Just Do It
Film: The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
Cast: Ben Stiller, Kristen Wiig
Directed by: Ben Stiller
Duration: 1 hr 54 mins
Rating: * * 1 /2
Based on the short story of the same name by James Thurber,
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty is the second feature film, the first was made
1947. Incidentally, both films are made by Samuel Goldwyn productions.
This is a modern day adaptation that has its moments, but on
the whole the film is a bit too ‘bookish’ – you can almost feel turning the
pages as the story progresses. Ben Stiller who has directed the film (after the
enjoyable Tropic Thunder) plays the lead role of Walter Mitty who is a negative
assets manager at the Life magazine. Since the film is set in 2011 (there is a
reference to the volcano in Greenland which
erupted couple of years ago) I can only assume that the photographer referred to in the film still used
film role and didn’t go digital.
So Mr. Mitty is an introvert who works hard and does his job
well. Till he discovers that a particular negative sent by the top photographer
Sean (Sean Penn) is missing. In order to trace the same, Mitty has to get in
touch with Sean who is globe trotting without a phone or email. Using clues
from the other negatives, Mitty embarks on a journey that takes him to Greenland , Iceland
and then to the Himalayas all in search of
that one picture.
The larger
message here about being adventurous in life and living it king size becomes
apparent in the second half, especially after the numerous conversations that
he has with the representative of a dating website.
Kristen Wiig plays his romantic interest and it is always
good to see the lovely Shirley Maclaine who plays Mitty’s mom. It takes a while to figure out the direction in which the
film is going. But once that is clear, there aren’t too many surprises left. So
all you have to do is enjoy the gorgeous landscapes because there is precious
little otherwise as far as the story is concerned, which takes it self a bit
too seriously.
Published in The Navhind Times on 5th Jan 2014
www.twitter.com/sachinchatte
No comments:
Post a Comment