140 Character Movie Review – #140RVW
Definition of a vanity picture, Stiller’s fingerprints all over this, everything framed to make him look good. Didn’t say it’s bad though…
Spoiler-free Movie Review of The Secret Life of Walter Mitty:
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty is what you would have to call Hollywood catnip. Actors, producers, writers, studio heads – they all go wild for it. There are certain properties that Hollywood types just can’t seem to get enough of. This story provides a number of reasons to justify the infatuation:
- It’s already a success. Nothing makes a producer salivate so much as a proven track record. This more than any other reason is why they produce so many adaptations and remakes; you’re starting off ahead, since the property has made money at least once already.
- It’s a short story, which means you can proceed in the certain knowledge of a built-in audience of people intrigued by the the familiar story, but then do more or less whatever you want, since there’s so much space to fill in. This has an unintended but very welcome side benefit: you can then remake it again and again, since new writers and directors will want to put their own spin on it and “take it in a new direction”.
- It’s lead actor-bait. A role that allows an actor to so completely dominate a project appeals to all pretentious ball-hogging narcissists who know deep in their hearts that they really won’t be considered an ACTOR until they are on stage and this is a vehicle that might demonstrate their stage-worthiness. In other words, everybody…
I left one out; probably the only one that really matters: it’s a great story…
James Thurber’s original short story, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty was first published in the New Yorker magazine 1939 and has probably appeared in every single high school English textbook since. It’s been adapted into two feature films, two radio programs and a Broadway musical. (That I know of. There are probably even more adaptations out there.) It’s easy to understand why everyone, from librarians and teachers to writers, producers and Hollywood A-listers are enamored with the tale. It’s a lovely bit of writing from one of America’s great humorists.
More importantly, Thurber tapped into the uniquely human desire to daydream and fantasize about a life more dramatic. Everyone wants to be the hero of the story. Even if you’d rather be the villain of the story, at least we’re all looking for the lead.
Interesting then that actors, who actually get to play out larger than life fantasies for a living would still be so attracted to the part. I suppose we all strive for something more, even if your more may be more more than mine…
Maybe one of the reasons for the story’s lasting impact owes to Thurber’s economy. Everyone can empathize with Walter Mitty’s mental escapes from the mundanity of his life, but it is even easier to make that connection with so simple a tale. Despite the details of Mitty’s life (and secret life) which clearly date the story, Walter’s longing is so universal that it the specifics of the tale are like guidelines drawn in pencil on which you can build your own secret life.
The obvious conclusion to draw is that any longer telling of the story is DOA, destined to fail. A short story may observe a butterfly’s wanderings, but a detailed and complete narrative requires that we bring it to ground, pinning it down for close examination.
I’m not sure I’d go as far as calling attempts to adapt Walter Mitty foolish and/or doomed. But it’s definitely a tall order to flesh out the character without losing the allegory.
This particular version of the film languished in a development hell lengthy even by Hollywood standards. Amazingly, Samuel Goldwyn Jr. still had the film rights after his father made the 1947 Danny Kaye version. In the 19 years leading up to the release of Stiller’s picture, the project passed through four studios, five lead actors, six directors, seven writers, and more production companies and producers than can easily be counted. There were even two generations of Goldwyns producing by the end. (Three if you count Sam Sr.)
In previous reviews, I have previously copped to disliking Ben Stiller, but when I found that the other actors attached to various incarnations of the project included Jim Carrey, Owen Wilson, Mike Myers & Sacha Baron Cohen, Stiller suddenly looked like the most subtle choice. Now there’s a scary thought…
Walter Mitty is unquestionably Stiller’s picture. He directs, produces and plays the titular character. He has never been so understated or likable. He shows a maturity several decades overdue, but welcome nevertheless. My biggest quibble is how vain this project feels. He wants to make himself look good – hey, that’s fine. But it comes a bit at the expense of the narrative. Stiller handles the emerging adventurer Mitty quite well. He’s less convincing as the sad sack at the beginning of the picture, though, and his transformation begins so early and quickly that it isn’t as dramatic of a victory for Walter. He was a little too confident in the first place.
For what is essentially a one-man show, there are certainly a lot of names filling out the cast. Kristen Wiig shows a bit of versatility with a completely straight role and it works well. It’s understandable both that Walter would be fascinated by the character of Cheryl, and that he might plausibly entertain a hope of a chance.
Walter’s family members are played by fine actresses, Kathryn Hahn & Shirley MacLaine, but the characters are barely necessary. Adam Scott has a nice little jerk part, but Stiller’s Mitty isn’t as cowed as he probably should be. Sean Penn has a small role as the photographer whose work provides the MacGuffin. He’s Sean Penn…
Most unexpected is a running gag role from Patton Oswalt that I won’t spoil. It’s really good fun.
I mostly really enjoyed this telling of the story and setting the narrative at LIFE Magazine for their final print issue is a great touch. It’s a unique lens for a story like this, and they make great use of repeating several times the motto of LIFE Magazine: “To see the world, things dangerous to come to, to see behind walls, draw closer, to find each other, and to feel. That is the purpose of life.” It’s lovely. Of course, that isn’t the motto of LIFE Magazine. Also, LIFE stopped being printed as a weekly magazine in 1972 and as a monthly in 2002, but hey, who’s splitting hairs…
At times the picture is lovely to look at, thanks to the cinematography of Stuart Dryburgh. There are some very garish and over the top scenes, though, most notably a scene cued to Bowie’s “Space Oddity”. Usually lack of subtlety in a Ben Stiller movie is table stakes. But here it’s not that he’s grandstanding as an actor; he’s overdoing things as a director.
Also, the product placement in this film is shameless. Really obnoxious.
The 2013 version of The Secret Life of Walter Mitty far exceeded my expectations. It certainly contains an unhealthy amount of schmaltz, but it isn’t a schmaltzy movie. You can use words like heart-warming without feeling silly, and I certainly have a soft spot for the “embrace life” type of story.
It did leave me with an increasingly familiar question, though. Why did this need to be an adaptation in the first place? Tonally it has more in common with a fistful of other inspirational films than with the original story. And if Walter isn’t hen-pecked by an unhappy wife and looking for overshoes and puppy biscuits in Connecticut while dreaming of being a surgeon/spy/pilot, then is this story really Walter Mitty at all?
Poster:
Trailer:
https://youtu.be/HddkucqSzSM
Bechdel Test:
Pass
The Representation Test Score: C (6 pts)
(http://therepresentationproject.org/grading-hollywood-the-representation-test/)
| Main Cast | Ben Stiller Walter Mitty, Kristen Wiig Cheryl Melhoff, Jon Daly (as Jonathan C. Daly) Tim Naughton, Kathryn Hahn Odessa Mitty |
| Rating | PG |
| Release Date | Wed 25 Dec 2013 UTC |
| Director | Ben Stiller |
| Genres | Adventure, Comedy, Drama, Fantasy |
| Plot | When his job along with that of his co-worker are threatened, Walter takes action in the real world embarking on a global journey that turns into an adventure more extraordinary than anything he could have ever imagined. |
| Poster |  |
| Runtime | 114 |
| Tagline | Stop dreaming. Start living. |
| Writers | Steve Conrad (screenplay), Steve Conrad (screen story by) |
| Year | 2013 |
