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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.

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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

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‘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.

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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.

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‘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.

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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

‘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

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(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

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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.

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

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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.

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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

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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.

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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 .

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Parents say (24)
Kids say (23)

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

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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.

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

“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.

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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.

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‘an inconvenient truth’ director davis guggenheim asks who will replace the social impact made by participant’s movies, ‘a man called otto’ review: tom hanks, mariana trevino & a cat make this american remake irresistible.

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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.

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A Man Called Otto Review: A Charming Film Held Back By Odd Tonal Decisions

Warning: This review contains spoilers for "A Man Called Otto," as well as sensitive, potentially triggering content.

In Tom Hanks' wildly varied film career, he's played everything from a lawyer dying of AIDS ("Philadelphia") to a shopkeeper in love ("Sleepless In Seattle") to an unlikely influencer of history ("Forrest Gump"). He's even starred in a very informal plane crash trilogy, as a pilot stuck landing a crashing plane ("Sully"), a man stuck on an island after a plane crash ("Cast Away"), and a man stuck in an airport after a plane landing ("The Terminal"). In "A Man Called Otto," based on the 2012 Fredrik Backman novel "A Man Called Ove" and the 2015 Swedish film of that same title, Tom Hanks takes on his least characteristic role yet: that of a grumpy old widower.

It's an interesting project to save the least, given its dedicated attempt to land charming, family-friendly vibes against a narrative that relies on a widower fed up with living without his beloved Sonya (Rachel Keller). It joins the company of Redeemed Cranky Old Men films, and one can't help but be continually reminded of, say, "As Good As It Gets" and "Gran Torino" as it proceeds. What distinguishes this film from those is the peculiarity of Otto's unique challenge, one that's so core to its story that this review will have to get into spoiler territory to discuss it.

Fair warning ahead, we're going to be discussing both MAJOR SPOILERS and an extremely sensitive topic.

Otto, we come to find out, is so distraught over his wife's death that he aims to join her in the afterlife by committing suicide. Distraught, suicidal commitment has been well handled before in films that don't aim for a tragic tone, like Frank Capra's holiday classic "It's A Wonderful Life" and Billy Wilder's "The Apartment." "A Man Called Otto" attempts to join that list, with talented performers and a number of enjoyable moments, but its woefully uneven tone and odd handling of such a serious issue keep it from meeting its potential.

A serious topic anchored by strong performances

"A Man Called Otto" begins with a man buying rope in a hardware store. That man is widowed retiree Otto (Tom Hanks), and he is particular about both his rope length and, well, everything else — he separates the trash and recyclables, enforces parking rules, and keeps the i's dotted and the t's crossed in his nice but gentrifying neighborhood. And Otto does this all with a frown on his face. Otto is the neighborhood grump, and after his wife Sonya's death he largely keeps to himself ... at least until new neighbor Marisol (an electric Mariana Treviño) and her charming family move in and need a little help. It's the first in a series of interruptions that peel off Otto's prickly edges and allow him to grow and let the love in, finding connection in the power of community.

Unfortunately, Much of the film is a series of interruptions. Otto tries a method of suicide, fails or is interrupted by a needy neighbor, he begrudgingly helps said neighbor, and so on, as his grieving heart is progressively warmed by Marisol and co., a mangy cat he begrudgingly takes in, and others in his little gentrifying neighborhood. Where "Otto" most excels is in its performances. Tom Hanks has appropriate complexity as the widowed curmudgeon, boasting considerably strong emotional moments alongside showcasing the comedic chops he used more heavily in his early career. Some of his strongest performances are interrupted by oddly spliced-in and transitioned memories, but he still lands them well enough that his Otto is routinely enjoyable to watch.

The surrounding cast here largely also do a wonderful job with their respective roles. Mariana Treviño gives an exceptional performance as Marisol, full of heart and fire and tremendous on-screen charisma. Rachel Keller brings a lot of warmth and humanity to her all-too-brief scenes as the younger version of Otto's wife ... though one can't help but wonder why Otto's remembrances of his beloved wife never extend beyond her early days. One would think he'd remember more than a brief, years-ago span in the life of a woman he loved so much he'd die to join, but alas ... evidently not. It's a curious omission to say the least. Together the performances drive a movie full of moments that are enjoyable when abstracted from their context. It's engaging to watch these players interact and to see Otto's transition over the movie's runtime.

