Walter Mitty is a daydreamer, who often imagines his life being better. He works for LIFE magazine, which are firing employees due to an acquisition. It's his duty to sort out the final cover of the last ever edition, but the negative has disappeared...
Most films with this low of a score are dull and boring. 'The Secret Life of Walter Mitty' is many things but it is not boring. It constantly barrages the audience with luscious visuals, and constant action for it to be dull. The amazing visuals do feel out of place and the action does feel unnecessary and inconsequential, but it did prevented me from falling asleep.
It's not the worst movie of the year but the most cringe-worthiest movie of the year. Some scenes made me feel physically sick, especially the ending (where he sees what's on the LIFE magazine cover). Very predictable as well. I could guess what was on the negative the second it went missing. The film gets incredibly stupid in places, trading the stretchy doll for the skateboard was probably the dumbest thing I have ever seen. The film is meant to be escapism, so the intention is for it to be unrealistic, but scenes like this take the piss.
The film adds storylines and interesting characters, then drops them after three minutes. I never did understand the point of the radio he dropped in the ocean or why the photographer took a photograph of his mothers piano. I didn't find the product placement as annoying as other people have, but it did take me out of the action a few times, to sigh heavily. Most of the advertisements are America-specific so they are completely pointless anyway, regardless of the effort they take to try and make them blend in.
The cringe-worthy, stupid moments and the awful script, is forgiven in a couple of films by amazing acting. Not in this film, with Ben Stiller starring as an awful protagonist. I never liked Ben Stiller, and now I don't like him more. It's not that he is bad in the role, he is atrocious. Anyone else rooting for the shark?
To be fair the cinematography is excellent and Sean Penn was surprisingly good. But in the end it's a film about Ben Stiller imagining of living life, then living life, then not, then living it again. Way too much bullshit manipulated excessively to try and hit every feel-good bone in the body, but misses them all. It does hit the stomach.
TO CONCLUDE
This film has split audience and critics. Some even claim it to be the next Forrest Gump (as seen on every bus poster in England for about three months). I thought it was a physically painful experience and I am surprised at the amount of people who loved it, how can they be spoon-fed this Americanized bullshit so easily.
SCORE
38
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