A Man Called Otto

This slice of superior schmaltz has Tom Hanks as a fastidious late-middle-aged grump who hates everyone, from overcharging shop assistants to neighbours who put their recycling in the wrong bin.

A follow-the-dots flick with a few moments of charm that aims to be a feel-good crowd pleaser, but lacks enough freshness and insight to make it anything special.

Despite the film’s flaws, what audiences will take away is a humanizing experience by a group of misfits who are learning that getting along can also be lifesaving.

If you were to start [this remake and the original] at the exact same moment, I promise it wouldn't make any difference which one you looked at. But you know why? Because all the scenes were working in the first movie, too.

I'm just not sure we needed it... [but] I did like it a whole lot more than I thought I was going to.

I haven’t read the 2012 Swedish book or 2015 film that this is based on, but I can’t imagine either could be half as tone-deaf.

The director is Marc Forster of Monster's Ball. For sure, his saccharine movie is not hard to like, if only because he is a pro at manipulating heartstrings and Hanks cannot help but be affable, however ill-suited for his role here.

Tom Hanks gets in touch with his inner Larry David as the curmudgeonly sexegenarian at the heart of Marc Forster’s lukewarm English-language remake of Hannes Holm’s Oscar-nominated “A Man Called Ova.”

With Hanks as its star, Marc Forster’s safe Hollywood remake is all the more predictable.

A Man Called Otto is mechanically engineered for maximum lachrymosal extraction.