The Secret Life of Walter Mitty Movie Review

We’ve all had fantasies.  No, I’m not talking about the ones involving your favorite celebrity on a deserted island.  I mean those moments where your mind wanders and imagines what life would be if it had happened a little bit differently.  Perhaps you’ve considered what it would be like to actually talk to your secret crush or maybe even stand up to someone who was bullying you.  “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” put this very idea on screen for its audience, and is a touching story about experiencing life and appreciating the beauty that this world has to offer.

The title character (Ben Stiller) is quiet, mild-mannered and lonely.  Although Walter’s life seems very mundane and uneventful, he lives out his own private fantasies on a regular basis.  But where you and I might do our daydreaming in the safety of our homes, or at least in our cubicles at work, Walter unconsciously experiences his fantasies in public while those around him wonder why he is staring blankly for extended periods of time.

Walter works for Life Magazine, keeping track of all of the negatives sent from photographers around the world. With the final print approaching, the expectations for the cover are very high.  Walter receives a series of photographs from famed photojournalist, Sean O’Connell (Sean Penn), along with a message explaining that he has included the perfect picture for the cover.  The negative for said picture is missing, however, and there is no way to contact O’Connell to ask him about its whereabouts.  Tired of living his droll life and doing nothing about it, Walter decides to drop everything to track down O’Connell himself in order to save his job, and possibly impress the new woman at the office along the way (Kristen Wiig).

Although the story of the film is hardly original (it’s based on a 1939 short story by James Thurber), it has a very unique heart.  The plot keeps you wondering where it will go next all the way up until its heartwarming conclusion, yet doesn’t beat you over the head with sweetness or whimsy.

Ben Stiller is perfect as Walter Mitty, a very likeable character who is as easy to cheer for as he is to relate to.  It would be hard now to imagine anyone but Stiller in the role. He really makes you sympathize for Walter when he’s down,  as well as root for him when he embarks on his adventures.  Kristen Wiig also shows her versatility as Cheryl, a sweet single mother with a positive outlook on life who is Walter’s love interest.  Although it could be easy to plug in any actress into this role, Wiig brings a perfect amount of sweetness to the character.  Both actors prove that they have the ability to act without relying on cheap comedy bits.  The best way to describe Sean Penn’s O’Connell is “soulful”; he’s more or less a part of the film’s art style, particularly when he delivers the underlying message about true beauty.

Mitty was produced exactly the way it should have been.  While it would have been easy for the filmmakers to overdo the “daydreaming” sequences, they were utilized the perfect amount to keep from being too whimsical while at the same time keep you guessing about reality vs. fantasy.  The shots of the many places Walter visits are gorgeous and gives you a true sense of the adventure Mitty has endured.  The music selection was also exceptional, especially the use of David Bowie’s “Space Oddity”.

“The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” was exactly what I wanted it to be: a heart-felt look at life that would put a smile on my face.  It’s refreshing to see two actors who normally rely on their comedy chops give impressively serious performances without appearing as though they are trying too hard.  I found the film to be wonderfully beautiful, and I appreciated that the story was able to surprise me on more than one occasion.

If $10.00 were the full price of admission, Walter Mitty is worth $9.00

 

Scott Clark
The Hollywood Outsider