A decent movie hampered by tonal inconsistencies

Beyond the performances, a lot of other elements work in how the tale of "A Man Called Otto" is told. A number of comedic moments work well, driven largely by Hanks' irascible Otto being ornery in the moment. A good part of it is a comedy of little errors, where his low tolerance for things like parking violations and interruption are played for laughs, and these scenes typically work well. Also successfully played for laughs are a number of moments where Otto's ultimate good nature forces him time and again to help a neighbor or former friend despite his desire to be left alone ... a sort of aged Mad Max traversing the desert of his lonely life until he's begrudgingly forced to be something beyond a jerk. Largely these moments land, and it's this journey of accidental reconnections that more often than not bring home an engaging story about a heartbroken man reclaimed through the power of community.

That said, there are a number of elements and moments that don't quite fit in "A Man Called Otto." Plenty of individual jokes land, scenes work, but one can't help but find a tonal dissonance between the subject matter and its treatment. At its core, it's a film about a distraught man who wants to commit suicide after the death of his beloved wife until he finds a new makeshift family. Throughout the film he repeatedly tries new ways to kill himself, each time getting ironically interrupted by this or that neighborly need or accident.

When one thinks about it, this material is heavy. One would expect a drama or black comedy, but director Marc Forster pulls out all the stops to maintain a superficially family-friendly, heartwarming tone. Attempts are played for laughs as the narrative winds its way from one attempt to another, sandwiched around enough warm moments and cutesy interludes that the audience can forget how dark the material is. It feels odd each time we watch a distraught man's attempted suicide be played off for a quirky laugh, judo'ed into a heartwarming tale of a man's social re-creation. It makes for a confusing tonal mishmash, and it isn't until Otto's abrupt admission at the end that the movie ever seems to take that element of the story seriously.

Adding to these issues is a film score that rarely works or matches the scene appropriately. At times, it feels like music that belongs in a television movie rather than in the newest outing of a seasoned performer like Hanks. Altogether, the score and original songs rarely fit the film and contribute to its relative inability to land on a coherent feeling or balance its humorous and dramatic emotional pulls. "A Man Called Otto" has its moments, both humorous and heartwarming, and it works better than it should due to the strength of its performances. Unfortunately, it's also plagued by choices that blunt its overall coherence, seeming like Forster wanted to make an entirely different kind of film than the material dictated.

/Film Rating: 7 out of 10

(If you or a loved one are a survivor of suicide, or have had suicidal ideations of any kind, please consider reaching out to a medical professional, or call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255.)

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Good neighbours … Mariana Treviño and Tom Hanks in A Man Called Otto.

A Man Called Otto review – Tom Hanks goes grumpy in remake of quirky Swedish yarn

Neither the comedy nor the inherently lovable Hanks are dark enough to bring this remake of an odd redemption story to life

S even years ago, a frankly peculiar, quirky dramedy-heartwarmer from Sweden appeared: A Man Called Ove , based on the bestselling novel by Fredrik Backman. It was about a grumpy old widower who snaps at everyone on his street – officiously enforcing the Neighbourhood-Watch-type rules about parking and recycling – and keeps on trying to take his own life. These attempts are continually thwarted when he spots some local outside his house breaking some bylaw and Ove can’t resist rushing out to remonstrate. But a nerdy, sweet-natured young couple move in next door and insist on befriending Ove, and their artless friendship relieves Ove’s repressed sadness and affords him redemption. Ove was played in the original by Rolf Lassgård (Wallander on Swedish TV) and now by Tom Hanks – renamed Otto – in this Hollywood remake from screenwriter David Magee and director Marc Forster. The goofy-friendly new neighbours are played by Mariana Treviño and Manuel Garcia-Rulfo.

Hanks’s performance amplifies and colourises the original curmudgeon, and his star-quality soups up the drama and makes a clearer sense of the backstory, yet the very fact of it being Hanks means that we never for a moment believe that he really is going to be that nasty (or that unhappy) for long. Soon, the lovable Hanks will surely reappear, and it duly does as the sad story of his late wife emerges in sucrose flashback – although she is always a bland cipher, not a convincing person. Finally, of course, Otto is going to be absolutely adorable. With his fierce short haircut and blank, open face he looks very familiar. Not grump, but Gump.

