The Doctor’s Diagnosis: D+
A Man Called Otto is a remake of the 2015 Swedish film A Man Called Ove, which was an adaptation of the novel by Swedish writer Fredrik Backman. I am not a particularly big fan of the original film, which I find too dry and boring, but it is a moderately effective and very darkly comedic character study. This American version takes everything that did work about the Swedish film and quite literally deletes it, making this a completely toothless remake that jettisons the bleaker moments of the story to create a bland, lifeless experience that’s the sort of movie that you would put on to amuse your grandmother for a couple of hours.
The story is a basic redemption arc about a mean, crotchety old man that learns to love and embrace life again. Yes, you’ve seen this many times before and A Man Called Otto brings absolutely nothing new to the formula. Tom Hanks stars as the title character, a retired 60-something year old widower that spends his days walking around his local community, scowling at his neighbors and attempting suicide. But some new neighbors move in, he gradually becomes friends with them and learns that life is worth living. I can almost see the Hallmark logo on my screen from writing a plot summary that hackneyed and cliched.
When considered as a stand-along film, there really isn’t much to say about A Man Called Otto. The plot contains no surprises, the performances are acceptable but lifeless and the film aspires to do little more than merely exist and then slink into the furthest recesses of your memory bank. The humor is bland and the film is unwilling to infuse any wit into the darker moments (such as the suicide attempts) because god forbid anybody accuse the filmmakers of taking something lightly. It really is just a void of a film that is only remarkable in its startling lack of ambition.
Thankfully, though, I have seen the original Swedish film and that is giving me more to talk about. Most film historians are still busy trying to figure out how the remake of The Lion King is a half hour longer than the original despite adding absolutely nothing to the plot. When that endeavor is completed, I hope they turn their attention to figuring out how A Man Called Otto is the same length as the original despite cutting out a lot of the plot. I simply don’t understand the math of how that’s possible, yet here we are. About 90% of Otto’s backstory is eliminated, including minor points like his father dying in front of him and his home burning down, which reduces the tragedy and makes the character far less sympathetic. There is one major point with his dead wife that remains intact, but the drastic reduction of the endless string of shit that this guy has been through makes him seem less like a redeemable man and more like he is just a dick.
There are also points in the original film (and presumably the novel) that seem to be culturally-specific to Sweden and don’t translate well to the United States. The filmmaker’s solution to this was to either drastically reduce those elements or eliminate them completely. There is an important backstory about the dissolution of Otto’s friendship with a local man in his community and the joke in the original is that their friendship dissolved because Otto loves Saab and his friend prefers Volvo. This is a major, recurring element in the original and, while the logical choice is made to switch this to a Ford vs. Chevy debate in this version, it is reduced to basically an odd throwaway line and about a minute of screentime. Similarly, a frequent motif of the original is Otto’s distrust of “white shirts,” which I take to be roughly the equivalent of “company men” in American terms. I guess the filmmakers didn’t know what to do with this, so it is eliminated completely, which, combined with the deletion of most of Otto’s backstory, pretty much eliminates all explanation for why this man has become such an asshole.
Actually, he isn’t really even that much of an asshole. The character in the original is a complete prick that’s rude to everyone and spends all his time wandering around and looking for people that have committed minor violations of local rules (such as parking their bike in the wrong place or putting plastic in the wrong trash can). He’s a petty, miserable jackass that is begging for a punch in the face. Perhaps it’s the casting of Hanks (who, despite being a great actor, isn’t exactly known for playing assholes) or the elimination of most of his backstory, but Otto here is just kind of unpleasant. He’s not somebody you would want to hang out with, but he’s not despicable either. The basic core of the film is eliminated, leaving me to ponder a very good question: Why am I supposed to care about these people?
It’s not uncommon for American remakes of foreign films to tone down the source material and A Man Called Otto is the poster child of that irritating predilection of my country. I don’t particularly recommend seeing the original, A Man Called Ove, but I do recommend watching that instead of this. At least that film provides the background and characters needed to justify its own story arc. This version is like a made-for-television take on the material that doesn’t have any of the nuance, heart or dark humor of the original. What’s left is a shallow, transparent, emotionally-manipulative that aspires to nothing and succeeds in that goal.
Image By: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Man_Called_Otto#/media/File:A_Man_Called_Otto_poster.jpg
