There’s no getting around the central premise of the film: an elderly man who wants to kill himself to reunite with his wife in the afterlife. Otto’s initial attempt is followed by three more.

Otto hangs himself, but the hook snaps, causing him to collapse to the floor. He tries to take his life via carbon monoxide poisoning, but his neighbor interrupts him. He also stands in front of an oncoming train, but he is once again saved. Otto finally tries to shoot himself with a shotgun, but he is distracted, and the bullet instead fires into the ceiling.

Otto is quick to confront a couple people with violence. He assaults a hospital clown for not returning a personal memento. He also yanks someone from his truck after the man impatiently honks at him. And when a store employee asks if Otto needs help cutting rope, Otto asks if the employee is afraid that Otto may accidentally cut himself and bleed in the store.

A bus crashes, paralyzing a woman and causing a miscarriage. A man has a heart attack. A woman throws rocks at a stray cat.

Crude or Profane Language

The s-word is used four times. We also hear about a half-dozen instances each of “h—,” “b–tard” and “crap.” There are a couple uses of “b–ch,” “d–n,” “p-ss” and “pr-ck.” God’s name is used in vain 19 times, and two of those times are paired with “d–n.” And, of course, Otto calls pretty much everyone an “idiot.”

Drug and Alcohol Content

Otto brings a bottle of liquor to reconnect with a friend. The two never get around to opening it.

Other Negative Elements

People film an elderly man who has fallen onto train tracks rather than helping him. Otto says a woman is “full of garbage.” A real estate agency gets illegal access to medical records in an effort to push elderly people out of their homes. A baby defecates. Otto is quite rude in most encounters.

It’s tough to move on from the loss of a loved one. Instead, Otto figures the easiest thing he can do is just to end his life and join his wife in the afterlife. But when friendly and insistent neighbors insist on growing closer to him, Otto’s sour opinion of life slowly begins to soften.

This film is remake of the 2015 Swedish film A Man Called Ove , which itself is based on Fredrik Backman’s 2012 novel of the same name. Throughout the movie, Tom Hanks’ Otto expresses his disgust at all the people who are ruining the world—namely, those who don’t know or care enough about how to fix things or follow rules.

And, if we’re being honest, there are a few things we’d wish A Man Called Otto would fix, too. For starters, the movie centers around a man attempting to commit suicide in a few different ways. In fact, even though this difficult subject is treated in a darkly humorous way, the film’s repeated depiction of it could still be potentially problematic for anyone who’s wrestled with this issue personally. On top of that, the movie also features quite a bit of crude language, and a prominent character is transgender.

Those content issues are deeply frustrating, because the film does provide a nice message regarding community and seeking help amid grief. But those redemptive themes come off a bit dull and muddled when clouded by the film’s bigger concerns.

Kennedy Unthank

Kennedy Unthank studied journalism at the University of Missouri. He knew he wanted to write for a living when he won a contest for “best fantasy story” while in the 4th grade. What he didn’t know at the time, however, was that he was the only person to submit a story. Regardless, the seed was planted. Kennedy collects and plays board games in his free time, and he loves to talk about biblical apologetics. He thinks the ending of Lost “wasn’t that bad.”

Latest Reviews

The Garfield Movie

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga

Weekly reviews straight to your inbox.

'A Man Called Otto' Ending Explained: The Tragedy Behind Otto's Grumpiness

How does it end for Tom Hanks' grumpy neighbor?

The Big Picture

Tom Hanks shines in A Man Called Otto , blending comedy and drama flawlessly in a heartwarming yet heartbreaking story.
Director Marc Forster expertly tackles themes of immigration, grief, and community in this emotionally resonant film adaptation.
Otto's journey from reclusive grump to community hero will inspire laughter and tears, showcasing the power of human connection.