But just as with the original, the real problems come with those wacky unsuccessful attempts to kill himself; they represent the same jarring and baffling tonal misjudgment. Newspapers are very restricted about what they can describe on this subject; not so the cinema, which is (rightly) afforded artistic freedom. But the scenes with Hanks buying the means from a hardware store, arguing about the change with the manager, then unhilariously having to abandon his plan in order to tell someone off … it’s not serious enough to do justice to the subject, not dark enough for scabrous black comedy, or funny enough for comedy of any sort, being weirdly sentimental from the outset.

Otherwise, the movie follows the form of the original pretty faithfully, although the gay teenage boy that Ove helps in the first film is now trans. Hanks carries the film with his personality and his easy address to the camera, but this oddity of a film never quite comes to life.

A Man Called Otto is released on 25 December in the US, on 1 January in Australia and on 6 January in the UK.

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Marc Forster
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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

clock This article was published more than 1 year ago

‘A Man Called Otto’: Remake of Swedish film adds heart, loses soul

Tom hanks plays a cantankerous widower in a spotty hollywood redo of ‘a man called ove’.

As the title character in “A Man Called Otto,” Tom Hanks plays a cantankerous widower with an affinity for home repair. When it comes to this tear-jerker’s own makeover — it’s based on Hannes Holm’s 2016 Swedish film “A Man Called Ove,” inspired by Fredrik Backman’s 2012 novel — some sanded-off edges threaten to throw the project out of whack. But in the end, they don’t quite compromise a sturdy foundation.

Working together for the first time since 2004’s “Finding Neverland,” director Marc Forster and screenwriter David Magee have reimagined Holm’s vision by scaling back the cynicism, softening the central character’s tragic backstory and dulling the black comedy. Yet it’s Hanks’s performance that separates this Hollywood remake from the original. As inhabited by Rolf Lassgard, the character of Ove was abrasive, obtuse and pragmatic to a fault. Hanks’s Otto is a more conventional creation: the lovable curmudgeon harboring a heart of gold. Even if “A Man Called Otto” loses some of its soul in translation, Hanks’s innate warmth adds heart to this affecting depiction of longing for the past and finding purpose in the present.

In the process, a bleak dramedy has turned into a cozy crowd-pleaser. There’s nothing wrong with that, though the story’s darker elements don’t always jell with the frothier approach. A sexagenarian who revels in routine, Otto wakes up at 6:29 a.m. — seconds before his alarm is set to go off — and makes the rounds in his gated Pittsburgh cul-de-sac. Among his activities: shooing away a stray cat, scolding the UPS driver for passing through without a permit and growling “idiots” under his breath at his exceedingly friendly neighbors.

It’s all grumpy antics until Otto arrives at work, where he’s being forced out of his longtime factory job amid a corporate merger. After bailing early on his retirement party and heading home, he methodically cancels the electricity, vacuums the carpet, takes out the trash, ties a noose around his neck and tries to hang himself.

Such a grave development, while tonally apt in “Ove,” jars in the more broadly comedic “Otto.” But the film is less interested in Otto’s failed suicide attempt than the interruption that helps foil it: new neighbors in the form of pregnant mom Marisol (Mariana Treviño), her easygoing husband (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo) and their two young daughters. Predictably, Otto bonds with the dysfunctional clan amid various diversions that reconnect him to his community. Along the way, he spars with a smarmy real estate agent (Mike Birbiglia), gets to know the transgender delivery boy (Mack Bayda) and reconnects with an elderly couple (Juanita Jennings and Peter Lawson Jones) at risk of losing their home. From time to time, he sweetly shares these tales over his late wife’s gravestone.

“Otto” is most at home in that vividly realized middle-class neighborhood, as composer Thomas Newman’s plucky score hums along, the amiable characters trade acts of kindness and Treviño’s relentlessly positive Marisol breaks through to Otto’s walled-off emotions. Extensive flashbacks showing the courtship between a younger Otto (Hanks’s son Truman Hanks) and his wife, Sonya (Rachel Keller), as well as the hardships that embittered him, are less successful. Where “Ove” portrayed its protagonist as socially inept from childhood, the young version of Otto is a charmer so distant from the irritable old man he becomes that it strains credulity. The decision to skip over his parents’ deaths, depicted so devastatingly in the earlier film, further undermines the source material.

