I watched The Secret Life of Walter Mitty last night and did not believe the negative reviews in the first place. DONT LISTEN TO REVIEWERS (including me, sometimes ) Anyway, it was an excellent movie. Kudos to Ben Stiller for breaking out of his standard schtick and going for real emotion here. [SPOILER ALERT: If you dont want to know, dont read] The story is that of a Life Magazine employee, who works in the photo finishing department, Walter Mitty. Walter is as boring as you get, and his goal in life is to send a wink on E-Harmony (product placement again) to his co-worker, Cheryl. But he cant---there is a glitch even in that, and he befriends over the net an E-Harmony employee Todd (Patton Oswalt) who borders on being a stalker at times. Later, however, thank God for Todd. Mitty often drifts off into daydreams (zoning out) that we all entertain from time to time. However, when LIfe is taken over by a new conglomerate---and is going to be shut down---Walter has a serious problem. He is in charge of finishing the final cover photo of Lifes iconic and reclusive photographer, Sean OConnell (Sean Penn) who can never be located. One photo on OConnells roll is missing---the very photo that OConnell says he wants considered for Lifes final cover. He doesnt say what is on it, but has wrapped it in some papers that leave clues as to his whereabouts. Walter decides, for the first time in his life, to do something daring. He embarks on a quest to find OConnell and the missing picture. (In the meantime, he has been given a wallet as a gift from OConnell and it contains a surprise (look inside). Mitty has read the beautiful inscription to him, but when he is informed that he is fired after the last issue, Mitty in disgust throws out the wallet at his mothers apartment---where he learns that OConnell just was a couple of weeks earlier. Following the clues, Walter flies to Greenland, where he barely misses OConnell, who is in a plane photographing an erupting volcano; then Walter takes a helicopter to an Icelandic ship without a landing pad, and has to leap into shark-infested waters, missing OConnell again. He briefly returns to New York, only to have his mother put together the final clues---OConnell is in Afghanistan, near the Himalayas, photographing snow leopards. Once again, Mitty manages to go to Afghanistan, hire Sherpa guides, and somehow finds OConnell on the side of a mountain. I wont give out the final details, except to say that Mitty, the seemingly invisible man, has learned he has lived a life in a few weeks that is the envy of anyone. Stiller is perhaps the typical Stiller character, but less neurotic. But as a director he has found a calling. The photography is Life-of-Pi like stunning and worth buying the movie just for the visuals. The music is appropriate, especially Major Tom. Id give this a four out of five stars.
Posted on: Mon, 21 Apr 2014 14:16:14 +0000
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