Film

A Man Called Otto

Name: A Man Called Otto
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Released: 2022
Cast: Tom Hanks, Mariana Treviño, Cameron Britton, Mack Bayda, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo

Drama

Tom Hanks plays Otto, a cantankerous widower whose suicide attempts are interrupted by a pregnant neighbor who needs help. What could be maudlin becomes something warmer: a story about how grief isolates us and connection saves us. It's gentle without being saccharine, funny without punching down, and anchored by two genuinely moving performances.

TMDb rating

3.9

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you like your comedy dry and your sentiment earned, and you enjoy a curmudgeon whose armour gets dented one neighbourly nuisance at a time.

Skip it if you tire of sentiment piled on sentiment, since this one is warm to the point of syrup at times and takes its time getting there.

What it asks of you: Patience first: a slow, dour opening before the humour and warmth gather, and two hours spent with a stubborn older man who refuses to be charmed.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Nebraska2013

Bruce Dern's gruff, aging curmudgeon travels cross-country with his son. Like Otto, it finds quiet wisdom and surprising tenderness in old men reluctant to ask for help or admit they're hurting.

But Shot in black-and-white. Very slow. Resists easy sentiment even when the script tempts it.

Gran Torino2008

Clint Eastwood as a racist Korean War vet living in Detroit whose prejudices crack open when he meets his Hmong neighbors. The same character arc—walls coming down—with considerably more edge and darker stakes.

But Eastwood's character is genuinely bigoted early on. Some may find the film's handling of race problematic or incomplete.

About Schmidt2002

Jack Nicholson as a retired man adrift, taking an RV trip to process his wife's death and his own emptiness. Both films understand that retirement and loss can be a kind of death, and that other people sometimes resurrect us.

But Nicholson's character is often awful—selfish, petty, small-minded. The film doesn't let him off easy, which some find uncomfortable.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from A Man Called Otto

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Tokyo Story1953

Both treat aging, family estrangement, and reconciliation as profound rather than sentimental. Both move at the pace of conversation.

Yasujirō Ozu's masterpiece about an elderly couple visiting their son in Tokyo after World War II. The connection: both films believe ordinary human acceptance—not grand gestures—is the deepest form of love, and both move at the speed of real life to let you feel it.

But Made in 1953. Slow by even 2022 standards. Subtitled, in color but muted. Requires patience that many viewers won't afford it.

Shrinking2023

Bill Lawrence's Apple series stars Harrison Ford as a retired therapist drawn back into life by his messy neighbors and patients. Shares Otto's warmth and its belief that curmudgeons can change when they stop living alone with their damage.

But Juggles multiple characters and storylines. If you want Otto's tight focus on two people, this sprawls more.

Sideways2004

Paul Giamatti and Thomas Haden Church as two men on a road trip, learning about themselves and each other. Tender without sentimentality, funny without cruelty. A masterclass in how to make aging and disappointment watchable.

But The narrative is loose. Gently melancholic throughout—not everyone wants a vacation film that digs at loneliness.

The Straight Story1999

David Lynch's truest anomaly: a G-rated film about an elderly man riding a lawnmower to reconcile with his estranged brother. Achingly sincere about regret, forgiveness, and the courage it takes to try to repair what's broken.

But Genuinely odd pacing. Some viewers expect Lynch to undercut the sincerity, and are left uncertain if the film means what it says.

Life As We Know It2010

Katherine Heigl and Josh Duhamel navigate unexpected guardianship of a child. Not Otto's register at all, but the same emotional core: grief interrupted by someone who needs you, and finding life in that responsibility.

But Romantic comedy DNA. If you want Otto's melancholy to stay melancholy, this is too warm and optimistic.

The Leisure Seeker2018

Donald Sutherland and Helen Mirren as an elderly couple on a final RV journey. A meditation on long marriage, aging bodies, mortality, and the fierce love that persists anyway. Quiet and dignified.

But Very sad. Deliberately paced. Some find it more of an endurance test than a pleasure.

I Don't Feel at Home in This World Anymore2017

Both are about grief-stricken people who think they're better off alone, and the unlikely person who proves them wrong—but this one goes to much darker places.

Macon Blair and Elijah Wood as an unlikely pair: a depressed woman and a strange man who bond over investigating a burglary. Dark comedy-drama that finds connection through violence and chaos rather than warmth, but the same belief that we survive by letting others in.

But Far grimmer and nastier than Otto. Contains violence, cruelty, and a tone that swings between surreal and brutal. Audiences expecting Otto's gentleness will recoil.