That is what we all are: dreamers. When you dream, there aren’t any boundaries for your imagination. You can go anywhere you want and be anything you want to be. It’s in the movies where there are the ultimate dreamers, where the filmmakers bring their fantastical visions to realization, and it’s appropriate that a director brings a character to the big screen who is such a vivid dreamer.
Directed by Ben Stiller, “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty”has him in the role as the titular character who always seems to have his head in the clouds, being so invested in his daydreams to the point where it’s almost a lifestyle. With decent central performances and a premise that can relate to the dreamer in all of us, Stiller’s film may not be as great as it could have been, but still has a certain fanciful degree to it.
Walter Mitty is solitary man who works in the photography department at Life magazine as a negative assets manager and has a crush on his friendly coworker, Cheryl (Kristen Wiig). The magazine staff is told that Life is heading towards its final printed issue, in order to begin working as an online magazine. When Walter receives a package with the latest negatives from photojournalist Sean O’Connell (Sean Penn), a note is also included that tells him to use negative 25 for the magazine’s last cover, as it contains what he believes to be the embodiment of what the magazine stands for.
As it turns out, that negative is missing, but there are clues in some of the other negatives that Walter hopes will lead him to Sean so he can be given the location of the missing one. Walter soon embarks on a journey that will make his vivid and wild imagination into a reality.
Ben Stiller delivers a more dramatic performance than what we normally see, which is refreshing, and it’s wonderful to watch Kristen Wiig in a more grounded and serious role, instead of seeing her do her usual comedy shtick. Seeing two typically comedic actors take on roles that are against-type is great to watch, and the two easily connect every time they’re on screen together.
The screenplay by Steve Conrad is the second adaptation of James Thurber’s 1939 short story of the same name, with the first adaptation being released in 1947. Conrad puts many daydream sequences in the film that are terrific fun. In the first 30-45 minutes, however, I got the feeling that there were going to be too many of them, and that the film would rely too heavily on the flashy special effects for these scenes. As the movie progresses and Walter begins to bring his dreams to life, we travel with Walter, knowing that what he’s experiencing is real and not in his head, and we know that the film isn’t just throwing us one daydream after another.
Although the two leads are likable characters, they are somewhat underwritten. We get a little bit of a backstory for Walter’s character, but not enough. As for Cheryl, because of how kind of a person she is, I would have preferred to know more about her, other than that she’s a single mom. They deserve to have more to their characters, seeing as Walter goes on interesting adventures, and Cheryl gets involved with helping him find the missing negative, as well.
As a director, Stiller, thankfully, doesn’t overload on humor to tell his story. Yes, there are some comical bits, but he keeps them reined in to make the more dramatic scenes work. It’s a fun, diverting two hours of a man sharing his dreams with moviegoers.
Final grade: B
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