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CHICAGO – Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com appears on “The Morning Mess” with Dan Baker on WBGR-FM (Monroe, Wisconsin) on March 21st, 2024, reviewing the new streaming series “Manhunt” – based on the bestseller by James L. Swanson – currently streaming on Apple TV+.
Film Review: Frustrating Journey Into ‘The Secret Life of Walter Mitty’
Submitted by BrianTT on December 24, 2013 - 10:41am
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Continue reading for Brian Tallerico’s full “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” review.
“The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” stars Ben Stiller, Kristen Wiig, Kathryn Hahn, Adam Scott, Shirley MacLaine, and Sean Penn. It was adapted by Steve Conrad and directed by Stiller. It opens on Christmas Day and is rated PG.
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
Photo credit: Fox Pictures
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I so want to love Ben Stiller’s “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty.” Stiller’s directorial work on films like “The Cable Guy” and “Tropic Thunder” was underrated, the source material is great, the message of living in the moment has more value in an increasingly cluttered world, and the time seems right for an imaginative journey into the mind of a likable protagonist like Mr. Mitty. So, why don’t I love it? Where did “Walter Mitty” lose his way? Stiller’s film is far from a horrible one but it is undeniably a disappointment, especially given how often it hints at the film it could have been while constantly just missing the mark.
 Rating: 2.5/5.0 |
Stiller plays Mitty as a sad sack, a man who daydreams his way through life when he’s not busy balancing his checkbook or keeping tabs on the archives he manages at Life Magazine. Mitty is nice to a fault but often zones out into a world of his own imagination, one in which he is typically an action hero or the object of affection for his new love interest, a sweet co-worker named Cheryl Melhoff (Kristen Wiig). Mitty has a more outgoing sister named Odessa (Kathryn Hahn) and a supportive mother (Shirley MacLaine) but his life seems relatively routine until two men shake it up.
| Read Brian Tallerico’s full review of “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” in our reviews section. |
The first is Ted Hendricks (Adam Scott), a suit brought in by Life Magazine to handle the transition from a print publication to an online one. Ted doesn’t like Walter. He’s the alpha male in everything he does, bullying Walter around the office. And he is given even more reason to do so when the notorious Sean O’Connell (Sean Penn), the most famous photographer in the history of the magazine, essentially sends Mitty on the journey of his life. As he has for years, O’Connell delivers his latest batch of photo negatives to Mitty, including a note that says that negative 25 is his masterpiece, sure to grace the cover of the last issue of Life. Of course, #25 is missing. Mitty has to track down the negative by traveling the globe to find Sean, all the while working on his blooming romance with Cheryl, and breaking out of the shell created by his overactive imagination.
Continue reading for Brian Tallerico’s full “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” review.The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
Photo credit: Fox Pictures
