Film review: The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

by Laura Bennett / January 8, 2014

Rating: PG
Release Date: December 26th, 2013

If like me you’ve been enjoying some time ‘off the grid’ over Christmas and New Years’ and have failed to make it to the cinema to see The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, now’s a great time to remember the good ol’ saying that “it’s better late than never.”

Ben Stiller Directs and stars in this romantic adventure about the middle-age daydreamer Walter Mitty, who’s relatively bland life as a Negative Asset Manager for LIFE Magazine is made interesting only by his incessant mental wanderings. When he hears news that his job may be on the line along with hundreds of other staffers,  he finds himself propelled into a worldwide adventure that takes him far beyond anything he could’ve imagined.

As you watch Walter Mitty, and see this man edge ever closer into a sincere and rich experience of life, the film becomes a refreshing reminder to not just dream your life,  but to live it.

Up until now Walter has only engaged with the world vicariously through his mental projections of reality. There he sees himself standing up to his arrogant incompetent boss in Superhero style, calling the girl he’s been crushing on, and daring to actually push his comfort zones. There’s textures of colour and taste and emotion that only highlight the limits of his pale, stale, reserved everyday. 

Once he signs up to the unexpected global adventure though (he’s almost forced into it really), he lets himself say ‘yes’ to stepping away from fear, finding a confidence within himself, and from the strength of others, to investigate the rabbit trails of his inquisitive nature, and pursue that “path less travelled”.

During The Secret Life of Walter Mitty you can’t help but feel at least an inkling of inspiration as you watch this man become liberated.

All of us have moments I think, perhaps many in our lives, where there’s this ‘release of freedom’ that seems yet to come.  We have dreams , we have ideas, and we have passions that remain unquenched. What Walter helps us realise though, as his identity is re-affirmed and he leans into a new-found belief of the possibilities, is that the freedom we seek is often waiting patiently on the other side of a brave choice.

A lot of films stumble around versions of this concept, but I think where Walter Mitty comes into its own, is that it doesn’t do it in the arrogant self-centred way so many movies can. It brings a beautifully shot, rugged depth to an idea that lingers long after you leave the theatre.

Ben Stiller, Kristin Wiig, and Sean Penn all deserve thumbs up for their endearingly subtle work on this one, and as i remember one writer’s interview with Wiig about her ‘un-hidden wrinkles’, I think it’s exactly in this kind of movie  and in its view of life, that the details of our facial story do indeed need to be shown.