Movie · 2022 · Comedy, Drama · 2h 6m · PG-13 · English
Curator score: 4.9/10 (717.6K ratings)
Fall in love with the grumpiest man in America.
Overview
When a lively young family moves in next door, grumpy widower Otto Anderson meets his match in a quick-witted, pregnant woman named Marisol, leading to an unlikely friendship that turns his world upside down.
Ratings
Curator score: 4.9/10
IMDb: 7.5/10
Letterboxd: 3.65/5
Rotten Tomatoes: 70%
Metacritic: 51
TMDB: 7.8/10
Director
Marc Forster
Production
Playtone, SF Studios, Artistic Films, Columbia Pictures, 2DUX², TSG Entertainment
Cast
Tom Hanks, Mariana Treviño, Cameron Britton, Mack Bayda, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, Juanita Jennings, Peter Lawson Jones, Truman Hanks, Rachel Keller, John Higgins, Tony Bingham, Lily Kozub, Max Pavel, Kailey Hyman, Peter Sipla, Patrick Stanny, Dominick Marrone, Allyson R. Hood, Kristy Nolen, Carl Clemons
Where to watch
Amazon Prime Video, Hulu, fuboTV, Amazon Prime Video with Ads
Curator Review
Verdict
A warm, grief-tinged crowd-pleaser that mixes prickly comedy with sincere emotion. It leans familiar and sometimes sentimental, but Tom Hanks and the neighborly ensemble give it real charm and an easy emotional payoff.
Best for
viewers who like bittersweet dramedies about grief and community
fans of curmudgeon-with-a-heart stories
people looking for a comforting, sentimental watch
audiences who enjoy performance-driven mainstream dramas
Skip if
you want something sharply original or formally adventurous
you dislike overt sentimentality
you are looking for a light comedy with no heavy emotional material
you prefer the Swedish original and are sensitive to remake comparisons
Overview
A Man Called Otto is built on a very familiar engine: a lonely, irritable widower slowly rediscovering connection through the people next door. The setup is broad, but the film works because it understands how grief can harden into routine, and how small acts of care can break that routine open.
Worth noting
Tom Hanks gives Otto a lived-in sadness that keeps the character from becoming just a sitcom crank. The movie balances deadpan humor, neighborly chaos, and a steady undercurrent of loss, which makes the emotional turns land even when the plot is easy to see coming.
Bottom line
It is not especially subtle, and it rarely surprises, but it is effective as a mainstream tearjerker with a humane streak. If you want a polished, accessible drama about community, aging, and second chances, this does the job well.
Top Letterboxd reviews
Bryan Espitia (3.5★) · 6778 likes
The darkly funny story of a man who just wants to kill himself but his annoying neighbors keep interrupting him
jeaba (3★) · 6619 likes
maybe otto is a boomer but he also supports trans and disabled rights so i forgive him
ValTheMovieGuy (4★) · 3279 likes
Fuck Romeo and Juliet, I want what Otto and Sonya have
shay (4★) · 2684 likes
“Why didn’t you order an entree?”“I ate at home.”“Why?”“So that you could order whatever you wanted.”
and what if i killed myself
Zack🍅 (4★) · 2172 likes
what the fuck???? This movie made me bawl my eyes out 😭
2015 · Comedy, Drama · 1h 56m · PG-13 · Curator 7.6/10 (128.9K ratings) · Where to watch: Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, fuboTV, OVID, Netflix Standard with Ads, Amazon Prime Video with Ads
The original story’s Swedish version, with a sharper sense of melancholy and a more distinctly Nordic tone.
2004 · Comedy, Drama · 2h 8m · PG-13 · Curator 4.8/10 (1.2M ratings) · Where to watch: fuboTV, Paramount Plus Premium, Paramount Plus Essential, MGM Plus
A warm, accessible crowd-pleaser about kindness, routine, and the way strangers can become a support system.