Rating: PG-13 | Runtime: 126 minutes
Release Date: December 29th, 2022 (USA)
Studio: Columbia Pictures / Sony Pictures Releasing
Director(s): Marc Forster
Writer(s): David Magee / Hannes Holm (film En man som heter Ove) / Fredrik Backman (novel En man som heter Ove)

You’re really bad at dying, you know that?

The success of Marc Forster’s A Man Called Otto owes a lot to the source material. I haven’t read Fredrik Backman’s bestselling A Man Called Ove, but I’ve never heard an ill word spoken about it. Couple that with Hannes Holm’s wonderful Swedish adaptation in 2015 and it begins to look like screwing up its story is impossible. That’s not to say Forster and screenwriter David Magee don’t find themselves lending an unfortunate Hollywood sheen that renders the result much more cloyingly over-the-top than its predecessor. Only that it wasn’t pushed far enough to ruin its exceeding charm.

It’s great to see Tom Hanks get the opportunity to act this year too. Regardless of your opinion on the quality of his Elvis role, Baz Luhrmann had him portraying a cartoon character. And while no one could beat what Rolf Lassgård provided the titular role from Backman’s novel, I dare say Hanks comes close. He plays Otto straight from start to finish, the gruff voice and dead eyes a perfect juxtaposition to his earnest “I’m not unfriendly” when accused of such by new neighbor Marisol (Mariana Treviño is an absolute delight). Because he isn’t a mean person. He simply refuses to suffer fools (even if, in his mind, everyone else is one).

Watching Otto thaw as Marisol’s family’s presence distracts him from his goal of suicide (to rejoin his wife who passed six months prior) is as heartwarmingly funny as it is grief-strickenly sad. The use of flashbacks helps provide context for his faulty thought process (they’re well shot with Truman Hanks and Rachel Keller delivering saccharinely dreamlike performances from Otto’s memory rather than reality) while side players Cameron Britton, Mack Bayda, and Juanita Jennings keep him honest as far as understanding he wasn’t always this bad.

Otto is a man who lived for his one true love and forgot how many others ended up loving him too along the way. His journey back should resonate with anyone who ever felt emotionally lost as its inspiring tearjerker trajectory is one that audiences should love. It’s ultimately redundant since Ove is so effective. But it’s pretty good where English-language remakes are concerned.

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Otto (Tom Hanks) is loathe to react to the picture Marisol’s (Mariana Treviño) kids drew in Columbia Pictures’ A MAN CALLED OTTO. Photo by: Niko Tavernise. Copyright © 2022 CTMG, Inc. All rights reserved.