A Man Called Otto ★★★

TOM Hanks has a lot of fun playing against type in the American remake of A Man Called Ove.

In A Man Called Otto Hanks plays the archetypal grumpy old man whom we eventually discover actually has a heart of gold.

Otto Anderson is a 70-something who, following his forced retirement and the death of his wife, continues to live in a semi-enclosed neighbourhood in metro Pittsburgh.

Otto’s curmudgeonly attitude is exemplified by his daily round of the neighbourhood, making sure car parking passes are in order and the recycling has been done correctly and admonishing those at fault.

A young Hispanic couple and their two daughters move in across the road and their attempts to win Otto over are the main focus of the film.

I was going to say it’s all very predictable, but that’s not entirely true as director Marc Forster and writer David Magee wisely chose to reshoot the Swedish original almost shot-for-shot so that unique Scandinavian style of deadpan black humour still comes through at times.

Snippets from Otto’s early life and meeting his wife are interwoven with mixed results.

Interestingly, Hanks’ son Truman plays the younger Otto and does a decent job.

Watched in cinema