The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (2013) - Ben Stiller

Walter Mitty has worked at Life Magazine for over 16 years.  Walter's life isn't exactly exciting or glamorous, leaving him to constantly disappear into his own daydreams of romance, adventure, and heroism.  When the company announces its plans to downsize, Walter and many of his friends at the company find their job security severely threatened.  That leads Walter to embark on a real life adventure that sees him traveling the globe in search of photographer, Sean O' Conner, a man in which he has never met face-to-face.  Ben Stiller's The Secret Life of Walter Mitty is an uplifting, tale about seizing the day that oddly evokes very little emotional response from the audience.  This  is Stiller's most stylish and realized film from a visual perspective but it lacks much of a narrative drive that made me question what this film is trying to say.  Many of the themes are obvious but the way Mitty unfolds is a bit perplexing and definitely overly sentimental.  The film seems to want to be profound but its carpe-diem statement feels more like a teenager saying 'YOLO" than something which most of us can relate to.  The Secret Life of Walter Mitty is a disappointing adaptation of the classic James Thurber story, watch the original film instead.
5.5/10

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