Reviews are pouring in for A Man Called Otto, the new film based on Fredrik Backman’s bestselling novel A Man Called Ove.
Ove’s book, published in the U.S. by Atria in 2014, follows a grumpy widower whose life is changed by a young couple that moves next door. It was adapted into a Swedish movie in 2015; the new adaptation stars Tom Hanks and Mariana Treviño, and was directed by Marc Forster.
The reviews of the new film have been mixed. Glenn Kenny of the New York Times wasn’t a fan, writing that the movie is “not only more bloated than the Swedish film, it’s more outré, in a way that’s hard to pin down.”
Robert Abele of The Wrap also wasn’t impressed with the film. “Forster’s haphazard direction is so checked-out it’s painful,” the critic wrote. “[H]is comedy mise-en-scène and timing in even the simplest moments of humor is flat.”
Mark Olsen of the Los Angeles Times liked the movie, though, writing, “The film has an easygoing, please-like-me quality that somehow never comes off as desperate but instead gives it a reassuring quality, like a mug of warm tea.…The tender message of hopefulness and spiritual renewal is a welcome tonic as the year comes to a close.”
And at the Hollywood Reporter, critic Frank Scheck wrote, “[D]irector Forster thankfully applies a fairly restrained, subtle approach. The result is a film to which you ultimately find yourself succumbing even though you never stop being aware that your heartstrings are being shamelessly pulled.”
A Man Called Otto opened in a limited release on Friday; it will be released nationwide on Jan. 13, 2023.
Michael Schaub, a journalist and regular contributor to NPR, lives near Austin, Texas.
