Walter Mitty is so very nice. It looks really nice, and the story is oh-so-pleasant. But it's all so hollow. Walter (Ben Stiller), a shy daydreamer, pines for Cheryl (Kristen Wiig), a new co-worker at Life magazine's offices. Walter works with the negatives that become Life's fantastic covers. The company is producing their last printed issue and their famous photographer Sean O'Connell (Sean Penn, an ingenious bit of casting) has left the final issue's photo in Walter's care, which Walter promptly loses. In his efforts to recover the photo, Walter ends up taking adventures as gorgeous and memorable as anything he has cooked up in his head.
To underline this point, the film makes it unclear early in Walter's initial journey to find himself, or whatever else nonsense, whether it's another one of Walter's exuberant fantasies. Walter zones out constantly, in order to cope with failing to live up to his full potential, or something exceedingly dull like that. In these moments, Walter finds himself transported to the great, worldly plans he always intended for before life reared its ugly head.
Between his daydreams and his real madcap adventures, the film crafts a number of gorgeous scenes. Through anamorphic widescreen compositions, the film creates cool, crisp, painterly images. Walter Mitty looks extraordinary, but under its lovely to look out surfaces is a far too ordinary story. Walter is a deliberately boring character. The thing happening around him are wonderful to behold but we could care less that they're happening to him.
Grade: ★★
I'll agree that it's not nearly the movie that people wanted it to be from the trailer, but I think your score is a bit too low. The character development was a bit awkward and uneven, though not as hollow as you state. I think the message of the movie wasn't as much about finding himself as it was learning to be selfish. It's stated a few times that he had an idea about who he wanted to be when he was younger, but taking care of his family after his dad died took precedence. The movie was about him finally getting around to doing the things he always wanted to do. Maybe it's just because I like to travel, but I thought it was a decent (though not the best) movie.
ReplyDeleteThat was me, btw.
DeleteThe trailer angle I provide isn't about it not meeting up to what its trailer suggested (which is honestly a dumb criticism), but to point out why I feel the film feels very shallow. This feels like a very superficial film. All the stuff related to his past, his father dying, etc., all feels very underwhelming, almost as if it's shoe-horned in to try to get an emotional reaction out of us. And that's not something I can stand by.
DeleteI like the idea of someone learning to be selfish -- and I didn't see it that way until you mentioned it -- but I really like that idea for such a story arc. However, there doesn't feel like there's enough there to justify the change we witness, or to suggest it's about embracing selfishness. It's a very muddled character arc. When he goes off to Greenland, it doesn't feel earned, nor does anything that follows. It seems to want to get us to his awakening before he's come to the point where he wants to change himself.
The film isn't without its merits. It's gorgeous, for one thing. But it feels very much like gorgeous imagery for the sake of gorgeous imagery, with a thin plot to string it all together.