The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (2013)

Starring: Ben Stiller, Kristen Wiig, Adam Scott, Sean Penn, Kathryn Hahn, Shirley MacLaine, Patton Oswalt, Adrian Martinez, and Jon Daly with cameos from Conan O’Brien and Andy Richter
Grade: C+

Director and star Ben Stiller takes us on a fruitful, feel-good journey and though it doesn’t break any new ground, it’s still a satisfying tale about enjoying life just a little bit more. You may have mixed feelings about the movie as a whole, as do I, but I’d be surprised if you didn’t have a smile on your face by the movie’s end.

Summary

Walter Mitty (Stiller) is a lonely man with a lot on his plate. After balancing his check book, where we see how much he’s already paid to help his mother (MacLaine) move into a retirement home, he checks his eHarmony account to find the courage to ask out fellow co-worker Cheryl Melhoff (Wiig). He tries to send a “wink” to let her know he’s interested, but it doesn’t work for whatever reason. On his way to work, he calls an eHarmony customer representative named Todd (Oswalt) to see why it didn’t work. They get a little sidetracked though because Todd questions why Walter hasn’t filled out any of the “been there, done that” section. As Walter explains he hasn’t been anywhere or done anything noteworthy, he then daydreams himself jumping into a building to save Cheryl’s three-legged dog, building a prosthetic leg to help it as well. As his daydream finishes, he realizes he’s late for work, and he runs as he hangs up on Todd who’s still trying to help him on his profile.

Walter works at Life magazine as a negative assets manager. He runs into a co-worker (Daly), who tells him that the company has just been acquired. Right after, Walter’s sister Odessa (Hahn) interrupts them to bring Walter’s favorite clementine cake for his birthday today, baked by his mother. Odessa is an aspiring actress who’s about to land the role of Rizzo in a production of Grease. Though she was supposed to help their mom with the moving of her beloved piano into the retirement home she’s about to move into, she left because of the audition. Now, she wants Walter to fill in for her. However, he refuses because he’s already late for work. He meets back up with his co-workers, and they wonder how things are going to play out with them being “acquired” and all. As they talk, they are interrupted by Ted Hendricks (Scott), the Managing Director of the “transition” from the physical magazine to a full online site. He introduces himself to them and he’s a total dick. He asks Walter what he does in the elevator, but Walter daydreams about making fun of him. After Ted interrupts his daydream to ask again, he tells him, and he doesn’t sound impressed at all. As they arrive on their floor, Walter gets some coffee. Once he sees Cheryl talking to a co-worker, he imagines he’s some mysterious Latin lover that woos her. As he’s stuck in his trance, Ted makes fun of him and even throws a paperclip at him to see if he would “wake up”. Ted and his “yes men” laugh it off, as Walter goes to his office to work with his understudy Hernando (Martinez). Walter takes a look at his desk and sees that the new roll of pictures from photojournalist Sean O’Connell (Penn) is there.

There’s also a gift from Sean to Walter, with a letter acknowledging all of Walter’s hard work over the years because though they haven’t met in person, he’s always appreciated Walter for being able to understand and put together his pictures the way he’s wanted, really capturing what his art means. Also in the letter, Sean says that his final picture (negative #25) is his best work yet because it captures “The Quintessence of Life”. In addition, he is gifted a wallet with an engraved message from Sean and the motto of Life magazine. Hernando brings over the negatives but #25 is missing. Immediately after, the co-worker from earlier tells them there’s a conference meeting, and they have to bring #25 to it. Realizing how much trouble they’re in, Walter tells Hernando to keep it under wraps as they head to the meeting.

At the meeting, the staff is told that this month’s issue will be their last as they move completely online. Over the next week, the higher-ups will decide which workers are considered non-vital because they will be fired. Ted talks about how since this will be the final issue, it’ll be huge, and Sean O’Connell sent in a telegram to tell the executives that he expects negative #25 to be the cover. So, Ted wants to see it. Walter says it’s being “processed” to buy him some time. Now, they got two and a half weeks before they go to press.

