THE SECRET LIFE OF WALTER MITTY
BY CHRISTOPHER HASKELL
JANUARY 3, 2014
“The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty” is a balance of memorable moments and sincere performances from most of the main cast, especially Ben Stiller and Sean Penn. Stepping into the director’s shoes, Stiller takes on double duty and does not disappoint, playing title character Walter Mitty, an easygoing daydreamer living a reserved lifestyle. Facing the last days of his long career as a negatives handler at Life Magazine, Adam Scott plays the bad guy, as he comes to the magazine to lay people off and transition into Life Online, with completely different staff. Placed in charge of the negative for the final cover, Walter’s head is on the proverbial chopping block when the negative goes missing. Bent on impressing the apple of his eye played wonderfully by Kristen Wiig, Walter sets off on an adventure to find the photographer who took the missing photo, played by Sean Penn. What follows is an epic adventure filled with beautiful, unforgettable scenery and the perfect moral of stepping outside your comfort zone and experiencing life, a lesson that I will surely take to heart, making this film hold that much more weight for me. Stiller has a way of making all of this unbelievable material come to life and strike true, capturing the imaginations of the audience in a way that hasn’t quite been achieved this year. With an already great track record as a director, I look forward to seeing what he can do next.
RELEASE DATE
December 25, 2013
DIRECTOR
Ben Stiller
WRITTEN BY
Steve Conrad
BASED ON
“The Secret Life of Walter Mitty”
by James Thurber
STUDIO
20th Century Fox
PG
(for some crude comments, language and action violence)
COMEDY
DRAMA
FANTASY
ROMANCE
114 minutes
CINEMATOGRAPHER
Stuart Dryburgh
COMPOSER
Theodore Shapiro
Jose Gonzalez
Rogue Wave
EDITOR
Greg Hayden
CAST
Kristen Stewart
Vincent Cassel
Jessica Henwick
John Gallagher Jr.
Mamoudou Athie
T.J. Miller
Gunner Wright
PRODUCED BY
Samuel Goldwyn, Jr.
John Goldwyn
Stuart Cornfeld
Ben Stiller
BUDGET
$90 million
Gets a bit too ambitious at times, but Stiller handles it all so very well. As if directing is a profession of his that he may want to take up full-time. I’d have no objection to that, and I don’t think many others would either. Good review.