Review of The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (2013) by Ola G — 05 Apr 2015

Walter Mitty (Ben Stiller) is a negative assets manager at Life magazine who daydreams of adventures and has a crush on a coworker named Cheryl Melhoff (Kristen Wiig). Mitty works with photojournalist Sean O'Connell (Sean Penn), whose images are highly regarded. O'Connell has sent Mitty his latest negatives and a wallet as a gift in appreciation of Mitty's work. O'Connell believes negative #25 captures the "quintessence" of Life and that it should be used for the cover of the magazine's final print issue as it converts to online status. The negative is missing, however, and Walter is forced to stall for time with corporate transition manager Ted Hendricks (Adam Scott), who is handling the downsizing. While viewing the other negatives outside Life's offices, Cheryl approaches Mitty and suggests that he think of the negatives as clues to Sean's location. They look at three of them, including one of a person's thumb with a unique ring on it, and another of a curved piece of wood. A third picture of a boat leads Mitty to determine that O'Connell is in Greenland. Mitty promptly flies there to find him, but the trip proves to not only change Walter´s life but also allows him to experience things he only experienced in his daydreams...

Ben Stiller has never been a real favourite, but he has managed to entertain me once in a while. This is one of those moments. A magic one actually. The melancholy and humour in "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" blends into an existential story that I really liked. Peter Travers of Rolling Stone gave the film a positive review, saying "In his uniquely funny and unexpectedly tender movie, Stiller takes us on a personal journey of lingering resonance." Joe Neumaier of New York Daily awarded the film five out of five stars, saying "The story Stiller tells manages to float in a most peculiar, satisfying way." Political radio show host and film critic Michael Medved was also positive concerning the film, calling it "one of the feel-good movies of the year." Yes, it carries some resemblances with "Forrest Gump", but this is so much more "real" and not "fairytale like". You can actually believe Walter´s journey to find himself and the inner glow he carries. And you can grasp it and relate to it. I love the way Walter´s daydreams come to life, and who cannot relate to that as well. I love the crazy journey Walter goes on, from jumping out of a helicopter in the middle of nowhere to skateboarding down the winding roads of Iceland. I love Kristen Wiig (funny, beautiful, adorable and loveable) and her scene when she sings David Bowie's "Space Oddity" is phenomenal. I love Sean Penn as the rugged photojournalist Sean O'Connell. He is perfect in that role. The cinematography is beautiful and we get to see some magic scenery from Island and other environments. I love as well that Ben Stiller contacted José González, one of Sweden´s finest artists to contribute with his fine music that really fits the film. "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" celebrates life and how magic it can be when we are present in it. We need to look up once in a while and feel life. And sometimes you need to take a leap of faith and see what happens. Facts: "Life" was an American photojournalism magazine. It was published weekly from 1936 to 1972, as an intermittent special from 1972 to 1978, and monthly from 1978 to 2000. From 2004 to 2007 it was a weekly newspaper supplement published by Time Inc. In its heyday, it occupied five floors of the Time & Life Building in Midtown Manhattan. George Story appeared as a baby in the first picture in the first issue of Life, published November 23, 1936. He died April 4, 2000, days after Life announced it would no longer be published as a monthly.