Any movie featuring Tom Hanks has GOT to be good, right? Will this one be funny? Will this one be serious? What if it's deeply both, all at the same time?

Otto Anderson (Tom Hanks) is an uncomfortable widower who is known by his neighbors as the grump on their one-block street. He's on constant alert to maintain order in his little part of the world. As he sees it, anyone who can't follow the basic rules is, of course, an idiot. One day his routine and a larger plan are disrupted by the arrival of a new family moving in across the street. It's Marisol (Mariana Trevino), Tommy (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo) and their two little girls, Abby (Alessandra Perez) and Luna (Christiana Montoya). And the story grows from this point on.

I won't spoil the viewer experience by revealing more details of the plots.

We also meet some of the assorted characters living here. Malcolm (Mack Bayda) delivers newspaper advertisements by bicycle. Jimmy (Cameron Britton) follows an interesting morning exercise routine. Anita (Juanita Jennings) and Reuben (Peter Lawson Jones) are old friends of Otto's who don't get out much anymore. Nearby lurks a development company whose persistent representatives aim to spread their territorial reach.

Otto lives in his head a lot, calling up memories of his younger self (Truman Hanks) and his wife Sonya (Rachel Keller). We learn his poignant backstory through these flashbacks. This technique triggers a fact that we all know and yet often forget: that a person is much more than what may at first meet the eye, and from what you can see from your own window or from your own doorstep. This tale could be told about ANYONE, in ANY neighborhood. Maybe the best quiet lesson here is that we should pay more attention to the people who live around us.

Tom Hanks is known for frequently playing ordinary characters in extraordinary situations. With some thought, we can see that Otto shares personality traits and common experiences with some of Tom's roles from past films. He's a widower who grieves for his wife (Sleepless in Seattle). He's someone who isn't quite fully prepared for his next and natural stage of life (Big). To a certain few, he is a rescuer or savior (Sully). He's also a savvy person who can take on the immoral actions of a big company (Philadelphia). I'm sure that we could find even more connections, if we launched a wider search.

In the end, A Man Called Otto is hardly a simple story about a man called Otto. It is a tribute to Life, Community, Compassion, and to the comedies and tragedies associated with human existence. Really. Be sure to grab some napkins as you pass the snack bar on the way in, if you don't already have some tissues stashed in your pocket. You will need them.