Commentary/Film review: Hanks grouches it up in ‘A Man Called Otto’

A man called Hanks makes the latest of his intriguing, midcareer choices in “A Man Called Otto.”

Perhaps smarting from all the versions of the “How come you only play good guys” question that Tom Hanks has answered in his four-decade career, he has spent the past couple of years roughing up his nicest-man-in-Hollywood image. The heroic-but-gruff cowpoke in “News of the World,” the vile manipulator in “Elvis,” the cult leader in “The Circle” and even the selfish wood carver in “Pinocchio” — none of them are nice guys and a couple are straight-up evil.

Otto isn’t evil, but from the opening sequence in which he disses a series of friendly neighbors, he’s clearly no Forrest Gump or Mr. Rogers. The filmed adaptation of the popular Swedish novel “A Man Called Ove” may not be strictly necessary — it was already made into a decent Swedish film, retaining the original title, in 2015. But its reason for existence is that it adds texture to the story when someone who seems so nice plays a grump we’re pretty sure will come over to the light side by the end of the movie.

Even if you haven’t read Fredrik Backman’s novel, you’ll be able to predict most of what happens in “Otto,” which is one of those main-character-has-a-big-secret-that-won’t-be-revealed-until-the-end movies. It will, of course, explain, why Otto — whom we meet purchasing supplies for a botched attempt to take his own life — is such a grouch and why his kind neighbors eventually will help him heal. Marc Forster’s film hits the stages of Otto’s transformation so insistently that it almost feels like we’re watching a graph of Otto’s Scrooge-like character arc.

The fun, then, is Hanks. Surrounded by unknown actors (pennies may have been pinched by the casting department), he grabs center stage in a performance composed of tiny, smart details such as the look of anger and despair on Otto’s face when a neighbor surprises him or the way his body language indicates he’s helping another neighbor with housing repairs only because it’s easier than dealing with her complaints.

It seems crazy to call a two-time Oscar winner “underrated” but Hanks — who has not been nominated for the best actor Oscar since “Cast Away” in 2001 — is so consistently excellent that he’s taken for granted, the way Anne Tyler is in publishing and Fritos are in the snack aisle. Anyway, that’s the only explanation I can come up with for why his extraordinary work in, for instance, “Finch” and “Captain Phillips” went un-nominated.

He won’t get nominated for “Otto,” either, but if you’re a Hanks fan, I bet you’ll appreciate the way he pushes into new territory in the title role.

Hewitt writes for the Minneapolis Star Tribune.