Walter is just a normal guy. But that's just it, he's JUST a normal guy. Whilst other people have interesting anecdotes to tell at work or quippy one-liners on their eHarmony accounts, Walter relies on his ever-so-frequent daydreams to make his life that bit more exciting. But when some confusion at his job as a negative asset manager (fancy speak for picture guy!) at Life magazine has him travelling the world in search of a lost photograph, it's not just the misplaced picture he finds along the way.
Directed by Ben Stiller and based upon a short story by James Thurber, this film is all about breaking out of your daily grind and doing something different. Stop wishing, and start doing! With a sometimes albeit off-kilter balance of humour and sentimentality, Stiller portrays Mitty well. Occasionally when the film really required him to go full-on "heart-wrencher", he does seem to fall back on his comic background, disregarding the evident emotion behind the piece.
It's not necessarily a terrible fault as the light-hearted, funny moments do work, but it does confuse the audience as to what kind of film Walter Mitty really is. The out-of-this-world daydreams Walter has consistently would have provided enough comicality without any written jokes.
It's a relatively simple film, which actually works considering it's focussed on someone struggling with his life being simple. If it were ostentatious and dramatic, I think it would have lost it's personability completely, as it's true that a lot of people will be able to relate to Walter and how he feels about just going through the motions of his life; never doing anything different.
Visually, the film is beautiful. Filmed in Canada, Iceland and New York, some of the backdrops are truly breath-taking and really do give you the urge to travel and see the world a little more! The whole film's premise is to "live life" and have adventures so it's more than appropriate that the film itself really does inspire you to do such things. It's quite an introverted film, never flailing from telling JUST Walter's thoughts and actions, which in turn, makes you look towards yourself in terms of the film's message.
The support cast definitely remains merely support in the film, which is effective understanding the film's complete focus IS supposed to be Walter. There's no confusion about what character this film is about and you can't help but concentrate completely on Walter throughout the whole piece. Sean Penn only has a few moments in the film, but plays the nomadic, adventurous Sean O'Connell very well. Kristen Wiig is charming as love interesting, Cheryl and Shirley MacLaine moulds nicely into the role of Walter's caring mother.
A more-than-fitting word to sum up the entirety of Walter Mitty is, sweet. It's an easy film, with a very simple message but it's sincerity works very well. It's the kind of film that, despite not much happening, you wouldn't tire of watching it, and you'd end with a smile on your face. Every single time.
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