The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (2013)

• Year: 2013
• Released: 25 Dec 2013
• Country: United States, United Kingdom
• Adwords: 5 wins & 18 nominations
• IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0359950/
• Rotten Tomatoes: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/The_Secret_Life_of_Walter_Mitty
• Metacritics: https://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-secret-life-of-walter-mitty
• Available in: 720p, 1080p,
• Language: English, Spanish, Icelandic
• MPA Rating: PG
• Genre: Adventure, Comedy, Drama
• Runtime: 114 min
• Writer: Steve Conrad, James Thurber
• Director: Ben Stiller
• Cast: Ben Stiller, Kristen Wiig, Jon Daly
• Keywords: photographer, shark, photograph, himalaya, magazine,

	7.3/10
	54/100
	52% – Critics
	71% – Audience

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty Storyline

The manager of the negative-assets sector of Life magazine, Walter Mitty, has been working for 16 years for the magazine and has a tedious life, not going anywhere but to and from work. He is an escapist, daydreaming into a fantasy world many times a day. Walter has a crush on recently-hired Cheryl Melhoff but he is too shy to invite her out and he is trying to contact her via online dating. The magazine is preparing to release its last printed edition and the loathsome manager of transition Ted Hendricks is preparing an inevitable downsizing over the next few days. Walter has been the liaison between the magazine and the mysterious independent photographer Sean O’Connell, who has sent to him a package of negatives and a wallet as a gift for his work. Sean also suggests to the senior management the use of negative 25 for the cover of the last edition. However, Walter cannot find the missing negative. Walter has no means to contact Sean and finds a clue that he might be in Greenland. He decides to travel to Greenland to track Sean down in the beginning of an unbelievable adventure.

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The Secret Life of Walter Mitty Movie Reviews

So many great moments

Actually just one of them would make me want to give this a 10/10 and it is very close in my eyes. The scene I’m talking about involves a helicopter and a song that really got under my skin. If you don’t feel a thing during that scene … well I don’t know what to say. The whole thing is build upon feelings and dreams. Obviously breaking out of them and making some of it reality (not the ones that can not be achieved obviously, like flying or other stuff) is the ultimate goal.

Ben Stiller might be known for one thing, but we can see with this movie he has a wider range. And the visual/virtual effects he uses help support his vision. A vision of a novel that I haven’t read, but sounds more than intriguing even after you’ve watched the movie. Which cannot be said about most of novels/movies that have been made this way. This is not your typical movie, even though it might hit some familiar notes and go ways that are to be expected. Take the journey and fly with it …

In a busy world, Walter Mitty is our spirit animal (****)

It might be difficult for choosy audiences with cynical dispositions, but if we can look past the pesky product placement in “The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty”, we’re left with one very, very good film. Ben Stiller, who usually seems to have little clue how to use his specific talents, gives his best performance to date in front of and behind the camera. This is a film that may not resemble the source material verbatim, but the spirit is clearly alive, with a few touches to modernize the idea. As a whole, it’s a sweet, confident, and poignant film that has a lot to say, but I think it speaks only to those willing to listen.

Walter Mitty (Stiller) is a negative asset manager for Life magazine- basically, his is the department responsible for bringing in and processing the film from the field that will go into the magazine (and by his ‘department’, I mean Walter and his assistant (Martinez) ). In essence, in the time Walter has worked at the publication, the very soul of the magazine has been processed on his watch. It’s prescient, that his seemingly simple position holds so much sway, but we’ll return to that idea.

His problem, it seems, is that he daydreams. Mind you, this isn’t the type of absent-mindedness that you or I take part in. Walter misses large chunks of actual time in his fantasy land, jolted back to reality by silence, love interests, or transition managers. In his escapes, Walter is well-traveled and mysterious, interesting and not invisible to others. He’s confident and allowed to pursue that which he wants. In other words, he’s the full version of himself. I like how this film pulls back the comedic reigns here- Stiller too often becomes, well, Stiller, and overdoses on the comedy. Here, the humor is subtle and fits the tone of the film. It also doesn’t pander, or make us feel sorry for Walter. There’s a very good reason his life is the way it is, and again, it’s presented without pretense.

I mentioned a transition manager, profiled in full douchebag by Adam Scott. Well, the print version of Life is going under in this film, and switching to an online format. Positions like Walter’s are likely to be eliminated, as well as accounting spots like the one Cheryl (Wiig) holds down. However, before the end, they want to send up one last issue, and long-time contributor Sean O’Connell (Penn), who has sent a roll of film containing an image he specifically wants to become the last cover. The problem is that Walter has either misplaced it, or it was lost along the way. This causes him to seek it out, thus finally spurring him to make his fantasies become, well, realities.

I think a good portion of society can identify with an individual that finally lets loose a bit, that allows himself, finally, the adventure he deserves. A lesser film would make these emotional breakthroughs farcical, ala “Last Holiday”, but this is subtle and decent. That’s why the big reveal of what that last cover image is a fantastic moment. I believed in this Walter Mitty as a hard- working guy who missed out on life thus far due to some bad luck. It was wonderfully refreshing to see a character, despite his quirks, find happiness in the midst of just being, well, a good guy.

I caution those looking simply for a pandering, feel-good story around the holidays. That’s not what this is. Instead, Stiller and crew have taken the spirit of the source material and adapted it to our world. Granted, there are a few goofs- for example, Walter seems keen on good rock music and skateboard culture, but he isn’t aware of a popular David Bowie song? Also, how does one get a clementine cake, sweet as it may be, through customs? Those things don’t doom the film, but I do feel it’s another reason this will divide people- those that claim this has nothing to offer but cynical product placement messages, and those like myself that sense a broader theme of becoming who we want to be, and understanding where we lose our way. That’s a powerful thought, and this quietly beautiful film has the sense to not beat us over the head with it. After all, the film does tell us that “beautiful things don’t ask for attention”. That’s certainly a statement that a number of filmmakers could stand to hear more often.

Those that dream and those that do

For those who remember the Sam Goldwyn film on The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty you will find this new version nothing like it. Ben Stiller got some laughs in for sure, but his general treatment of the classic James Thurber story is far different than the one that starred Danny Kaye back in the day. Goldwyn and Kaye opted for straight comedy.

Stiller’s MItty gets a lot of time to daydream, he’s got a job keeping all the photographs that Life Magazine has had since it’s inception. But new management in the form of Adam Scott is shaking things up as Life will now be strictly an on line publication. Still there’s one issue to be gotten out and Stiller has mislaid the negative he was sent from photographer Sean Penn.

Penn lives the life going out to exciting and dangerous places to bring back the news photographs for Life that Stiller only dreams about daily. So in that month’s time Stiller embarks on a global search for Penn based on some very fragmentary evidence of where Penn is. Penn likes the solitary life in a sense he and Stiller make a complete human being, Penn with the action and Stiller with the purpose that never gets put into action until now.

Some performances of note are Shirley MacLaine as Stiller’s mother, Kristen Wiig as the object of Stiller’s affections that he hasn’t the nerve to speak to until recently, and Adam Scott who is definitely representative of the Age of Trump as Stiller’s new boss come in for the liquidation of a great institution.

Some nice location photography is also part of The Secret Life Of Walter MItty which in the end isn’t so secret any more.