Watch the original!

I just did. It should be interesting to compare the two.
Most Americans don't want to read subtitles.

Absolutely agree. The trailer for this remake seems to emphasize the character of Otto being cutely grumpy, without the understated depths of the original character Ove.

Yes, watch the original!

Thanks for the tip. Watching it now. Never mind the remake.

I read the book first and it was one of the rare books that made me laugh out loud. For some time, the original movie wasn't available and I enjoyed it when I finally got to see it.

I'll give the Hanks flick a look, too.

The reason for a remake is so they can make money from people who want to see a star they know and not read subtitles.

Just got back from seeing A Man Called Otto, and as I suspected it was a serviceable remake with a solid performance from Hanks, even if his take on the gruff and grumpy title character wasn’t quite as effective as Rolf Lassgård’s in the Swedish version. The real weak link was Truman Hanks as the younger Otto. For me his similarity to his father was not strong enough to justify his casting and he seemed a little insipid in the role. Also the flashbacks to Otto’s early life were more brief than in the original, making the overall emotional resonance of the story less effective.

You may well ask why I went to the cinema myself to see this after recommending others see the original instead.. you can blame my mother for that. I’ve recommended the original to her for a while because I knew she would love it, but she wasn’t able to track it down.. when she saw this was being released she wanted to see it with me so I took her so she could at least experience the story. She loved it, by the way, and was wiping away tears at the end.

So yeah, not the train wreck it could have been but still I definitely think A Man Called Ove is the better film.

I’d give it a solid 7/10

Yes! Watched in a theater the year it was nominated for best foreign, a true gem. I’ll get around to the new one.

We finally agree on something.