Review: A grumpy Tom Hanks stars in ‘A Man Called Otto’

Sentimental tales about grumpy previous males and American decline have, till lately, usually been the area of Clint Eastwood.

However in “A Man Referred to as Otto,” Marc Forster’s adaptation of Fredrik Backman’s bestseller and a remake of the 2016 Swedish movie “A Man Referred to as Ove,” it’s Tom Hanks prowling the neighborhood and irritably grumbling about how issues was once. Within the authentic, Rolf Lassgård richly inhabited the function of Ove, a curmudgeonly widower — a Forrest Grump —whose suicide makes an attempt are foiled by needy neighbors and, finally, his grudging, honest devotion to them.

Exasperation, whether or not directed at a crying ballplayer or a slobbering canine, has at all times been squarely in Hanks’ wheelhouse. However despondency and even plain get-off-my-lawn orneriness are much less apparent traits possessed by the actor generally referred to as “America’s Dad.” Following Hanks’ villainous flip as Col. Tom Parker in “Elvis,” the 66-year-old has present in “A Man Referred to as Otto” one other function that apparently, if not at all times completely efficiently, caters to his strengths whereas tweaking his acquainted display presence.

It additionally might rob “A Man Referred to as Otto,” which opens with Otto shopping for rope to hold himself with, of a few of its spirit. We all know there are darkish roads that Hanks simply isn’t going to go down, and among the early, extra caustic scenes of Forster’s movie strike a false be aware. However as “A Man Referred to as Otto” makes its method via Otto’s life, chopping between his present-day squabbles and flashbacks of happier instances together with his spouse, Sonya (Rachel Keller), Hanks movingly tailors the function to himself. How “A Man Referred to as Otto” unfolds gained’t shock anybody, nevertheless it does the trick for a bit of post-holidays heart-warming.

“A Man Referred to as Otto” is ready within the prefab row-house growth Otto has lengthy lived in, the place he tirelessly tisk-tisks any rule breakers, re-sorts misplaced recycling and berates drivers who violate the road’s regulation towards via site visitors.

Screenwriter David Magee (“Lifetime of Pi,” “Discovering Neverland”) hues intently to the Swedish movie as a sort of parable of group. Up and down the road are all of the folks the freshly retired Otto barely tolerates: friends-turned-enemies (Peter Lawson Jones, Juanita Jennings), a pleasant exerciser (a pleasant Cameron Britton), a transgender paper deliverer and former pupil of Otto’s spouse (Mack Bayda). Most of all there’s Marisol (a terrific Mariana Treviño), a pregnant mom of two has simply moved in together with her husband (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo). Numerous wants — a stray cat, a borrowed ladder, driving classes — intrude on Otto’s needs for a peaceable loss of life and, in between aborted suicide makes an attempt, regularly rekindle his will to stay.

It’s generally too broadly drawn. Mike Birbiglia performs a predatory actual property agent from an organization not-so-subtly referred to as Dye & Merica. (“Feels like Dying America, which it’s,” says Otto.) However “A Man Referred to as Otto” is much less after realism than it’s a modern-day fable, with shades of Scrooge and the Grinch. As a story of a solitary man, Hanks has made it a poignant work of household. Rita Wilson, his spouse, is a producer and is heard singing a music within the movie. The youthful Otto is performed in flashbacks by their son, Truman Hanks. Even Chet Hanks’ “White Boy Summer season” blares from a automobile radio.

One other tune, although, is a extra thrilling needle drop. The much less mentioned most likely the higher, however suffice to say, it may very well be an indication that the Kate Bush renaissance so hearteningly kicked up by “Stranger Issues” has not but abated. If that’s not life-affirming, I don’t know what’s.

“A Man Referred to as Otto,” a Sony Photos launch, is rated PG-13 by the Movement Image Affiliation for mature thematic materials involving suicide makes an attempt, and language. Working time: 126 minutes. Two and a half stars out of 4.

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Observe AP Movie Author Jake Coyle on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/jakecoyleAP