A MAN CALLED OTTO – Rated PG-13 – 2 hrs 5 mins

DIRECTOR: Marc Forster

WRITERS:  David Magee (Screenplay)

Based on the novel “ A Man Called Ove” by Fredrik Backman & the Movie “A Man Called Ove” by Hannes Holms

STARRING:  Tom Hanks, Mariana Trevino, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, Rachel Keller, Mike Birbiglia, Cameron Britton, Kailey Hyman and Lavel Schley

Based on the Novel “A Man Called Ove” and is a remake of the 2105 Swedish film by the same name, we meet Otto (Tom Hanks), an extremely cantankerous individual who doesn’t really enjoy much about his life anymore, since the loss of his life-long love Sonya (Rachel Keller). 

With really no true reason to keep on living, Otto devises a plan or two to end it all, so he can finally relieve his misery, and join his wife for eternity.  Well, that was the plan, until a new family moves in to his housing complex, complete with a totally endearing young mother by the name of Marisol (Mariana Trevino), who is very excited about moving her family to their new home, and excited too to meet Otto, as she gets a sense that she needs to help this old guy out, whether he wants her help, or not!

And as things play out between these two polar-opposites, it seems that Marisol is bound and determined to crack the crass exterior of this audacious individual, who has to iive by his rules and routines, and his alone, as he grumpily goes about his day. But when it seems that Marisol is finally starting to put a dent in Otto’s armor of loneliness exterior, things start to shift between these two souls…alas making Otto’s existance on ths earth not quite as lonely as it had been before…

I give A MAN CALLED OTTO 5 out of 5 Stars:  O-M-G, bring along the Kleenex box when you head to the movie theater to catch Tom Hank’s latest film, as A MAN CALLED OTTO manages to bring out all the emotions!  Hanks is perfectly cast as the crumudginous Otto, hell bent on making his existance on this earth as painful as possbile, for everyone around him.  With a performance as kranky and cantankerous as this one, you get to see a new side of Hanks that we really aren’t used to seeing.  He is so good in this role, that I had to head back to reformulate my TOP 10 List of 2022 to include this film, as it truly is one of the most heart-warming films I’ve seen…and since this one popped in Los Angeles and New York earlier in the month of December, there was no choice but to include it in my list for this year.  And as fabulous as Hanks performance is, Mariana Trevino’s performance was just as fantastic the whole way through, as she brings the Mom of three and adoring wife to life…hell bent on bringing Otto’s rudness to a halt, as she devises a way to get Otto to live again!  This emotional roller coaster is so beautifully made, that there really weren’t too many dry eyes in the house at the advanced screening. Hanks and Trevino are so magical together on screen, that I can’t remember another film that had this much raw emotion contained within it this year.  A MAN CALLED OTTO also gives the viewer a gentle reminder that friendship, and love in this world, is all you really need to make this world go round…. 

5 out of 5 Stars