A Man Called Otto
Tom Hanks once again plays Tom Hanks
A Man Called Otto (2022)
3/5
Tom Hanks has built a career out of playing a reasonably normal guy who is encountering the story rather than starring in the story. In this he becomes a cipher, a blank space where viewers can insert themselves and vicariously experience the events onscreen. That also makes it hard to dislike Tom Hanks in anything he’s in, even if what he’s in is trite (Big), indulgent (Forrest Gump), Oscar-bait (Cast Away), or an American remake of a Swedish film from about 10 years ago.
It also means he’s in a place in his career where he can phone in a role like Otto Anderson, which is pretty much what he’s doing here. While he does his thing, a fun cast of supporting characters get to bounce off of him, and to his credit Hanks seems to be playing his role without any jealousy about having scenes or punchlines stolen from him. Notable is Mariana Treviño as Marisol, Otto’s new neighbor. She scoots into a performance here that could have netted her a Supporting Actress Oscar nom if the movie’s release had been timed differently (and it wasn’t a quasi-comedy).
It’s worth noting that this is one of those talking-about-life-in-currentyear movies with an everyday-diversity cast of characters learning to live alongside each other. If you’re the sort who actively looks to get offended you will find something to offend you here, but if you can step to one side there’s a lot of fun commentary on lots of things from lots of angles that may surprise you. Speaking of surprises, though, nothing about the plot itself is anything you haven’t seen before. There’s a bit of an eyebrow-raise in the opening minutes, but after that the movie’s path is clear and there are no real twists through to the obvious and inevitable end. It’s the kind of movie you watch on date night: cute, comfortable, and sometimes touching, but not something you’ll keep coming back to.
3 stars of 5: You won’t regret watching it once, but it’s a classically disposable Hollywood product.