A Man Called Otto

Director: Marc Forster
Starring: Tom Hanks, Mariana Treviño, Rachel Keller, Truman Hanks, Manuel García-Rulfo, Mike Birbiglia, Cameron Britton, Mack Bayda, Juanita Jennings, Peter Lawson Jones, Kelly Lamor Wilson 
Running Time: 126 min.
Rating: PG-13

★★★ (out of ★★★★)    

Despite the Oscars, affability and success, Tom Hanks still strangely faces a certain degree of skepticism when taking roles that clash with his nice guy reputation as the modern day Jimmy Stewart. Having consistently impressed in all kinds of dramatic parts, there's a nagging belief among critics and audiences that he can't really go anywhere too dark. Even the mere suggestion elicits groans, as if even his most ardent fans don't want him traveling too far outside that perceived comfort zone.  

In Marc Forster's A Man Called Otto, Hanks tackles the type of ornery, irascible character Jack Nicholson perfected in As Good As it Gets and About Schmidt, prompting those overly familiar complaints about his miscasting. It's based on the acclaimed 2015 Swedish film A Man Called Ove, and while it's a leap to call this material dark, it does take steps forward in challenging those unfair preconceptions. While giving Hanks something more somber, it still manages to deliver the feel good, tug-at-the-heartstrings project viewers have come to expect from him. More importantly, it's done well, which wasn't a lock considering the depressing territory it navigates in between laughs.

Otto Anderson (Hanks) is a 63-year-old recent widower living outside Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania who lost his schoolteacher wife Sonya six months earlier and has just been pushed into retirement at his steel company job. A grumpy curmudgeon constantly complaining about the most trivial of inconveniences, he's irked by anything and anyone in the neighborhood. No longer seeing a reason to live, he plans to hang himself, until being interrupted by the arrival of friendly new neighbors Marisol (Mariana Treviño), Tommy (Manuel García-Rulfo) and their two young daughters Abby (Alessandra Perez) and Luna (Christiana Montoya). 

Marisol slowly punctures holes in Otto's icy exterior, but he still has a bone to pick with neighbor Anita (Juanita Jennings) and her husband Reuben (Peter Lawson Jones), an unresponsive stroke survivor who he fell out with years ago. But more justifiable is his disdain for the hilariously named real estate company, Dye & Merica, whose agent (Mike Birbiglia) is scoping the area to build high-priced condos. As Otto begrudgingly grows closer to Marisol's family and recommits to protecting his neighborhood, he's forced to confront the reality of a future without Sonya.

The central idea of not really knowing who lives next door makes Hanks' casting hit differently now than it would even just a few years earlier. David Magee's script capitalizes on society's increased cynicism, realizing it's hardly a stretch to imagine your neighbor isn't nearly as warm as you assumed from afar. That's why having Hanks in the role is so effective, causing us to question whether Otto was always this much of a jerk or it's entirely a reaction his wife's passing. Going out of his way to avoid meaningful interaction extending beyond snide, fleeting criticisms, many tolerate his hostility to a point knowing the circumstances. 

Somewhat surprisingly, the film contains more suicide attempts than Harold and Maude, only with a protagonist actually intending to do it. Or maybe not, given how many times he fails, knowing it's not what his late spouse would want. We get that much from the flashbacks that precede them, accomplishing exactly what's necessary in informing the present day narrative. It's also highlighted by two terrific performances, the first of which comes from Hanks' own son Truman Hanks, who as young Otto perfectly channels a more awkward version of his famous dad opposite an enchanting Rachel Keller as Sonya. In just a handful of minutes, these scenes go a long way in making us understand why present-day Otto is so helplessly devastated. 

All of that certainly plays better than a distracting, extremely awkward de-aging scene that chronicles Otto's long-standing grudge against old pal Reuben. Even while the story works at conveying the former's stubbornness over silly issues, the poor special effects undo it. Luckily, it's a minor quibble, as most everything else succeeds and comes together nicely by the end, which isn't a small feat considering the quantity of plot.

