THE SECRET LIFE OF WALTER MITTY (2013 - COMEDY DRAMA) **1/2 out of ***** or 5 out of 10
(Focus, Walter. Focus!)
CAST: Ben Stiller, Kristen Wiig, Sean Penn, Shirley MacLaine, Adam Scott, Kathryn Hahn.
DIRECTOR: Ben Stiller
WARNING: Some SPOILERS and some damn good reason to get your damn head out of the clouds - straight ahead.
IT'S LIKE THIS: Ah, the Deceptively Awesome Trailer... has there ever been a bigger pain in the ass in the history of cinema? I think nyet. In case what you are wondering what that is, it's exactly as the name suggests: a trailer is so spectacularly awesome and stupendously enticing that it does an awesome job of hiding the fact that the movie it advertises is, well, merely okay, at best - and fucking awful, at worst. Our next review is a prime example of a film that suffers from Deceptively Awesome Trailer Syndrome.
The flick is THE SECRET OF WALTER MITTY, and when the first trailers started appearing in late summer/early fall, we were hooked. The reality, however, is very different, folks. But more on that later in the BUT SERIOUSLY portion of our review. For now, let's explore the life of the mega-space cadet known as Walter Mitty. Actually, to call this dude a space cadet may be an insult to space cadets all over the world, who may actually be sharp as a tack in comparison. because when Walter doesn't so much go off into his own little world, as he does into his own goddamned cosmos. His fantasy life is that fucking elaborate. If there was a Gold Medal for daydreaming, he'd nail it - hands down.
Which begs the question of how this chucklehead got the high-pressure job of Photographic Layout Department Head of Life Magazine in the first place. Basically, he and his crew are in charge of the photographs that make it into each issue and there is very little room for error. However, considering Walter usually has an elaborate fantasy every, oh, 10 seconds or so. It's a wonder his department makes their deadlines, at all. But, hey, whatever.
Anyhow, as out story begins, LIFE is getting ready to go all online, which means that the entire magazine will be restructured, and they are getting ready to publish their last hard copy issue. As such, they need a spectacular shot to make the cover before the publication goes 100% web-based. Enter Walter best pal Sean (Sean Penn), who is basically the man that Walter secretly wishes he could be: adventurous, talented, brave, and enterprising. Sean has been circling the globe taking pictures for LIFE's final issue, and sends back a slew of negatives to Walter's department in NYC. He includes a note saying that "Slide 25" is the one that should be used for the cover of the final issue.
The only problem is when Walter and his subordinates open the envelope with the negatives, it turns out that the only slide that is missing is, you got it, "Slide 25." To say that Walter is a bit chagrined is like saying the 49er fans were just a little pissed off about not advancing to the Super Bowl. Facing pressure from the ravenous exec in charge of the restructuring, Ted Hendricks (Adam Scott), Walter embarks on a real-life adventure (as opposed to one in his fucking head) to track down Sean and find out what happened to the mysterious "Slide 25." His journey takes him from Greenland to Iceland where he gets to: (1) jump into the freezing North Atlantic and get chased by sharks; (2) skateboard through rural Iceland; (3) barely escape an exploding volcano; (4) play soccer in the middle of a Central Asian desert; and (5) scale the Himalayas as if he's been doing it all his life.
All together now: yeah, right.
Will Walter find Sean and retrieve the missing slide before the magazine's deadline? Or will Sean continue to elude him? Will Ted Hendricks nix the whole idea and go with another picture - and another Photo Layout Department Head? Or will Walter redeem himself, save the day, and win the heart of Cheryl Melhoff (Kristen Wiig), the girl he's been jonesing after all these years? Will she cure him of his daydreaming?
Put it this way: if she does hook up with Walter, she better not get into any car he drives. Three words: Interstate pile-up. Or is that two words? Who cares.
BUT, SERIOUSLY: A very loose remake of the 1947 film starring David Kaye, Virginia Mayo, and Boris Karloff, THE SECRET LIFE OF WALTER MITTY has a great idea at its core that never quite comes to life. The trailer works wonderfully, because it is able to show us the themes of the film in 2.5 minutes. However, stretched out to feature-length, that idea flounders and becomes less effective - largely due to a flawed script and the miscasting of Ben Stiller as Walter Mitty. Stiller directed this film, as well, annd one wonders if maybe he took on too many hats.
As a director, Stiller is fine here. He has a good visual style and knows how to pace the film. It's in front of the camera where he stumbles. Stiller can be expressive when he wants to be, but here he turns Walter Mitty into too much of an unreadable cipher, so much so that it's hard to lock step with him. And for this kind of story, one that asks us to go on an emotional journey with its hero, that is almost fatal. If you don't connect with a character, why should you care what happens to him? Better for Stiller to have remained behind the camera and had someone else - someone more emotionally transparent - fill the lead role.
Another weak spot is the script, which piles on the whimsical fantasy sequences until they become repetitive and almost boring. When we watched this, I remember glancing at my phone several times during Walter's extensive reveries. After the third fantasy, it all starts to become rote. The trailer worked because these sequences didn't overstay their welcome in it. In the film, they all but stop the action, and each time it gets harder to get back on track.
That's too bad, because the idea of a someone who lives in his head forced to finally get out of it and into the real world has real potential. If the script had minimized the fantasy sequences, this flick might have scored higher. As it is, it's merely average - even with a bright supporting cast that includes Kristen Wiig, Sean Penn, Shirley MacLaine, Kathryn Hahn, and Adam Scott.
That trailer, however, gets **** out of ***** / 8 out of 10.
