Directed by: Ben Stiller
Starring: Ben Stiller, Kristen Wiig, Sean Penn, Shirley MacLaine, Adam Scott
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty plays like a live-action version of those posters you see hanging up in offices everywhere, extolling the virtues of Excellence, Teamwork, etc. etc. It is not in doubt that Walter Mitty (Stiller) could use a little adventure in his humdrum life, which causes him to daydream often about being a romantic, hero, or both. While Mitty travels to Greenland, Iceland, and Afghanistan in search for an elusive Life magazine photographer (Penn), the scenery looks great but the movie drifts into existential, Deep nonsense about The Meaning Of Life (or something like that). Mitty has more fun riding a skateboard across the Icelandic frontier than we do watching it.
As the film opens, Walter Mitty is a very ordinary Negative Assets Manager for Life Magazine, which has just been taken over and will be turned into an online magazine. His job consists of handling negatives sent in by photographers for articles. One group of negatives sent by famed photojournalist Sean O'Connell (Penn) is missing the 25th frame, which the new boss (Scott) wants to use for the final Life cover per O'Connell's request. Searching for the frame, Mitty takes it upon himself to follow O'Connell through Greenland, Iceland, and Afghanistan (with trips to New York and Los Angeles in between) hoping to find out where the 25th frame is. Those who have heard the saying, "The journey's end is at the beginning." will learn quickly where the frame is, which takes Mitty much longer to figure out than us.
After tailing Sean through Europe and parts of Asia, I don't think it would've been impolite of him to ask why he was chosen to go through all of this crap. Does O'Connell sense Mitty's need for adventure? Is he Mitty's stalker? The answer is never given, so I suppose we just have to Figure It Out For Ourselves. Ugh, I hate when we have to do all the work.
The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty isn't very exciting. There is a love interest played by Kristen Wiig who is pretty enough and seems nice enough, but there isn't a lot there between she and Walter. Stiller's adventures allow us to be sorta happy for him, but we're not moved by them. Then, there is Mitty's new boss, played by Adam Scott complete with a creepy beard. He is such an over-the-top dick that we wonder how anyone would work with him. He seems to have zero redeeming qualities. Mitty gives him a tongue lashing later in the film, which passes for a comeuppance, but not a satisfying one.
Shirley MacLaine is on hand as Mitty's mother, who divulges important information about Sean to Walter at a very odd time. I'm reminded of Adam Sandler in The Wedding Singer when he told his ex-fiancee who jilted him, "These are things that should've been brought to my attention YESTERDAY." Then, there is the whole business of Todd (Patton Oswalt), an eHarmony representative who calls Walter frequently urging him to add to his profile in order to attract more traffic. Todd is apparently someone who acts as a catalyst for Walter to find his True Self.
I have no issue with a movie about someone who learns to embrace life, but The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty is underwhelming. It has a pall hanging over it, strange for a movie where the hero learns to enjoy things more. Actually, a better word for it would be a malaise. It plays like it's coming down with something.
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