That said, Forster’s film deserves to be judged on its own terms. As cloying as this interpretation may be, there’s something soothing about its wholehearted vision of the “found” family and its virtues. Throw in an actor as likable as Hanks — back to form after uneven performances in “Elvis” and “ Pinocchio ” — and even the curmudgeons should be won over. Sure, it’s formulaic. And there will be no Oscar for this grouch. But as Otto might say, there’s nothing wrong with routine.

PG-13. At area theaters. Contains mature thematic material involving suicide attempts, and strong language. 126 minutes.

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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.”

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Film Review: A Man Called Otto

by SaraKay Smullens

A Man Called Otto

Director Mark Forster

Production Company Columbia Pictures

Genre Dramedy

Writer David Magee

Cast Tom Hanks

Release Date 12/29/2022

Duration 126 minutes

Vital Topics: Social Work & Film

by SaraKay Smullens, MSW, LCSW, DCSW, CGP, CFLE, BCD

It’s a given: Social workers face horrific days with our clients when we know better than to respond to the well-intended question, “How was your day?” For if we try, we may well be asked, “How can you spend your days like this? Why do you do this?”

My advice for these days: Go home; respond to only what is necessary; take a long, hot bath (whenever possible, pick a home with a tub, a highly undervalued retreat); and then visit Tom Hanks and company in his 2022 dramedy, A Man Called Otto .

Hanks has openly shared that his wife Rita Wilson and her family taught him to love—a primary theme of Otto —and the Hanks family is heavily invested in an uplifting and heartening escape from familial and societal cruelty. Hanks and Wilson are two of the film’s producers. The soundtrack album features the single “Til You're Home,” written by Wilson and David Hodges and performed by Wilson and Sebastián Yatra. Hanks’ son Truman plays Otto as a young man, dearly and convincingly.

Otto offers some twists and turns, both traumatic and charming, but plot and resolve are predictable from earliest moments. Hanks is introduced as a seemingly impenetrable curmudgeon of the highest order, one who manages to pick fights with everyone he interacts with and holds on to long ago grudges for dear life. We will immediately understand that his consuming irritable stance is a defense against overwhelming depression, which for Otto is not a new state of being. But, of course, Otto is played by Tom Hanks, the beloved Jimmy Stewart of this era, and you and I know immediately that a way will be found for his true nature to emerge.

The film opens six months after Otto’s cherished wife Sonya (Rachel Keller) has died of cancer. In flashbacks, we learn how Sonya and Otto met, all they loved about each other, and the horrific crisis they faced together. For Otto, life held no meaning before he met Sonya. Her death returned him to a forsaken state of “nothingness.”

Although the film does not have a character who is a social worker, it offers a portrayal of an extraordinary young, vibrant woman best understood as a “natural social worker.” To explain how and why this description evolved: During a fascinating lunch years ago with Michael Austin, a former dean of my alma mater, the University of Pennsylvania School of Social Work (now the School of Social Policy and Practice), Dean Austin used the term “natural” to reference those who are innate social workers without even knowing it. In 1994, a film starring Woody Harrelson, directed by Oliver Stone, based on a story by Quentin Tarantino was released. The focus was on unloved, abused, and traumatized children, branding them “Natural Born Killers,” the title of the film.

Appalled and infuriated by this ignorant, ugly, damaging, and dangerous depiction of children , and of course, knowing well that efforts to counter the perspectives of this powerful team would ever remain uphill, I decided to build on Dean Austin’s wisdom. So I began to speak and write about “natural social workers”—those who instinctively understand the necessity of love and protection for all children and do all they can, regardless of chosen professional direction (which often does include social work), to work toward and educate about this necessity. Otto brings us face to face with the best possible example of a “natural social worker,” his new neighbor, the very pregnant, very bright, and quite persistent and savvy Marisol (Mariana Treviño), who instinctively knows how to achieve an “Otto breakthrough,” and refuses to give up her quest.

Marisol is assisted by Tommy (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo), her klutzy husband, not nearly as bright as Marisol, yet utterly loveable, and their two adorable daughters, Abby (Alessandra Perez) and Luna (Christiana Montoya). We also meet diverse neighbors and a determined, unrelenting activist, who, as impossible as Otto becomes, take him in their stride, and—despite all—have underlying affection for him.

A warning: A Man Called Otto should not be watched with young children, and viewing it with teens requires pre- and post- discussion. Because Otto longs to be united once again with Sonya, he attempts suicide four times. Each time, however, even when close to accomplishing his goal, an event that holds surprise and (as incredible as it seems) humor diverts his success.

