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Tom Hanks has reached grumpy old man territory in A Man Called Otto. The 66-year-old actor is in his 5th decade of acting, and this material is more in his alley house than his polarizing performance in Elvis. The film is a character study of how grief and loss cause someone to become a grumpy hermit. Otto is suicidal after the death of his wife, Sonya. He learns the meaning of life again with the help of his new neighbors. This is all in the trailer; if you’ve seen that, you’ve essentially seen the movie.
This movie relies on the entire movie star charm of Tom Hanks. The whole gimmick of the film is Tom Hanks, who is usually cheery and upbeat, playing a character who is initially unlikeable. There’s a decent amount of comic mileage out of this. Eventually, Otto softens, and we ease into Otto as we learn more about his backstory. Think of A Mann Called Otto as a more liberal-minded version of Clint Eastwood’s Gran Torino. There are some noble themes of acceptance and understanding.
Though this is a Tom Hanks film through and through, my favorite performance in the movie is from Mariana Treviño as the head of the Latin American family who moves in across the street. The best parts of the film are when she and Otto interact. Her fiery personality doesn’t mesh well with Otto’s crankiness, but they bring out the best in each other.
What you see is what you get with A Man Called Otto. It’s not going to change the world or blow your socks off, but for what it is, it’s nice. It’s bland but ultimately harmless. Its heart is so in the right place that it’s almost impossible to be mean. I took my Dad to see the movie, and it was full of senior citizens who loved it, as did my Dad. If you’re in the mood for an undemanding 2-hour time killer, you could do worse than this.