Tom Hanks ’ latest crowd-pleaser, A Man Called Otto , takes the viewer on a brutally funny, yet completely sensitive journey into the life of “the grumpiest man in America.” The film is a return to form for Hanks in many ways ; while he’s matured into one of the finest dramatic actors of all time, it’s easy to forget that he was once the hilarious comic icon behind classics like Big, Splash, Sleepless in Seattle , and Joe Versus the Volcano . While Hanks gets to show more of his comedic side as Otto Anderson is pestered by his new neighbors, the film goes into more dramatic territory in the heartwarming (yet heartbreaking) final moments.

When Swedish writer Fredrik Backman ’s novel A Man Called Ove became an international sensation and reached American readers, it wasn’t long before a film adaptation was put into production . The novel was heartfelt, inspiring, and nuanced in its depiction of mental health and aging, and would clearly have significant appeal to a broad audience. Hannes Holm ’s cinematic version of A Man Called Ove was put into production; like the novel that inspired it, A Man Called Ove was an international hit that had significant crossover appeal for English-language viewers.

Director Marc Forster does a great job at grounding his English-language remake in the anxieties of American life today and pays close attention to how immigration, economic inequity, grief, and deceptive real estate practices make it harder to bridge interpersonal relationships within communities. Forster succeeds in nailing the original source material’s emotional resonance with his masterfully crafted conclusion, which is likely to inspire quite a few tears from engaged audiences.

A Man Called Otto

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7405458/

Why Is Otto so Reclusive?

It’s initially unclear why Otto is being so reclusive, and why he’s so hesitant to form close emotional ties with any of his new neighbors. As Marisol ( Mariana Treviño ) gets to spend more time with him, she realizes that Otto is a great family man. Otto gives her husband, Tommy ( Manuel Garcia-Rulfo ), practical advice on parenting, and bonds with their children. Marisol realizes that this is because Otto was once married to the schoolteacher Sonya ( Rachel Keller ), and their early relationship is shown in flashbacks; Hanks’ son Truman Hanks portrays him in the flashbacks.

Otto’s heart condition had prevented him from joining the armed services, but his trips to the train station introduced him to Sonya. After a few slightly awkward dinner dates, the couple falls deeply in love and dreams of having a child together. Although they both work hard and have little time off, they finally take a vacation together, where a bus accident claims the life of their unborn child and confines Sonya to a wheelchair. The community’s refusal to adjust to accommodate Sonya turns Otto into the more reclusive, grumpy man in the later scenes, and he’s left with no one after Sonya’s death. Although Otto considers taking his own life on many occasions, he’s reminded of Sonya’s wish for him to “keep living” despite his trauma.

'A Man Called Otto' Shows What It’s Like to Be Poor in America

Do otto and marisol stay friends.

Despite Otto’s rudeness to Marisol in the beginning, he begins to open up to her more than any of his other neighbors. From the beginning, she tries to charm him by making him food, and he ultimately teaches her how to drive when he realizes that she does not have a license. Tommy is useless with gardening and tools, and Otto feels obliged to help out. Although Otto’s return to being grumpy causes Marisol to briefly shut him out of her home, he apologizes and explains his struggles with Sonya’s death and his contemplation of suicide. When Otto collapses and is taken to a hospital, Marisol is listed as his emergency contact. She finds it hilarious when a nurse tells her that Otto’s heart is “too big.” This is also when Marisol realizes she needs to give birth.

Otto Saves Anita From Eviction

Otto occasionally comes over to care for the elderly woman Anita ( Jaunita Jennings ) and her husband Reuben ( Peter Lawson Jones ), who is confined to a wheelchair. Otto had bonded with the couple when he and Sonya were younger, but they grew distant following Sonya’s death and Reuben’s illness. However, Otto realizes that Anita is being forcibly evicted from her home by a greedy real estate agent ( Mike Birbiglia ). Earlier in the film, Otto saved an innocent man from being hit by a train, which attracted the attention of the media and went viral . Otto leverages his sudden fame to call the attention of a social media reporter to the scene of Anita’s forced removal, which reveals the deceptive plot.

