"THE SECRET LIFE OF WALTER MITTY" REVIEW

"The man who has no imagination has no wings"

It's been a few weeks since I last posted here, working and trying to start a business is EXTREMELY time consuming!  But in the interim, I've been able to watch some movies here and there, so I have a couple of reviews in mind.

Walter Mitty (played by Ben Stiller) is a negative assets manager at Life magazine who has quite the imagination.  The quiet, laid back man constantly daydreams of doing things he would never be able to do in order to make his life more interesting.  While the world moves around him, Walter is a slave to routine and a prisoner in his dark room where he processes pictures for the magazine.  He wishes he could talk to the woman he works with (Kristen Wig), but can only do so when he's in one of his trances.

When the company is acquired and its employees face layoffs, Mitty is given the responsibility of processing the final cover of Life magazine which is a photo taken by an eccentric world renown photographer named Sean O'Connell (played by Sean Penn).

Walter Mitty discovers that in the set of negatives given to him by O'Connell, the one negative intended to be the cover of the magazine which he describes as the "quintessence of life" is missing!  Now Walter faces a decision: either stay and deal with the consequences of losing the most important negative of his life, or go on a trip around the world following the famed photographer (who has no phone or permanent address) to find out what the ultimate photo is.

My Rating: 

4.8723948734 out of 5 stars

This, in my opinion, is one of Ben Stiller's best movies in his career.  Now I know it may not be saying much considering the fact that he's known more for slapstick comedy, and while this movie is comedy, it isn't as adolescent as his other projects.

Stiller does a wonderful job at playing the "little guy" who's constantly being looked down on and has no escape other than his own subconscious.

An honorable mention in this flick is fellow funnyman: Patton Oswalt.  While his role is small, it's constant throughout the movie and always refreshing even though you only hear his voice.

Walter Mitty has more talents then he lets on and a bigger heart than anyone can see.  This movie captures the importance of having a balance between imagination and reality, but never having too much of one or the other.  It also shows us that the world can be more beautiful than we can imagine.

This flick was so good that it made me actually want to see the original 1947 movie, and also read the 1939 short story and 1942 book (which I have to thank my mother for revealing its existence to me.  Apparently this book was mandatory reading when she was in grammar school.....this is what we should be reading today)!

I highly recommend this movie for families and individuals alike. Extremely beautiful and colorful cinematography along with lots of laughs.  If you had a big imagination as a child, or as an adult, or just have this soul-sucking ambition to get out and explore the world, this movie is for you!

Thank you for reading and making this the success it is!  If there are any movies you'd like to see reviewed, feel free to email me at jayreviewsfilms@gmail.com.  

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Jay