OSCAR THE GROUCH (A MAN CALLED OTTO)

 

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Tom Hanks has reached that stage in his career where he can go ahead and play a grumpy old man.

Now 66, the two times Oscar winning actor has nothing to prove and so he and director Marc Foster have taken a popular Swedish story about a grouch and relocated it to Pittsburgh.

Early box office indications for 'A Man Called Otto' suggest the film is resonating with audiences and performing better than expected after two weeks on release.

Well on its way to recouping its $50 million budget, the remake of Hannes Holm's 2012 Swedish comedy 'A Man Called Ove' has maintained an impressive momentum at the box office, suggesting there may be a market for light hearted fare targeted at older audiences after the pandemic.

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Hanks plays Otto Anderson, a widower on the brink of retirement from a Pittsburgh steel company.

When we first see him, he is muttering in a hardware store as he bats away shop assistants while cutting five feet of rope.

He is subsequently appalled at the till when they insist on charging him for six feet of rope instead of five because that is all the cash register can handle.

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We quickly realise Otto is at war with a world that deeply frustrates him.

A retirement party is thrown for him by colleagues at work which he has no real desire to attend.

He can't abide advertising mail he doesn't want being chucked onto his lawn.

There are frequent run-ins with a neighbour Kailey Hyman's Barb whose dog also pees on his lawn.

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His neighbours' failure to put the right material in the right recycling bin elicits exasperated grunts from him.

Orto gets really riled by Mike Birbiglia's agent from the real estate firm, Dye and America and UPS delivery drivers regularly ignoring the "do not drive unless you have a permit" notice on their cul de sac.

Otto, however, is in a deep depression and is determined to join his recently deceased wife by committing suicide.

However every attempt ends in failure.

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The rope he bought from the store was to hang himself but his first attempt abruptly ends when he spies through the window his new neighbours makes a haims of parallel parking.

Unable to contain himself, he removes himself from the noose he has created in hus living room and in his exasperation, helps Mariana Trevino's Marisol and Manuel Garcia-Rulfo's Tommy out.

Sitting in the back of the car are the couple's two young daughters, Christiana Montoya's Luna and Alessandra Perez's Abbie who are amused by his gruff demeanour.

Grateful for his intervention Marisol, who likes to cook, and Tommy call at his door and bring him a Mexican dish which Otto begrudgingly accepts.

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As the film progresses, another bid to hang himself fails as do attempts to gas himself, step in front of a train and shoot himself.

Marisol and Tommy somehow inveigle themselves into his life by borrowing tools, asking him to rush them to hospital, getting him to babysit the girls, teach her how to drive and baking or cooking for him.

Otto also rekindles over the course of the film a strained relationship with two long term neighbours, Juanita Jennings' Anita and Peter Lawson Jones' Reuben who is confined to a wheelchair.

He is appalled to discover their son in Japan is plotting with the real estate company to remove from their home.

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A surprising friendship is also struck with a former pupil of his wife's, Mack Bayda's Malcolm.

Through a series of flashbacks we get to understand why Otto is so overcome with grief as Foster and his screenwriter David Magee chart the romance between his younger self, played by Tom Hanks' real life son Chet, and Rachel Keller's Sonya.

All of this makes for pleasant enough viewing.

However 'A Man Called Otto' never really stretches itself and feels a little too dragged out and flabby.

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There are definitely a few laughs but its humour is not nearly as spiky as you would like it to be.

It is so restrained you can't quite figure out if Foster and his screenwriter are either being reined in or are reining themselves in.

However scenes like one in a hospital waiting room involving a clown amuse but don't feel like they are realising their full comic potential.

As a result, Hanks delivers a competent, middle of the league performance that doesn't seem all that interested in challenging for the top prize.

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There's nothing dazzling about his performance but it's not bad.

It's just lacking in inspiration.

Pretty much the rest of the cast are doing the same from Keller and Chet Hanks to Bayda, Jennings, Garcia-Rulfo and Cameron Britton as Jimmy, a neighbour who thinks he is exercising but just looks ridiculous.

The one exception to all this is Trevino who brings a real spark to the part of Marisol, a busy, caring mum who really develops an affection for Otto.

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She swipes the film from under Hanks' nose with a warm, vivacious performance.

Although you do get the impression Hanks is enjoying it and is content for her to do so.

'A Man Called Otto' follows very predictable paths as its story unfolds and doesn't really shake itself up.

But it does all this with a certain charm.

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Foster's film will no doubt please audiences who want uncomplicated, gentle comic farw.

However the movie could do with a bit more bite.

Now that Hanks is tapped into his inner Victor Meldrew, let that be that.

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Hopefully, he won't make a habit out of playing cantankerous old geezers for the rest of his career.

Having done the grumpy schtick, he needs to move on.

There really is nothing more to see.

('A Man Called Otto' opened in UK and Irish cinemas on January 6, 2023)