Otto Welcomes Malcolm Into His Home

Early on, Otto gets annoyed when the paperboy Malcolm ( Mack Bayda ) continues to drop off a daily newspaper at his house. After being gruff, Malcolm reveals that he had been one of Sonya’s students and that she had encouraged the other teachers and students to accept his transgender identity . Otto later allows Malcolm to stay with him after he’s kicked out of his home by his family, and gives him the car he has so much pride in.

What Happens After Otto Dies?

Otto is aware that his mega-sized heart will ultimately lead to an unexpected death , so he prepares a message to Marisol with instructions about his funeral preparations and possessions. He has a low-key funeral held, allowing each of his friends to remember him as a "local community hero." He passes on each of his items to someone in the community that can benefit from them, and gives Marisol and her family his home on the promise that they “never sell it to those real estate basterds.”

A Man Called Otto is currently available to rent on Prime Video.

Rent on Prime Video

Skip to main content
Keyboard shortcuts for audio player

Movie Reviews

Movie review: 'living' and 'a man called otto'.

Bob Mondello

Two new films about men who find flexibility late in life, "Living" and "A Man Called Otto," are remakes of acclaimed foreign films: Director Akira Kurosawa's "Ikuru" and Sweden's "A Man Called Ove."

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

Screen Rant

The garfield movie review: chris pratt leads a lackluster animated adventure with little appeal.

Your changes have been saved

Email Is sent

Please verify your email address.

You’ve reached your account maximum for followed topics.

Every Chris Pratt Movie Ranked From Worst To Best

Where to watch the garfield movie: showtimes & streaming status, the garfield movie's voice cast & character guide: who stars in chris pratt's 2024 movie.

The Garfield Movie offers humor but lacks originality, overshadowing the main character with a bland story and better characters.
Chris Pratt's voice performance is decent, but Ving Rhames steals the show as Otto.
Despite an emotional father-son storyline, The Garfield Movie feels lackluster and fails to bring anything new to the table.

As one of the most famous fictional cats out there, it's no surprise that Hollywood is keen to build a franchise on Jim Davis' Garfield, the lazy lasagna-loving pet who loathes Mondays above all else. Yet, more than ten years after the misfires that were Garfield: The Movie and its 2006 follow-up, which even star Bill Murray has disavowed, the cat's prospects haven't exactly improved. The newest attempt at making the character happen, The Garfield Movie , is already at a disadvantage due to its lead star.

Based on Jim Davis's comic series, Garfield is a new imagining of the lasagna-loving cat and his friends, opting for a fully computer-animated approach. Chris Pratt voices the titular cat, with the film aiming to explore his early days and new misadventures for him, his friends, and his family.

There is the occasional genuine bit of humor
The voice cast is good
The story is lackluster
The movie doesn't offer anything creative or invigorating
Garfield is overshadowed by better characters
Garfield isn't a strong enough protagonist

Chris Pratt has received a lot of flack for taking on voice roles for seemingly no reason other than his star power, and his casting as Garfield sparked plenty of memes and eye-rolls (though admittedly, the furor was much smaller than it was when he was cast as Mario). That The Garfield Movie isn't a particularly strong animated movie isn't entirely Pratt's fault , far from it, but it does make me think that, unlike last year's The Super Mario Bros . Movie , this new Sony outing won't rebound from its initial reception.

From humble beginnings to Hollywood elite, Chris Pratt has rapidly become one of the most commercially successful actors in the history of film.

The Garfield Movie's Plot Moves Fast & Hits The Expected Beats

The Garfield Movie wastes no time introducing its titular character, from his seemingly bottomless stomach to his tragic origin story, which lays the foundation for the whole plot. When he was a tiny, big-eyed kitten, Garfield was left in an alley by his father, Vic (Samuel L. Jackson), on a dark and stormy night. Naturally, Garfield himself is providing the narration for this intro, a gimmick I found tiring almost immediately. Drawn by the scents of a nearby Italian restaurant, baby Garfield left the alley behind and found his way into the arms of sweet Jon Arbuckle (Nicholas Hoult).