Walter goes to Cheryl to ask if they have an address for Sean, but they both agree it’s almost impossible to find the guy because he’s a freelancer that moves constantly. Though she’s not sure, she does say that she’ll talk to some people to help him out. Walter and Hernando take a look at some of the photos, and Walter is able to determine that a cluster of photos had to be taken around the same time. Though they don’t reveal much off the bat, they could use them as clues to find Sean. By a big fountain outside, Walter studies the photos and Cheryl approaches him, telling him her co-worker said they’re going to try and locate Sean. After Walter reveals that he doesn’t have #25 and that’s why he’s trying to find Sean, she tries to help him by looking at the photos. Nothing of note really happens though, after Walter daydreams building a statue for Cheryl and her being super impressed. In real time, she leaves, promising to get back to him if anything about Sean comes up. Next, Walter gets a call from Odessa to come to the retirement home. Apparently, the piano can’t fit in the room their mother is moving into. As a result, they agree to switch her room to a villa to fit the piano in. After Odessa gifts Walter an old “Stretch Armstrong” toy, the two head over to their mother to help her pack up her things because she won’t be able to move into the villa for another three weeks. They go through some boxes and Odessa finds an old travel backpack/travel journal Walter’s father gave him before he passed away. Unfortunately, he never used it because he started working right after his father died.

He then gets a call from Hernando to come back to the office. There, Hernando shows him that one of the negatives show a boat with the word “Erkigsnek” on it. Hernando leaves to go check the mail room and as he does, Ted pops into the elevator and approaches Walter about the picture. As Walter deflects and they talk for a bit, Ted notices the “Stretch Armstrong” toy and gives him shit for it. This turns into another daydream of the two fighting over the toy like they were Peter Griffin and the Giant Chicken from Family Guy.

After they leave the elevator in reality, Walter gets a call from Todd, the eHarmony guy. He tells him that he needs to beef up his profile a bit but before they could go any further. He hangs up to talk to Cheryl about the new clue. She tries to look up “Erkigsnek” on her phone but as it buffers, she gets interrupted herself by her son who needs a ride because he was skateboarding at the park. So, she invites Walter to accompany her on the way to the skate park as they walk and talk about their lives. This is where we learn Cheryl hasn’t been with the company that long, but Walter has been there for 16 years. Also, Cheryl isn’t involved with her son’s father anymore, but he is still sort of in the picture. When they arrive at the skatepark, Walter bonds with Cheryl’s son because he used to be big into skateboarding when he was younger and does a bunch of tricks for him. At the same time, Cheryl, not noticing anything, calls her co-worker for any updates on Sean. It turns out, they can never find Sean’s exact place, so they send multiple checks to different locations. According to the last two checks they sent out, Sean can either be in New Jersey, or Greenland. Hoping to God he doesn’t have to go to Greenland to find him, he asks Cheryl if her phone is done buffering to find out where “Erkigsnek” is from. Sadly, it’s located in Nuuk, Greenland. She encourages him to follow the lead despite his obvious hesitance, and then she gets a phone call from her ex. Walter daydreams a love story between them that parodies The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and wakes up after Cheryl gives him some encouragement. He gets back to the office, but Ted stops him, demanding to see #25 the next time they run into each other.

Following a confirmation with Hernando one more time that the picture is nowhere to be found, and Hernando wondering if it’s still in Sean’s possession, Walter decides he needs to find Sean himself. The journey begins with a trip to Greenland but that’s just the beginning…

My Thoughts:

Stiller does a very good job as the very lonely Walter Mitty, playing the role of a directionless, middle-aged single man very well. Yes, he has a career, but there’s a very obvious hole in his life. He needs a companion. His awkwardness in social situations and his inability to talk to women is something that is very relatable. He’s not inept, but he’s very uncomfortable when there’s pressure on the line. His only escape in life is his daydreaming, something he has done since he was a child. He zones out completely, no matter where he is at, and imagines a scenario where he’s the winner, mostly in fantastical situations that would never, or could never happen.

He’s like an adult version of Doug Funnie.

We all daydream, but we don’t go into a trance where we sit there and stare until we wake up out of it. That might be a legitimate problem, and it makes Walter look like an outcast. When seeing this, you can’t help but feel bad for the man. Though he’s got the basics in life, he can’t seem to reach that level of happiness he should have at his age. Because of this, it’s very easy for the audience to get into Walter Mitty’s corner. You want to see him go out and experience life. Adam Scott playing an asshole boss that doesn’t understand the motto of the company he works at also favor’s Walter’s characterization, giving us more of a reason to root for him. Ben Stiller does a very good job in the titular role. It feels very personal. In fact, his performance, and this movie in general, remind me a lot of Jim Carrey in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, albeit in a less depressing way. It’s those feelings of isolation, personal unhappiness, and seclusion that both comedic actors portray surprisingly well in two different but similar ways, completely shedding the skin of the “comedic actor” label.

