The Secret Life of Walter Mitty: Ben Stiller Shines Twofold

Walter Mitty’s world is a simple one. He lives alone in New York City. He works at Life Magazine as a developer of photographs, toting his sturdy briefcase almost everywhere he goes. He dutifully looks after his mother and sister. And on the day we meet him, he simply wants to leave a wink on the eHarmony profile for Cheryl Melhoff, a co-worker who caught his eye. When that wink goes un-left due to technical difficulties, a phone call with the eHarmony customer service uncovers Walter Mitty’s problem, perhaps the most universal of all problems: He hasn’t lived a life that matches the interior world of his dreams, hasn’t “done anything noteworthy or mentionable.” His deceased father’s travel journal, a gift to Walter as a teenager, remains empty. Then, with the conclusion of Life’s span as a print magazine thrust upon him, he receives a note from Sean O’Connell, the globetrotting photographer who is everything Walter isn’t, declaring that his photo, slide number twenty-five, is the “quintessence of life.” The only problem? The photo slide is missing. And Walter must go on a journey to find it.

Such is the set-up of The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, a joyous film that features one of the best performances of Ben Stiller’s acting career and is, in my opinion, the best film of his directorial career. Stiller takes the short story by James Thurber and shapes it into a life-affirming tale that reminds us of the necessity of leaping into the unknown. The film serves as a powerful example of the magic possible when a character’s adventure mirrors the filmmaker’s desires behind telling his story. If you think it is merely the feel-good movie of the holiday season, it is that and much more.

For populating his world, Stiller has assembled a fine cast including Kristin Wiig, Sean Penn, Shirley MacLaine, Adam Scott, and Patton Oswalt in the second most compelling voice-centric role of the year. The storytelling avoids the tendency to be overly simplistic, sentimental, or contrived, which extends from the way it treats its characters. Kristin Wiig’s Cheryl, a newly divorced mother of one, never serves as simply Walter’s love interest; she is a nuanced, opinionated woman, whose depths are hinted to be as vast as his own. Sean Penn’s take on the mythic figure in Walter’s world brings him back to a human scale, where we see him overcome by the beauty of little moments in the splendor of nature, unattached to whether or not they become priceless photographs. Shirley MacLaine role as Walter’s mother gives us insight to her son’s past, while showing her own struggles with age. Adam Scott’s character is the resident villain, whose pronunciation of “Life Maga-zeeen” remains stuck in my head, but he too is shown as capable of change. Finally, Patton Oswalt transforms what might have been a thankless bit part into an audience favorite that provides a welcome ray of sunshine when Walter needs it most.

The film’s style often calls to mind the Sixties space age photos, which, fittingly enough, were synonymous with Life Magazine’s heyday. Almost every frame is exquisitely composed in the New York segments, where bird’s eye views of the city’s monolithic structures and the tiny people who occupy them reflect the order and even rigidity in Walter’s existence. The dramatic shift into Walter’s fantasy world, comprising ice spelunkers, fire-bravers, and dueling Stretch Armstrong super-humans, comes alive in elaborate, liberating, frenetic sequences that are alternately humorous and touching. As Walter’s quest takes him to the other side of the world, the narrative opens up to views of quaint villages, endless seas, and sweeping mountain vistas. The pace is so fluid and effortless, it is tempting to overlook how much craft and ingenuity went into shots connecting two hemispheres in the space of a few seconds. Stiller and cinematographer Stuart Dryburgh have done a masterful job in painting a tale as rich visually as it is narratively. The film’s soundtrack further bolsters Walter’s inner transformation, taking classic songs to new places and showing how even Papa John’s cups can hold deep emotional significance.

It’s worth noting that The Secret Life of Walter Mitty has gone through many attempts at bringing it to the screen, with Jim Carrey, Ron Howard, and Steven Spielberg at various levels of commitment over the last twenty years. In Ben Stiller, the project finds both the fitting actor and filmmaker. Many of Stiller’s prior roles have been Mittyesque (that’s a word — check the Internet), whose hopes and dreams influence their often mundane lives. It is tempting to read that as Stiller’s own balancing act. With his first directorial feature, Reality Bites, he made a debut worthy of joining the ranks of Clerks and Slacker in films defining the angst-filled twenty-something experience of the Nineties. Yet his success in comedies, from Meet the Parents to Night at the Museum to Tropic Thunder, has defined him to a mass audience. His juggling of acting and directing could be comparable even to Charlie Chaplin; like Chaplin’s Tramp, he is more recognizable to the general public as Greg Focker or Derek Zoolander. His adeptness at a performer runs of the risk of obscuring the thoughtfulness of his storytelling behind the camera, whether comedy or drama. With Walter Mitty, Stiller has come full circle with maturity and decisiveness, serving as the director first to a project in which he stars, and shown that his vision is one worth heeding. I look forward to seeing his directorial forays in the future. Don’t miss The Secret Life of Walter Mitty.