Honest Reviews

Bascially, I had no expectations going into this film at the least. Of course I heard of it, and saw some trailers for it, but I didn’t have really any plans to see it in genreal let alone in the theaters. But when me and my dad did a double feature and saw this for our 2nd movie, I came out . . . well that is for you to find out by continuing on this review!

The movie follows a man named Otto who has no friends and his always grump. Everyday he goes ’round his daily routine (whether that is screaming at people not following rules to closing gates, he’d doing it), and one day new neighbors with two kids (and a 3rd to come) are his new next door neighbor. Otto slowly warms up to them, and it’s through the help of them that he rememebers how to love others in return of being loved and knowing how bear with his grief, and loss of his long-lost wife, Sauna.

This movie isn’t one at first glance that really I would go see. It’s a movie that looks more or less for people who are older or seniors that would go see this. But after coming out of seeing this movie, I come to the satisfying conclusion that this movie is for any age! This movie delivers such a heart-warmed and strong message told through so much humor and yet sentimental moments. It knows what it’s doing, and it develops its two main characters so much that by the end of the movie . . . I didn’t want to leave them at the least!

I fell in love with the grumpiest man in the movie! He’s a man that has been misunderstood at times, and one that I felt like had no one to go to and suffer together over his sorrows of his lost wife. He’s a man that his heart was too cold to realise and enjoy the life he was given. He was miserable, angry, and moody to everyone that crossed paths with him. But when the neighbors came ’round, his world tunred up sidedown. Because of them, his world turned from black & white to color. He slowly realised the joy of living, and maybe he could open up again to others!

This movie has such a strong message, and there’s so many to take out of this movie. For me, I got out of it that you need to open to others to be loved and love others and you can’t just keep on living your life in mourning and sorrow. Otto slowly came to know that; his world was flipped. I loved how this movie was played out. It was such a touching movie that it affected my heart in a lot of ways. There were many, many sad moments but yet touching ones. There were moments that touched my heart, and moments that got me grinning to laughing. It’s a movie with a lot of emotions. It’s one that makes you enjoy life, and realise living is truly a blessing and a joy!

This movie was such as a feel-good movies, and those types of movies are sometimes hard to come by for me. This movie opened my heart to love life more, and to also realise: you don’t know what each person is going through! I believe it’s one of Tom Hank’s best performance. He does such a good job at being this grumpy, unkind man who cares for no one and nothing. He’s such an unlikeable characters, that’s he likeable and relatable in more than one way. I’m sure we have had some encounter with people like this, and sometimes the best thing we can do is comfort them but most of them be there for them and listen to their needs!

This is such a strong, impactful movie that in the end: it was very hard for me to hate this movie. I believe I got two negatives that bring this movie down by a little. 1): Do we really need to add transgenderism to this movie? I mean, I want as much as this broken world out of movies as possible! And 2): The runtime felt longer than 2 hours because I felt like this moovie dragged out more and more as we neared the ending. But besides that, this movie has such a strong plot, message, and character that it outweighs most of those to give this a strong score!

In the end, this movie will be a hard one to forget. It’s one that I feel like everyone should see, and one that will make you appreciate the life around you. It’s such a feel-good, honest movie that it’s a hard one to hate. It strives to teach the lesson of sorrrow, grief, opening up, and loving others and it delievers all of those in one shocking, sentimental, good-feel movie that you wished you had a man named Otto in all of our lives!

4.5/5

A Man Called Otto

Director: Marc Forster

Writers: David Magee, Fredrik Backman, and Hannes Holm

Film Editor: Matt Chesse

Executive Producers: Neda Backman, Celia D. Costas, Marc Forster, Tor Jonasson, Tim King, David Magee, Michael Porseryd, Louise Rosner, Steve Shareshian, Sudie Smyth, and Renée Wolfe

Producers: Gary Goetzman, Tom Hanks, Fredrik Wikström, and Rita Wilson

Cast: Tom Hanks, Mariana Treviño, Rachel Keller, Truman Hanks, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, Juanita Jennings, and Mack Bayda

Runtime: 2 hours 06 minutes

Rated: PG-13

Releasers: Columbia Pictures

Released: January 13, 2023