Based on the short story by James Thurber, the movie
revolves around Walter Mitty, (Stiller) an ordinary man living an unexciting
life. He works at Life magazine, handling the negatives of the photos and most
of his coworkers don’t seem to know he exists. As a result he has a wild
imagination, causing him to space out and transport himself into fantasy
(telling off his jerk boss, or suddenly jumping off a subway platform into a
building, saving people before a bomb explodes).
This is easily the worst and most annoying aspect of the
entire movie. I get that Walter lacks confidence and dreams of a more
adventurous life but Stiller can get that point across by showing us one of
these fantasies, or maybe two but by about the eighth dream sequence in a span
of about fifteen or twenty minutes (I’m exaggerating, but only a little bit) it
gets stale and as a result the beginning of the movie is a slog to get through.
When we aren’t subjected to the fantasy scenes, we have to watch Walter timidly
stumble and stutter through his sentences, talking to others or walking around
looking sad.
Things do pick up a
bit; a photo reel from famous Life photographer Sean O’Connell (an intensely
funny Sean Penn) comes in, Walter discovers that one is missing (which is going
to be used as the cover photo for the very last published issue). In hopes of
adding some excitement to his life and also to impress his crush Cheryl
(Kristen Wiig) Walter decides to track down the missing photo. The journey
takes him to Greenland, Iceland and the Himalayas. The photography in these
scenes (by Stuart Dryburgh), showing the vast, mountainous landscapes is the
only really breathtaking thing about the film, though the fantasy sequences
also look very stunning.
The other thing I liked about the movie was the supporting
cast. Whether it’s Penn, Wiig, the always reliable Adam Scott as Walter’s jerk
boss, Patton Oswald as an eHarmony employee or Shirley MacLaine as Walter’s
mother, the entire supporting cast is spot on, providing humor and partly diverting
our attention from Walter’s blandness. Yes, I said it, Walter Mitty is a bland
character, played by Stiller in the same uptight, slightly timid and mopey
manner of practically every other character he’s played in the past. At this
point it’s old and not very funny anymore. He’s utterly shallow and goes
through the exact character arc you expect him to.
In fact for all its sense of adventure and wonderment, the
movie doesn’t feel very adventurous but stilted and bland; the rousing
adventure scenes don’t always gel with the mundane, deadpan back and forths .The
film is also mostly devoid of surprise and the few surprises there are (towards
the end) really aren’t all that surprising but instead sappy and frustrating.
On top of that, much like “Forest Gump,” the picture’s whimsy tends to get
infuriating at times, all before it builds to its predictable and underwhelming
conclusion.
As much as I like watching bleak films I’m not opposed to
seeing positive, uplifting ones. Stephen Frears’ “Philomena” with Steve Coogan and Judi Dench,
is a perfect example of a positive and uplifting movie that came out this year
but one that doesn’t resort to cheap sentimentality and develops interesting
characters. “Walter Mitty” isn’t terrible but considering Thurber wrote the
original story in 1939 it’s not surprising that it feels so outdated and
insipid.
C
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