With that being said, I did feel like the movie was a little uneven in its tone. In the first half, we get a lot of instances of nutty comedic scenes that showed the potential of how funny this could’ve been. Those early daydreams were pretty humorous. However, the rest of the movie is actually pretty grounded and a little bit more dramatic than you would like it to be, making that hilarious parody of Benjamin Button looking even more out of place when you watch the rest of the film. You can’t dip your toes into over-the-top Ben Stiller comedy and then jump back into comedy-drama territory. You have to pick one or the other. Otherwise, it’s hard for me to get that inspired feeling the film is clearly going for. As much as I would’ve enjoyed a crazy Ben Stiller daydreaming movie, the second half of the film was actually good enough for me to want the entire film to be that encouraging adventure piece. Once it delved deep into this part of the story, I was actually much more interested, and the comedy (oddly enough) felt borderline unsuitable for the potential of the material. It either needed more of that comedy, or not much at all. In addition, a lot of solutions for the issues Walter faces were downright frustrating at times and seeing him walk into brick wall after brick wall because of simple mistakes that could’ve been avoided become very irritating by the end of it.

I know the daydreaming is supposed to happen at the worst times too, but you’re telling me he couldn’t do a better job at explaining it to those that don’t know him? He’s been doing it for years! You’d think he’d have some great responses by now, instead of him babbling back responses that make him look stupid.

The easygoing soundtrack helped a lot though. It was like the quintessential road trip score. I felt inspired. It’s like we’re on this road trip too, hanging with our good friend Walter.

Enough can’t be said about the actual meeting between Walter and Sean too. It’s the only scene that Sean Penn is in, but it’s very much worth the wait. Something about it is so serene. With the backdrop of the Himalayas, and the quiet landscape as Sean explains his motivations behind his art and the whereabouts of #25, you feel at ease. It’s strange how comfortable we feel in this meeting. Sean’s love for being in the moment just calms you, and despite the annoying reveal of the location of #25, you can’t blame the guy. You just get this feeling that everything is going to be alright. Everything was somehow worth it. I’m not a big fan of Penn, but this role and scene are pivotal to the film. It only works because of Penn’s performance in this vital moment in the story. It’s a defining moment in Walter’s life and makes sense of the whole movie, despite not much being said. It’s actually pretty incredible.

I’m also going to mention that I didn’t mind the product placement. As I said in my review of The Internship, sometimes the known brand name of the company is essential to telling the story, at least according to the screenwriter’s vision. With The Internship, the movie was about Google. Here, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty was heavy in its focus of Life magazine. However, I didn’t feel like it intruded that much on the story. There was a lot of heart to it and though it promoted the essence of the famous magazine company, I felt like they did so in a classy way. This can definitely be argued, but that’s just how I feel. On the flip side, the product placement of eHarmony probably wasn’t needed. You could’ve put any fake dating site in the script for this section of the story and the movie would’ve been the exact same.

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty is a perplexing movie, with a very different style. I definitely enjoyed a good part of it, but it didn’t mean nearly as much as they clearly felt it did. Furthermore, a decision needed to be made on what type of movie this was actually trying to be. As I stated before, it could’ve been a “stupid funny” comedy, or an inspiring adventure film. It can’t really pull off both and though it tried, I can’t say it did a great job. It’s just a hard thing to do. Visually, I was very impressed, as I was with Ben Stiller’s direction. He handled the look and style of this film very well. The landscapes captured were beautiful, and the emotion captured was very real. It was a nice surprise of a movie, but it could’ve been much more had they had a better plan of what it should be.

Fun Fact: At different points, Jim Carrey, Owen Wilson, Mike Myers, and even Sacha Baron Cohen were attached to star as Walter Mitty. Steven Spielberg was originally going to direct it when Carrey was going to star. Even earlier in discussions, Ron Howard was also in talks to direct.