Aside from neighborly feuds, clingy stray cats and unauthorized medical records access, separate side stories involving a social media journalist (Kelly Lamor Wilson) and a local transgender teen (Mack Bayda) manage to come together with reasonable payoffs. There's also some humorous character work from actors like Birbiglia as the real estate rep and Cameron Britton as an exercise obsessed neighbor. But it's Mariana Treviño who steals every scene she shares with Hanks, never crossing the line into irritatingly maudlin when connecting with this crank and slowly bringing him out of his sad shell.

That A Man Called Otto delivers what's expected from its trailers and commercials isn't necessarily a negative here, especially when adult mainstream movies about people struggling with real problems continue to search for an audience. This found one and it's easy to see why. You don't walk away feeling cheated by the experience, as Forster keeps the material from coming across too cloying or manipulative. Whether it'll be remembered or discussed beyond the end credits is a trickier question, but as somewhat of an outlier in Hanks' filmography, it doesn't disappoint.

Trainwreck

Director: Judd Apatow
Starring: Amy Schumer, Bill Hader, Brie Larson, Tilda Swinton, Colin Quinn, John Cena, Mike Birbiglia, Jon Glaser, Vanessa Bayer, Ezra Miller, LeBron James
Running Time: 124 min.
Rating: R

★★★ ½ (out of ★★★★)

It's easy to assume you have Judd Apatow's Trainwreck all figured out before even seeing it. It'll be an uncomfortable, awkward mixture of comedy and drama with some toilet humor thrown in, eventually culminating in an unlikable, emotionally arrested protagonist learning to grow up. And since it's an Apatow production, there's always the chance it'll take thirty minutes longer to arrive at that revelation than it should. In the best case scenario, that would be just over two hours, or in the worst case, closer to two and a half. While those details do prove correct, there's something very different about the execution this time, resulting is his most purely satisfying effort in a while.

After essentially repeating the same formula that worked in the 40-Year-Old Virgin, but grew progressively worse with Knocked Up, Funny People and This is 40, Apatow finally nails it. Maybe it's the absence of
autobiographical subject matter or a willingness to relinquish his desire to be the next James L. Brooks, but he's delivered a movie that stands out from his others. But you have to figure the real difference maker is Amy Schumer, who in her first big screen starring role proves she's more than deserving of all the hype surrounding her.     

The film opens with a flashback in which a young Amy and her sister Kim are told their parents are divorcing, and warned by their drunken, philandering, Mets obsessed father, Gordon (Colin Quinn) on the dangers of monogamy. Flash forward twenty-three years and an adult Amy (Schumer) has internalized that advise, regularly smoking, drinking and sleeping around with guys like gym rat, Steven (John Cena) in order to escape the possibility of an actual adult relationship. Meanwhile, Kim (Brie Larson) has done the exact opposite, settling down with Tom (Mike Birbiglia) a dorky, if generally decent guy with an equally nerdy son Amy finds annoying.

It's Amy's intense dislike of sports that causes her intimidating editor at S'nuff men's magazine, Dianna (Tilda Swinton), to assign her a piece on renowned sports surgeon, Aaron Conners (Bill Hader.), who spends most of his free time hanging with best friend LeBron James (as "himself") and is currently preparing for a major surgery on Knicks' Amar'e Stoudemire (himself again). With a promotion on the line and her father recently admitted to a nursing home, Amy hasn't a clue what to do when she actually starts dating and falling for a genuinely good guy who really likes her, faults and all. So, of course, she does her best to sabotage it, not realizing the person she's hurting most is herself.

This is a comedy that gets a lot right, which is a big surprise considering how much it's attempting to do at once, and how shaky Apatow's previous attempts at juggling this type of material have been. Helping is a really strongly defined character at the movie's center, which is evident immediately upon her introduction in the first few minutes. There's no doubt Amy likes to have fun, and it's interesting to note that when she wakes up in some random guy's bed completely hung over without a clue where she is, we realize this isn't a scene we'd even wince at if the protagonist were male. Schumer (who penned the script) and Apatow know this and are always a few steps ahead of our thinking she's a slut by having her admit to being one with little hesitation and no regrets.

