Many critics have compared “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” to “Forrest Gump.” I couldn’t agree more. The film was directed by Ben Stiller, and made its debut Christmas Day.
Walter Mitty, portrayed by Ben Stiller, is a negative assets manager at Life magazine with a propensity for daydreaming.
The magazine gets taken over by a new boss who makes an announcement that Life is downsizing and the next issue will be its last.
Walter is given several negatives and a wallet by photojournalist Sean O’Connell, portrayed by Sean Penn.
However there is one negative, negative 25, which O’Connell says captures the “quintessence” of Life Magazine.
Walter cannot seem to find negative 25 and is in a panic because the new boss gives him a deadline to give him the negative so it can be the cover of the final edition of Life.
With the help of his assistant, Walter decides to try and get in touch with O’Connell to find out where negative 25 is.
O’Connell does not have any devices that would help Walter get in touch with him, so Walter decides to put together the rest of the negatives to find out where O’Connell is.
He then decides to take a journey to find O’Connell.
Ben Stiller was one of many producers of “Walter Mitty” and he did an outstanding job. Stiller has produced many movies, however he has produced mainly comedies such as “Dodgeball” and “Blades of Glory.”
This was Ben Stiller at his best. Stiller has always played a character that I can’t take seriously because he’s always so funny. But I found myself connecting with Walter. The same goes for Kristen Wiig, who portrays Cheryl, Walter’s coworker and secret crush. She has always been a character in humor movies, but her character in this movie was moving and inspiring.
My favorite part of this movie was the big twist at the end.
The movie had some slow parts, however. When Walter was on his adventure to find O’Connell, there wasn’t much “sitting on the edge of your seat” type of adventure, which I thought it should have been.
I give “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” four stars. It is an inspiring movie with adventure and comedy.
I definitely recommend this movie to those who love heart-felt movies with meaning about life and its journey.
“The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” is playing at the Cinemark Towne Centre in Conway and is two hours long.
The film is rated PG by the Motion Picture Association of America for language, action violence and some crude comments.