Jon swiftly adopted the cat and so established the status quo comic readers are familiar with. However, it isn't long before Garfield and innocent pup Odie (Harvey Guillén) are yanked from their comfortable home and drawn into a mysterious plot, all because of former thief Vic. One of Vic's past partners in crime, Jinx (Hannah Waddingham), ended up in prison because of his actions, and she's returned for revenge. Jinx insists Vic and Garfield (with poor Odie along for the ride) must fulfill her chosen form of retribution, which involves stealing a lot of milk.

The Garfield Movie , directed by Mark Dindal and written by Paul A. Kaplan, Mark Torgove, and David Reynolds, keeps a steady pace the whole time, perhaps to ensure younger viewers don't lose focus too quickly. Much of the plot is centered around the milk heist, and Garfield's strained relationship with his dad. The father-son storyline forms the core of The Garfield Movie , and it certainly tugs at the heartstrings in exactly the way you'd expect . It's an effective way for us to gain some compassion for Garfield, since the movie itself isn't always interested in making him a well-rounded character.

The Garfield Movie

Pratt's garfield is overshadowed by stronger performances (& characters), ving rhames is especially good as otto.

There aren't many surprises to be had here, and the straightforward story, while likely working pretty well for its younger audience, won't excite adult viewers. At times, it feels as though The Garfield Movie is going through the motions, and it fails to offer anything particularly noteworthy about its main character . Maybe the nostalgia is simply lost on me, but I don't understand the appeal of Garfield as a protagonist, and this movie did little to change my mind.

Maybe I'm asking too much for a family-oriented animated movie, but there are so many titles out there that prove there is more to this medium than what is being offered here.

Performance-wise, Pratt isn't bad as Garfield. He knows how to find the humor in certain lines and injects some vulnerability into the occasional heavier emotional beat. However, he's surrounded by a very strong voice cast , and that makes his own simple approach stand out. Waddingham is clearly having a ball as the vengeful Jinx, and Hoult, brief as his part may be, sounds so unlike himself, I didn't recognize him until I saw his name in the credits.

Jackson is as reliable as always, and Ving Rhames sinks into the role of Otto, a bull Vic, Garfield, and Odie meet while preparing for their heist. Otto is perhaps the most compelling character here, with a sad backstory of his own that could've provided a bit more depth to The Garfield Movie if further explored. However, this movie is more focused on the predictable beats of the heist and the predictable comedic beats of Garfield falling flat on his face. Genuine laughs, outside a few clever references that will pass over some kids' heads, are sparse.

The Garfield Movie is far from an offensively bad take on the character , but it does leave me wondering whether the cat can actually sustain a movie all on his own. Compared to other recent animated movies, and even those still to come in 2024, this effort feels distinctly lackluster, not offering anything original or creatively invigorating. Maybe I'm asking too much for a family-oriented animated movie, but there are so many titles out there that prove there is more to this medium than what is being offered here.

The Garfield Movie releases in theaters on Friday, May 24. It is 101 minutes long and rated PG for action/peril and mild thematic elements.

Cast & crew

The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim

The untold story behind Helm's Deep, hundreds of years before the fateful war, telling the life and bloodsoaked times of its founder, Helm Hammerhand, the King of Rohan. The untold story behind Helm's Deep, hundreds of years before the fateful war, telling the life and bloodsoaked times of its founder, Helm Hammerhand, the King of Rohan. The untold story behind Helm's Deep, hundreds of years before the fateful war, telling the life and bloodsoaked times of its founder, Helm Hammerhand, the King of Rohan.