I know very little, if anything, about Amy Schumer other than the fact that she has a show on Comedy Central a lot of people love that's supposedly dirtier and more controversial than this. That her casting was met with groans that she's not "hot enough" for the role is an especially bizarre complaint considering this isn't exactly the kind of female part we frequently see. Schumer makes it soar, hilariously transforming what should be detestable character traits into relatable, often painfully sympathetic quirks. She's also able to switch gears on a dime between the laugh-out-loud scenes and some of the more serious, soul-searching moments which are thankfully never all that serious in her hands.

The movie's secret weapon is Hader, would seem to be as atypical a choice as Schumer to lead a romantic comedy, which makes him an inspired choice, while marking sort of a divergence from the goofball characters he's known for playing since his SNL days. She's not as funny without Hader's straight man to play off and if the running joke is that Aaron's supposed to be boring, than it would be tough to find another actor who makes boring as interesting. Similar to Schumer, audiences will walk away from this experience with a higher opinion of his acting talents than when they went in, potentially opening the door to different types of roles we can picture him in.     

What separates this from other entries in an increasingly popular comedy subgenre is that this is actually invested in exploring what's behind Amy's behavior, while still consistently eliciting laughs doing it. She's on a journey with a very clear end point but the plot doesn't feel as forced or telegraphed as usual does because the writing and acting are so strong. It's the little details that count, such as the hilarious workplace scenes where we get to see an unrecognizable, but delightfully evil Tilda Swinton endorse one ridiculous story idea after another, as Amy and her hapless co-workers (played by Vanessa Bayer, Randall Park and Jon Glaser) sweat with fear.  Or how John Cena's musclehead character becomes a little too boyfriend-like for Amy to handle. Even a sub-plot involving Ezra Miller's overeager intern that has no business working, somehow pays off hilariously.

Every scene with LeBron and Bill Hader's Aaron, specifically those involving the world's highest paid athlete stiffing the latter with every bill. It's worth noting that Cena and especially LeBron's roles are almost ridiculously substantial compared to what would be expected of them. Neither necessarily feels like stunt casting and both end up excelling in supporting parts that don't ask too much of them and actually serve a function in the story. The real celebrity stunt casting actually comes at the end, and it's so random and unexpected that it rightfully earns some of the film's biggest laughs.

Colin Quinn playing Amy's ailing father in a nursing home while looking exactly like his 56-year-old self is definitely a head-scratcher that strangely serves to make an already hilarious performance seem that much funnier. At worst, Quinn's trademark sarcasm and deadpan delivery is put to such excellent use that it's difficult to even notice or care that he's playing someone nearly two decades older. As Kim, Brie Larson is given a slightly undeveloped role she still manages to still do a lot with, allowing us to see through her how Amy turned into such a disaster. And as her oddly matched husband, the loony Birbiglia unexpectedly steals most of the scenes he's in.

Despite employing the usual Apatow tricks, the movie never forces us to like Amy. We just do, and that's all Schumer. The running joke will be that this is really a guy's part since Hollywood dictates only they can struggle with the issues she does here. It's almost impossible to watch without thinking her script's really on to something that hasn't been publicly acknowledged, at least on the big screen. In finally figuring out how to effectively juggle comedy and drama, without giving audiences a headache, Apatow does creep over the two-hour mark, if just barely. But this time it doesn't feel like a drag or mishmash of tones. The only quibble might be the ending, as it's difficult not to wish for a conclusion a little less pat, and maybe a bit more ambiguous or edgier. But that may have been asking too much. As it stands, Trainwreck is the kind of movie we all not so secretly wish Woody Allen could still make, even when it's poking fun at him.