Review of A Man Called Otto (2022) by Grungus — 18 Jan 2023

I think this movie is a cynical product meant to manipulate older generations that yearn for the warmth and simplicity of their youth into rooting for a man who's there to save all these "poor colored folk" from themselves. Every character other than Otto felt like they were placed there in front of him specifically so he could fix them and show them "how they did it back in the good ol'days". "Look at this silly guy, he's overweight and effeminate and friendly, this man should be laughed at." "Get a load of this **** driving the truck behind our car stopped on a green light, why can this fool not understand I'm teaching this grown lady to drive in an unmarked car that does not specify she is a student driver in any way? I should throw him out of his truck for honking his horn and threaten to kill him because that's what this youngster deserves surely, he has long hair and tattoos and called me old!!".

"This man likes the color pink?? lmao, am I right audience?".

There are a lot of scenes in this movie that made it very clear to me that they were really feeding off that 50+ demographic. The one that annoyed me the most was the following;.

Otto decides he's going to try jumping in front of a train. Before he can, another old man falls onto the tracks and helplessly lies there while a gaggle of teens and 20-somethings immediately take out their phones and start recording him, talking about their followers and speaking to each other as though what was happening around them was a spectacle that doesn't really involve them. There were a few shouts to get help here and there, but of course, our boy Otto is the only one with common sense in this crowd of wayward youth that have lost their way. Pokemon Go to the polls. He jumps down and saves the day.

A lot can be said about being young right now. It's scary and frightening in ways that people like me in their 30s can have a difficult time understanding or relating to. Technology truly can do a lot of damage to a person's perception of the world and the suffering of others. There are undoubtedly lots of **** brain-dead kids out there with no awareness or understanding of how to be kind to themselves and others. However,.

I've met enough young people to know that the problem usually isn't that they don't care, or they aren't brave or capable of showing warmth and concern for other people, it's how and where they should direct that love and concern that has become incredibly difficult to navigate without strong guidance from well-adjusted parents and adults that are willing to listen to their kids and really pay attention to the media and personalities they intake. I don't think most kids would leave an old man to die on train tracks purely out of passivity and vanity. That scene in this silly movie made for easily influenced old people says much more about the older generations than the younger. Their inability to resist glossing over complicated issues with fish in a barrel, lowest hanging fruit jokes about how the kids are hopeless and the world is crumbling to **** because all the good people are old or gone. Their willingness to include minority groups in their films and tv shows, but only as an overcompensation for the jokes made at their expense, which would be more forgivable if they were the least bit clever or funny. Minorities are there to elevate their main vanilla character in some way and highlight how he's a hero who accepts everyone and everything as equals on the surface, while maybe unknowingly to the people who made the film, highlighting instead the roots of racism and other isms and phobias that they are so lazy and inept about hiding. Also, there was a cat in this movie that was only in the movie to suffer so Otto could get "awws" from the audience, being the superman of the neighborhood for all his goofy diverse buddies was not enough. Not a fan of that, if you have a hard time seeing animals in peril you should avoid the whole thing, it isn't worth it. The cat was cute though so it bumps the movie up a point.

I was planning on giving this one a 4 but it made my mom cry and she was happy to see it with me and I love her very much so I'll give it a 5. Perhaps despite itself, it serves a purpose in that.