The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty: A Simple Epic

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty was a short story by James Thurber, published in the New Yorker in 1939. A simple tale about an ordinary man who likes to daydream about being in extraordinary situations, it takes all of ten minutes to read. And yet, director Ben Stiller has turned this short story into a two-hour spectacle, filled with comedy, wistfulness, and epic splendor.

Stiller plays the eponymous Walter Mitty, who in this movie is a negatives assets manager for Life magazine, which is about to publish its very last print copy. Walter has a special connection with one of Life's photographers, Sean O'Connell (Sean Penn), a man he has never met, but whose work he admires. Sean sends Walter some negatives and claims that #25 should be on the cover of Life's final issue. The new bosses (including an ominously-bearded bully, Ted Hendricks, played by Adam Scott), are eager to see #25, but there's just one problem. It's missing.

In the meantime, Walter is also trepidatiously wooing Cheryl (Kristen Wiig), a woman who recently joined the magazine and caught his fancy. He can't seem to speak to her though, so he resorts to creating an eHarmony profile to send her a "wink." However, his attempts at online romance are foiled because his profile is completely blank - he hasn't been anywhere or done anything noteworthy. The eHarmony customer representative (delightfully voiced by Patton Oswalt) is bemused by Walter's tame existence and it doesn't look like our hero will ever figure out how to get the girl. However, in a rapid turn of events, Walter decides to hunt down negative #25 and embarks on a journey that takes him from Greenland to Iceland to the Himalayas. Not bad for a man whose previous notable trip was a layover at the Colorado airport.

The soundtrack (composed by Theodore Shapiro with contributions from the fantastic Jose Gonzalez) and music is uplifting and beautiful. The cinematography is spectacular and the locations are breathtaking. As Walter climbs snowy mountains and dives into oceans, you can tell Stiller went all out to inspire a sense of awe. Back in New York, his chemistry with Wiig is charming, as are his interactions with Shirley Maclaine and Kathryn Hahn, who play his mother and sister. This movie is a gorgeous visual treat, whether you're gazing at an Icelandic panorama or suddenly salivating over a slice of Mrs. Mitty's clementine cake.

However, as grandiose as it is on a cinematic scale, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty is a very slight movie in terms of story. Which is to be expected, since the original tale was just about a man driving around New York with his wife and daydreaming. There are moments when the movie feels indulgent and the story is being stretched thin. It doesn't neatly fit into any genre, sometimes leaning towards epic fable, other times to romantic comedy. But all the threads come together at the end and I wasn't bored for an instant. This is a charming tale, ambitiously told, and like Walter Mitty, it may not be perfect, but it's certainly endearing.