This film is a second adaptation of the 2012 novel, A Man Called Ove , by Frederik Backman, first adapted in 2015 as a Swedish film of the same name. Because the “nothingness” consuming Otto’s early life, relived after Sonya’s death, is insufficiently explained in the Hanks production, I also watched A Man Called Ove . The plot line in both films is similar. The talent of cast members in each is extraordinary, and both adaptations offer a perfect depiction of a “natural social worker.” However, the Ove production clarifies the protagonist’s grave youthful pain, traumatic losses, and terrors in full dimension, and in this way fills in vital psychosocial gaps in understanding him.

“Otto” is many of our clients (and perhaps even family members and ourselves) in fruitless attempts to ward off loss and despair through a carefully crafted cover to keep others at a distance. He has been blessed with a perfectly suited life partner whose presence was cover, not cure. But the film offers authentic cure. In his last chapter of life, we see a man discover he is truly worthy of love. He learns to accept it and to offer it.

A marvelous ensemble cast urges that we sit back, relax, and view this best of our professional Selves—made possible through the innate skill of a natural social worker.

SaraKay Smullens, MSW, LCSW, DCSW, CGP, CFLE, BCD, whose private and pro bono clinical social work practice is in Philadelphia, is a certified group psychotherapist and family life educator. She is a recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award (2004) and the Social Worker of the Year (2018) from the Pennsylvania chapter of NASW, and the 2013 NASW Media Award for Best Article. In 2018, she was one of five graduates of the University of Pennsylvania School of Social Policy and Practice selected for the school’s inaugural Hall of Fame. SaraKay is the author of Burnout and Self-Care in Social Work (2nd Edition).

All material published on this website Copyright 1994-2023 White Hat Communications. All rights reserved. Please contact the publisher for permission to reproduce or reprint any materials on this site. Opinions expressed on this site are the opinions of the writer and do not necessarily represent the views of the publisher. As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases.

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A Man Called Otto movie review: Tom Hanks starrer has a big heart

Watching otto conquer his mission irascible is not unpleasant, so to speak. but you know where you are going from a long way off..

It’s a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a decent fortune, and recently dispossessed of a good wife (the very good, the always-smiling, the loving-to-cook kind), is in need of some warm cuddles.

And man, does Otto (Tom Hanks), whatever may be his other faults – or perhaps because of them – get those cuddles, or what?

However, there is clearly some appetite for this story well told of a curmudgeonly old man who has buried himself in sorrow since his wife died – and, in this case, is literally not waiting around for God to nudge him in her direction.

So after the Swedish book A Man Called Ove was a bestseller, and a Swedish film was made on it, now comes the Hollywood version. And it doesn’t get better than to have Hanks, the evergreen all-American family man, play one in need of a family.

From where we are looking, Otto – as “Ove” is called in the Hollywood version – seems to have it not so bad. A house on a scenic street, clean sidewalks but for the occasional dog poo, nicely marked garbage bins, and neighbours who follow almost all his rules – and even if they don’t, greet each other with a hello, a wave and a smile.

To rescue Otto from his misery, the story doesn’t just have loving neighbours, including a heavily pregnant Marisol (Trevino), her devoted husband Tommy, her two chirpy little girls, an elderly couple requiring Otto’s grudging help, and even an abandoned cat. Needless to say, Otto is there to help each one out – apart from saving some other people, in other ways – in their times of need.

Otto though keeps thinking back of wife Sonya (Keller) and their rather-sedate times together when young (Hanks’s own son plays him, rather earnestly).

Again, needless to say, Otto is the kind of old gentleman who can’t stand the new generation that drives automatics or hybrids, can’t do maths without a computer, can’t back a car in one go parallely, can’t bleed radiators, and prefer non-American vehicles over a Chevy or a Ford.

Watching Otto conquer his Mission Irascible is not unpleasant, so to speak. But you know where you are going from a long way off. Plus, it’s not really impossible that one’s Otto spirit might rise up against a couple who turn up at odd hours knocking loudly at your door, even if bearing an exotic Mexican dish.

A Man Called Otto movie cast: Tom Hanks, Mariana Trevino, Rachel Keller, Truman Hanks A Man Called Otto movie director: Marc Forster A Man Called Otto movie rating: 2.5 stars

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

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