Review of The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (2013) by Foxgrove — 25 Dec 2013

An ambitious over-hyped and ultimately leaden re-vamping of an earlier film made in 1947. It seems to exist in no man's land wanting to be all thing's to all people and ending up offering very little of anything to anyone.

It's not CGI heavy or action packed enough to be considered a block buster and it's too redundantly lame to be good romantic/comedy/drama. In fact what we have is an anaemic romance that provides a linking device to a series of visual fantasies.

These fantasy moments which crop up about every 15-20 minutes are, in themselves, not too bad, but they can't prevent the film from seeming half hearted and empty. Ben stiller is ok as the lead character zoning in to more exciting worlds, but I much preferred Adam Scott as one of the heads of Life magazine where Stiller works.

His presence, as a kind of villain, bucks one up whenever he appears. The same cannot be said for Sean Penn in a small cameo. This is certainly a strange choice of movie for him. I just hpe he isn't heading down the same road taken by Robert De Niro, destination nowhere, artistically.

Locations in Greenland and Iceland are stunning. Production values are fine, but this is under whelming forgettable fluff.