"To see things thousands of miles away, things hidden behind walls and within rooms, things dangerous to come to, to draw closer, to see and be amazed."
- Life Magazine motto
An adaptation of a 1939 short story by James Thurber (which bears the same title), The Secret Life of Walter Mitty was a lovely albeit teary way to spend an afternoon in the cinema.
While the original story revolves around a much older man with daydreams of truly grand nature, they were actually relatively safe situations. The ones in Ben Stiller's film though are heart-pumping while romantic at the same time.
The movie revolves around Walter Mitty (Ben Stiller), a plain John, working as the Negative Assets Department of Life Magazine while looking after his sister and widowed mother. He is very interested in Cheryl Melhoff (Kristin Wiig), who works in a different department in the same company. A loyal and trustworthy employee who has been with the same company for 16 years, he is caught in the (mostly boring) daily grind and ends up zoning out of reality to jump into buildings, save other people's lives, engage in a highly animated physical combat with the mean boss and, of course, impress the apple of his eye. He is trying to get connected to Cheryl through an online dating site where a representative (Patton Oswalt) becomes his friend and adviser on both the use of the site and on his love life.
When Life Magazine was bought, his and his co-workers' jobs were put on the line, Walter was faced with a great challenge as Negative 25 from photojournalist Sean O'Connell (Sean Penn) could not be found anywhere. It was submitted by Sean to be cover for the last issue of Life Magazine as it is supposed to be the ideal epitome of Life and it's motto. Because Sean was always up and about, Walter starts going after him to get back Negative 25. In the process, he gets out into the world and experiences things that used to be simply a part of his imagination.
Without much planning, he boarded a plane to Greenland, boarded a drunk-driven plane at the last minute, jumped into the stormy sea with a shark in it, biked and skated through Iceland, came face to face with Eyjafjallajökull and experienced an eldgos, climbed the Himalayas and saw the elusive ghost cat after meeting his friend Sean O'Connell for the first time. The latter revealed to him that Negative 25 is actually in the wallet that he sent to Walter as a gift, which he disposed of after getting weary with the frustrations of his situation. Fortunately, it was set aside by his mother, so he got hold of Negative 25, which he handed to the new management of Life Online along with a couple of his two cents. When he dropped by Cheryl's home to give her son Rich a gift (a skateboard in Iceland that he traded for with his favorite childhood toy), the door was answered by Phil (Kai Lennox), Cheryl's ex-husband. Assuming that the two got back together, he left without seeing Cheryl.
Later, he was back at Time to pick up his settlement when he met up with Cheryl who was still available and was showing some interest in him as well. They catch up and came upon a news stand only to see that the cover on Life's final issue was that of Walter examining a photo with the cover story focused on the people behind Life Magazine. The final scene shows Walter taking the hand of Cheryl as they continue walking.
Personally, I enjoyed the whole story for a number of reasons. One is the whole theme about getting out one's comfort zone; breaking out of the shell and diving into the exciting world out there. The constant tendency of Walter to zone out is actually because of the desire from within him to experience more than what he was currently being served. Life should be like that. It is something to experience, to enjoy and live thoroughly.
Another thing that made me love the film is all the picturesque scenes. While I did not have anything against both Iceland and Greenland, there were not on my list of places to go until this movie. Now though, I cannot take the quaint and cold Iceland and the unending landscapes of Greenland out of my mind. They are definitely now two of the top places I would love to visit.
The third plot is the love story between Walter and Cheryl. I'm a sucker for romance, and I cannot get over the good guys. They should not finish last because they deserve the best for being such gentlemen and respectful of womankind. Needless to say, the ending of the film (and the beginning of the two protagonists' story of love) added to the charm factor of the film.
Probably the only thing I hate about it is the fact that I was crying (again). They were tears of joy though for Walter's adventure and ultimate success. They were also tears of my own heart's longing to further widen my exploration of the world before me. Something I hope to do very soon.
Though many reviews say this adaptation fell short of its attempt, I daresay it is a movie worth watching. It might be largely different from the literary creation that inspired its story line, but it expresses its own ideas in an entertaining way. When it comes to movies, it is all about being entertained. So, I'd say this film is on the right track.
