A Man Called Otto: The Grumpiest man in America is not all that grumpy ⭐⭐⭐

By Rob Ryan

(may contain spoilers)

A Man Called Otto is a sweet and warm Sunday afternoon viewing that in spite of its quirky and upbeat marketing manages to get by on some surprisingly emotional and adult subject matter which I was not expecting going in, the first sign of this is the certificate that appeared before the film started which showed that the film was in fact rated a 15. It's not hard to see why considering what happens but honestly putting all that aside I don't think there is anything here that I wouldn't mind showing my 12-year-old child.

To get obvious out of the way the film is another American remake of a Foreign language movie, something I've already written about in my previous reviews, one for The Guilty (2021) and Living (2022) remake of Kurosawa's Ikira, an unlike those films I had not seen the original Sweedish language film "A Man Called Ove" (also an adaptation of a book of the same name) so I'm not sure if I had felt this way towards the film had I not seen the original prior but as it stands, the film exceeded my expectations and left me with a warm and pleasant feeling inside. So take that what you will.

The film stars Tom Hanks as Otto, a grumpy old, retired engineer who now spends his days being the male equivalent of a Karen minus using a phone to record his antics, The opening credits see him walk around his gated neighbourhood going about his daily routine, such as ploughing the snow off his lawn, putting the rubbish in the correct container bin, making sure the real estate agent driving through the street uses the gate to leave instead of driving around it and making sure no one annoys him and everyone around him follows what he consider's "The Rules"

There is one detail that all of the plot descriptions omit in that Otto is suicidal. After losing his wife Sonya to Cancer 6 months ago and now having lost his job, he is now lonely and depressed and has shut all his friends out of his life. Having lost his appetite for life, he buys a rope from a retail store (not before having an argument with the managers over having to pay extra for the extra length) ties it to his roof and is ready to kick the bucket.

If it only weren't for the new neighbours who have a predicament trying to park their car with a trailer coupled to the back, they are Marisol and Tommy (Mariana Trevino and Manuel Garcia-Rulfo) and their kids Abbie and Luna (Christiana Montoya and Alessandra Perez) After helping them park their car properly and scolding Tommy for his driving skills and choice of car on the basis of it being an automatic, Otto is visited by the couple soon after with a thank you meal Marisol cooked herself only to be met with dismissal from him. You'd think that would be that but you would be wrong. After other attempts to take his life Otto finds himself helping the family in small but gradually meaning full ways and a friendship eventually blossoms as Otto eventually finds his appetite for not only living life but for helping his fellow man and by extension his community.

All this sounds incredibly basic and you would be right, some plot threads you can see coming a mile away, such as Otto's illness eventually catching up with him, the courupt real estate firm attempting to evict and an old couple in order to eventually build more condo's in the area. Marisol's pregnancy as you can predict the exact moment she will eventually burst etc. What helps this work however is the general tone and feel generated by director Marc Foster. I'm reminded of another film of his Stranger than Fiction and where he took a funny premise of a man with a narrator in his head made it more existential about the way in which our lives are written and while this movie is nowhere near as profound as that film was. The film draws that fine line between social realist adult drama, and lighthearted comedy with neither one of them contradicting the other.

This leads to some heartbreaking moments that come at just the right moment without beating you over the head with them at every turn. The best example of this is a flashback which is one of many that details Young Otto (Truman Hanks) and his relationship with Sonya (Rachel Keller) leading up to a tragic moment in their lives, it's a moment where Otto's development comes full circle and it surprisingly moved me. I also greatly appreciated that the whole sequence was set to a Kate Bush song ( I won't tell you which one)

The big link is of course Hanks who while known best for playing likeable everyday people, his performance is the biggest departure for him since Road to Perdition. While this is a role that could have easily been stereotyped, Hanks much like the filmmakers subverts this and makes the character feel more genuine and likeable even though he is very rude and has little in the way of a filter, this can be beneficial though as he is often saying what most of us are probably thinking in certain situations, like when he calls his bosses out for making him redundant after organising a surprise retirement party for him or for calling out the real estate people for screwing citizens out of their homes, his reasons being angry are not completely unjustified making that much more identifiable.

While the subplot in order to take down the company set on putting profits over people is an overdone plot, the morals of the protagonist as well as his relationships with his neighbours are developed enough that you believe in his cause and it also helps that this part of the doesn't take up too much of the runtime as most of the film is very laid back aa the vast majority the narrative is Otto learning to let people in again while also battle his demons in the process. The movie almost feels slice of life without any high stakes beyond Otto learning to live again and I appreciate that.

A Man Called Otto is not a great movie and it isn't going to win any awards but I would be lying if I didn't say that I wasn't entertained by it even though it is not working with the best foundations. But the characters and performances both main and supportive are all likeable ( Trevino is a very engaging presence) it's morals are basic but are easy to get behind and It's sad moment surprisingly packs a punch. It's nothing special but for what it is, you could do worse.

Final note: That song that plays throughout the film and in the end credits sounds like something from Dear Evan Hansen. Would have been better if you used score music instead.