He isn’t called “America’s Dad” for nothing. In his storied career, Tom Hanks has proven himself to be an exceptionally endearing screen presence, generally playing warmhearted and empathetic characters with a strong moral core. He managed to make a slight detour from the norm in the 2022 comedy-drama film A Man Called Otto, based on the bestselling 2012 novel A Man Called Ove, by Fredrik Backman. The book was originally adapted into a Swedish film, with Rolf Lassgård in the titular role of a curmudgeonly middle-aged widower whose life is irrevocably altered by the arrival of new neighbors.
Directed by Marc Forster, the remake emerged as a major hit, grossing $113 million worldwide against a reported budget of $50 million, and now its quietly topping the charts at Netflix. Along with the massively successful Elvis, which grossed over $280 million worldwide, A Man Called Otto completed Hanks’ return to the big screen after a trio of pandemic-era movies that debuted directly on streaming — the World War II drama Greyhound, the Western News of the World, and the post-apocalyptic drama Finch.
A Man Called Ottoearned mixed reviews, and is now sitting at a “fresh” 70% approval rating on the aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes. In his review for Collider, Ross Bonaime compared the movie unfavorably to the Swedish original, and called it “a clunky update that often feels like it’s full of cartoonish characters, with poor music choices, and cloying sentimentality.” But as with most projects with Hanks at their center, A Man Called Otto was a hit with the audiences. It holds a stunning 97% audience score on RT, and is now the proud recipient of the aggregator’s newly launched “certified hot” badge.
Forster Knows How to Package Pathos
Not just Hanks, director Forster is known to deliver the charm almost on demand. He remains best known for the hit Finding Neverland, which grossed a similar amount globally in 2004, and has also directed the very underrated Christopher Robin, which grossed nearly $200 million worldwide. But Forster has one of the most diverse filmographies around; he has also helmed the James Bond film Quantum of Solace, the big-budget zombie blockbuster World War Z, and will next deliver White Bird, a coming-of-age drama set for an October release.
Co-produced by Hanks and written by David Magee, A Man Called Otto also features Mariana Treviño, Rachel Keller, and Manuel Garcia-Rulfo in supporting roles. You can watch the movie on Netflix in the US, and stay tuned to Collider for more updates.
A Man Called Otto
- Release Date
- January 13, 2023
Watch on Netflix