Kenji Kamiyama
Jeffrey Addiss
Phoebe Gittins
Will Matthews
Miranda Otto
Lorraine Ashbourne

Helm Hammerhand

Fréaláf Hildeson
All cast & crew
Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

More like this

Did you know

Trivia Set 183 years before the events of "The Lord of the Rings".
Connections Referenced in AniMat's Crazy Cartoon Cast: Geeked Week for Freaks (2021)

Technical specs

Runtime 2 hours 10 minutes
Dolby Atmos
Dolby Digital
IMAX 6-Track

movie reviews otto

IMAGES

VIDEO

COMMENTS

Movie Reviews

Tomris Laffly

Now playing

The Garfield Movie

The Idea of You

The Contestant

Brian Tallerico

The Big Cigar

Film Credits

A Man Called Otto (2022)

Director of Photography

Latest blog posts

Cannes 2024: My Sunshine, Rumours, The Balconettes

Cannes 2024: On Becoming a Guinea Fowl, The Village Next to Paradise, Viet and Nam

Reclamation Through Restoration: Thelma Schoonmaker Talks Michael Powell, Martin Scorsese and Peeping Tom

They Are the Best of the Best: Glen Powell on The Blue Angels

‘A Man Called Otto’ Review: Tom Hanks Learns Life Lessons

Explore More in TV and Movies

The Definitive Voice of Entertainment News

site categories

Frank Scheck

Related Stories

Full credits

More from The Hollywood Reporter

Log in or sign up for Rotten Tomatoes

Email not verified

Sign up for the Rotten Tomatoes newsletter to get weekly updates on:

Movies / TV

A Man Called Otto Reviews

Review: Tom Hanks gives ‘A Man Called Otto’ an easygoing sincerity

More to Read

Review: In ‘The Fall Guy’ with Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt, what’s a stuntman to do? Shake it off

In ‘A Man in Full,’ Jeff Daniels plays a real estate mogul whose life crumbles. Sound familiar?

Review: Director Ken Loach’s compassion remains a sturdy, reliable virtue in ‘The Old Oak’

More From the Los Angeles Times

Review: Stuffed with in-jokes for parents, ‘The Garfield Movie’ isn’t a cat-astrophe

New Mexico judge denies Alec Baldwin’s motion to dismiss criminal case in ‘Rust’ shooting

Kelly Rowland explains her viral Cannes red-carpet confrontation: ‘I have a boundary’

Morgan Spurlock, filmmaker who documented dangers of McDonald’s-only diet, dies at 53

site categories

Pete Hammond

More Stories By Pete

Related Stories

2023 Domestic Box Office To Hit $9 Billion Fueled By 33 Tentpoles, But How Does Hollywood Prevent Original Adult Pics From Falling Into Further Jeopardy?

2024 Premiere Dates For New & Returning Series On Broadcast, Cable & Streaming

Must Read Stories

Zendaya Watches Tom Holland’s First Night In ‘Romeo & Juliet’

Read More About:

‘A Man Called Otto’ Review: Tom Hanks Plays a Florid Grump

Owen Gleiberman

Popular on Variety

Reviewed at AMC Lincoln Square, Dec. 16, 2022. MPAA Rating: PG-13. Running time: 126 MIN.

More From Our Brands

A Man Called Otto review: Tom Hanks anchors a sweet drama

Editors' Recommendations

A Man Called Otto Review

Related Articles

Review: 'A Man Called Otto' follows an obvious plot that can be seen from outer space

MORE: Review: 'See How They Run' is a wicked fun whodunit that goes down easy

Trending Reader Picks

Princess Kate portrait draws strong reactions

Priest bites woman while giving Sunday Communion

Johnson disappointed with chaotic House meeting

MORE: Review: 'M3gan' is a miracle of modern horror cinema that leaves you reeling

'Super Size Me' documentary filmmaker dies

Lawmaker's daughter, son-in-law killed in Haiti

ABC News Live

Or browse by category:

Common Sense Selections for Movies

50 Modern Movies All Kids Should Watch Before They're 12

Best Kids' Shows on Disney+

Best Kids' TV Shows on Netflix

8 Tips for Getting Kids Hooked on Books

50 Books All Kids Should Read Before They're 12

Common Sense Selections for Games

Nintendo Switch Games for Family Fun

Common Sense Selections for Podcasts

Parents' Guide to Podcasts

Social Networking for Teens

Gun-Free Action Game Apps