A Man Called Otto, starring Tom Hanks

[Mysterian]

Saw A Man Called Otto on Netflix recently. It's good, a bit strange seeing Tom Hanks in a lower-budget film, but the supporting cast held their own.
In a way, it's sort of UP without the balloons.

 

[BlueStarryHat]

I watched it a couple of weeks ago. Can't say I enjoyed it much, but then it's not really my type of movie. I just happened to be in the living room when my aunt went into Netflix and chose it.

 

[kdonnel]

Saw A Man Called Otto on Netflix recently. It's good, a bit strange seeing Tom Hanks in a lower-budget film, but the supporting cast held their own.
In a way, it's sort of UP without the balloons.

It was released in theaters and made over 112 million and was in over 3800 theaters during its release.

I don't think this one qualifies as low budget.

A typical movie budget is 50-100 million, this one was 50 million.

Around 30 million or lower is considered a low budget movie.

 

[kymom99]

I liked it. Now I’m going to read the book. It’s on hold at the library.

 

[gmi3804]

I think I got a cavity just watching the sickeningly sweet trailer. I don't think I could handle the whole movie.

 

[kdonnel]

I think I got a cavity just watching the sickeningly sweet trailer. I don't think I could handle the whole movie.

The movie follows a man suffering severe depression and his multiple attempts at suicide which are shown and not just allude to.

 

[sam_gordon]

DW and I saw it in the theater. It was pretty good I thought.

 

[gmi3804]

The movie follows a man suffering severe depression and his multiple attempts at suicide which are shown and not just allude to.

Yes, I've read the novel. You'd certainly never guess it from the trailer, sold as a jaunty Tom Hanks romp.

 

[badiggio]

Surprised how much my wife and i enjoyed the movie.

 

[antmaril]

I liked the movie very much. The book, “A Man Called Ove”, is one of my all time favorites.

 

[nw6675]

I've read all of the author's books. Very interesting and engaging reads.

 

[CdnCarrie]

Saw it in the theatre. It was good but depressing. hardly sweet!

 

[VandVsmama]

Super depressing. Hated it.

 

[gmi3804]

Super depressing. Hated it.

Only bad movies are depressing. "Depressing" has nothing to do with subject matter.

 

[VandVsmama]

Only bad movies are depressing. "Depressing" has nothing to do with subject matter.

Ok. I'll rephrase.

I saw it in theaters when it came out. I hated the movie. 0 stars. Would not recommend.

 

[mjkacmom]

When our mom passed away 8 years ago, my sister told me about a book she was reading, about our dad. He was brilliant in math (chemical engineering degree from Princeton), who was very black and white. He loved our mom more than anything. He had Alzheimer’s, and could be very cranky. He died from a fatal heart attack a few years later. I loved the book and movie, watched it yesterday with dd22 and she was like omg he’s grandpa! Dd20 watched it twice already, she liked it so much (Tom hanks facial expressions mimicked my dad’s). It starts out depressing but has a nice ending. Oh, and my parents drank from the same exact coffee cups.

 

[Skywalker]

Loved this movie. I saw so much of my dad in it. I thought the ending was a downer but it left me feeling good overall

 

[goofyernmost]

I think I got a cavity just watching the sickeningly sweet trailer. I don't think I could handle the whole movie.

When our mom passed away 8 years ago, my sister told me about a book she was reading, about our dad. He was brilliant in math (chemical engineering degree from Princeton), who was very black and white. He loved our mom more than anything. He had Alzheimer’s, and could be very cranky. He died from a fatal heart attack a few years later. I loved the book and movie, watched it yesterday with dd22 and she was like omg he’s grandpa! Dd20 watched it twice already, she liked it so much (Tom hanks facial expressions mimicked my dad’s). It starts out depressing but has a nice ending. Oh, and my parents drank from the same exact coffee cups.

The movie was a lot of things, but sickeningly sweet was not one of them. Unless one is older and no longer has a purpose the first two acts were somewhat depressing mostly because we could relate to a lot of the emotional experiences that Otto was having. The third act was much brighter and inspiring but the forth and final act was not so much depressing as it was sad.

A large dose of reality throughout even the ending, but with an open mind it was another convincing character that Tom Hanks seems to be able to conjure up at will. Don't sell it short it was really a very interesting movie. Many of the scenes evoked loud reactions from the audience from shouting out "oh no's" to actual sobbing at different times throughout the movie. Four out of five stars from me.

 

[gmi3804]

The movie was a lot of things, but sickeningly sweet was not one of them.

The trailer certainly was, which is all I can comment on. Being familiar with the source material, I found that it absolutely struck the wrong chords with me.

 

[Mysterian]

It was released in theaters and made over 112 million and was in over 3800 theaters during its release.

I don't think this one qualifies as low budget.

A typical movie budget is 50-100 million, this one was 50 million.

Around 30 million or lower is considered a low budget movie.

Good point. I only say that because it's a noticeably smaller production than many of his other Hollywood films. His name was definitely the draw for the film. He was paid $20 Million, the rest of the cast was considerably less (the next highest paid was to the actress who played Marisol at $800K). Hanks' typical pay for each film is $25M.

He has taken home less before, like $15M for Captain Philips, and that had a higher budget. I could also recognize more of the cast of Captain Philips, unlike Otto- many of them where new to me. I also saw Captain Philips recently, and that was enjoyable. Hanks' best performance was the final act, IMO.