A Man Called Otto is a movie directed by Marc Forster starring Tom Hanks.
A remake whose only appeal lies in seeing Tom Hanks handle the role of a grouch… to reconvert the character to his own kind, sensitive and simple style.
One of its charms: we get to see Tom Hanks’ son, Truman Hanks, play Otto as a young man.
Storyline
Otto is one of those neighbors no one wants to have: grumpy, picky, gossipy and bitter. A new family moves into a nearby house, which will cause Otto’s life, about to end, to change forever.
Movie Review
A Man Called Otto is one of those easy, simplistic, crowd-pleasing movies that give “good vibes” everywhere and that, in essence and without satisfying almost anyone, leave a feeling that the world can still be a nice place full of nice people with a charming neighborhood.
A feelgood movie, they will say, with the actor who best knows how to embody the good-hearted and kind-hearted American, the perfect actor for this role in this movie that, without him, probably neither you nor I would have seen it.
But Tom Hanks is there and, before being the Tom Hanks we all know and quite the “model American”, he also knows how to play a grump, even if only for ten minutes (the time it takes for the movie to take on its ever-so-tender tone).
It is not that A Man Called Otto is a bad movie, it is that it is a movie that – apart from being born already as a remake – it comes to life as a film without pretensions, a movie that wants to ascribe to good feelings and, without giving us absolutely anything else that we do not expect, it stays there, in what we had already seen in the first one and what we had already seen for so many years with Tom Hanks: an actor capable of embodying goodness as the best thing and knowing how to be a consummate professional, just like this time, so the role did not require too much.
Our Opinion
Charming, tender, simple and terribly soppy: if you like the usual version of Tom Hanks, here is his umpteenth pill of “the nicest man in the world”, even if this time he spends fifteen minutes moaning and groaning.
The Star: Tom Hanks
Tom Hanks is an acclaimed American actor, producer and director. He has earned two Academy Awards, four Golden Globe Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award and many other accolades. Hanks is best known for his roles in films such as Forrest Gump, Apollo 13, Big, Sleepless in Seattle, Cast Away and Saving Private Ryan. His career began in the 1980s with small roles in films like Mazes and Monsters and Splash. He later achieved success with the 1988 romantic comedy Big, for which he was nominated for an Academy Award. Other notable films include Philadelphia (1993), You’ve Got Mail (1998), Catch Me If You Can (2002) and Cloud Atlas (2012). Outside of acting, Hanks is involved in philanthropic work to help those affected by HIV/AIDS, cancer research and other causes. He’s also an avid fan of classic Hollywood movies and has written several books on the subject.
Director
Marc Forster
Cast
 Tom Hanks / Otto Anderson |  Mariana Treviño / Marisol |
 Rachel Keller / Sonya |  Manuel Garcia-Rulfo / Tommy |
 Cameron Britton / Jimmy |  Joe Fishel / Army Doctor |
 Kailey Hyman / Barb |  Mike Birbiglia / Real Estate Agent |
 Truman Hanks / Young Otto Anderson | Elle Chapman / Sarah |