The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
Directed by: Ben Stiller
Edited by: Greg Hayden
Screenplay by: Steve Conrad (based on the short story by James Thurber)



In The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, Ben Stiller plays Walter Mitty, a daydreaming negative assets manager for Life Magazine. Content but bored with his life he daydreams about the person he wishes he could be. When young, mean, bearded boy/men come to turn Life into an online-only magazine they tell the employees that some will be let go. With his job on the line, Mitty loses what is to be the very last photo cover. Hoping to retrieve it before the magazine goes to print, Mitty seeks out the photographer for the missing negative.

The movie has gotten mixed reviews from audiences and critics but I loved it. Stiller's awkward but sincere nature had me rooting for him from the beginning. The over-the-top scenarios he plays out in his head -when he should be living in the now- strikes a cord with me and anyone who has ever wished they could punch their rude boss in the face or walk up to their crush and kiss them without a hesitation.

He is the everyman wishing to be something more - to be brave, to be adventurous, to be a different version of himself.

Kirsten Wiig plays a good love interest. She's nice and cute and believable but a bit bland.

The beardy boy/men are great at being easy to hate. They seem to represent a generation of youngsters (myself sometimes included) who do not quite understand the gratification a hands-on job, like Mitty's yielded.

The movie has beautiful scenery and refreshing editing.

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty is not shrouded in mystery. There really is nothing more underneath the surface. The story is about a man who is finally able to live the life he always wanted. And though the premise isn't complicated, it doesn't make the story any less intriguing, inspiring, or beautiful.

“To see things thousands of miles away, things hidden behind walls and within rooms, things dangerous to come to, to draw closer, to see and be amazed and to feel that is the purpose of life.”

4 out of 5 stars.