Tonight I went to a “secret screening” of a film at my local cinema. Before the film started we were told that it was a film that is due to be released in four weeks’ time and that it was an unfinished cut so we should expect some blue screen during some scenes and that we have been asked to “use our imagination” during these scenes. Strangely there were no blue screens in the film (none that I caught anyway) so this note before the film seemed utterly pointless.
When the title of the film was revealed in the BBFC certificate a big groan came from the audience and even prompted a few people to leave. I’m sure many people were hoping that we would be treated to an early showing of “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug” and were really let down.
The title of the film was “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” and a part of me wishes I had left when the title was unveiled.
I should preference this review by saying I had not seen a trailer for this film previous to this screening, nor was I aware it was a remake of a 1947 film by the same name.
The set-up of the film is that Walter Mitty (Ben Stiller) is boring, he day-dreams about being a hero and… that’s about it really. He’s single and uses a dating website to cyber-stalk a work colleague (Kristen Wigg) that he’s never spoken to before. His job as a photo technician (the film uses a more specific term) at Life Magazine seems like a weird choice initially because surely most people use digital photography but his job and the fact that he deals in celluloid photographs is a vital plot device so it’s fairly understandable why he would still have a job. Walter’s adventure begins when he is sent a batch of photos from Life’s star photographer (Sean Penn) with the front cover photo missing. This leads him on a hunt to track down Penn’s character which takes him to Greenland, Iceland and back again. The adventure ultimately changes Walter from an uptight, suit wearing bore into a bearded, jean wearing “cool guy”. Unfortunately this is not the only cliché that this film embraces.
One positive that stood out over everything else in this film is the cinematography, which was astounding. Not to be too pessimistic but when you are working with a backdrop like Iceland it would be hard to have the visuals anything but incredible but Stiller (who also directed the film) does do a wonderful job with many of the shots.
Unfortunately I find myself bereft of many other positive musings in regards to this film. The script felt uneven and the comedy really underwhelmed. The story itself didn’t really have much to say apart from speaking directly to middle-aged people and telling them that they can still go on that adventure that they’ve always dreamed of, there’s no need to day-dream. There are so many unbelievable occurrences in the film that by the time Walter is getting signal on his phone at 18,000ft+ up the Himalayas you just have to throw your hands up and laugh at the absurdity. A note to the film-makers: just because a character used to skateboard does not mean he is capable of longboarding like a professional (also in what world does a teenager swap a longboard for a stretch arm strong toy?!?!). I also find it impossible to believe that a man who has been stuck in a dimly lit basement office for years would have the lung capacity or the endurance to not only run further and faster than most Olympic marathon runners are capable of but also be able to climb the Himalayas with no preparation at all.
One thing that I will say about Ben Stiller is that he seemed to be really trying with this film. He did a good job at directing and he did a fairly good job in the lead role but the script just didn’t seem to match his enthusiasm. Kristen Wiig was underutilized and the script should be blamed for giving her woeful material to work with. This film made me dislike Adam Scott for the first time ever, and I don’t mean because I am supposed to dislike him because he is the jerk in the film, but because all his lines fell flat and the beard looked horrible and fake. Patton Oswalt (who plays an eHarmony colleague), a man who can’t help but be funny, did his very best with the material but wasn’t really as funny as you would expect him to be. Again I can only fault the script because Patton Oswalt is a very funny man. Maybe he should have been left to improvise all of his lines.
Ultimately this is a film which was let down in a big way by the script. The comedy fell flat; with only one moment that seemed to make the majority of the audience I saw the film with laugh (the Benjamin Button scene). The message was uninspired. The acting was average (not that the script called for much more than that). A lot of characters seemed sorely under-developed and I found myself coming to conclusions way before the characters which just made them seem dumb. When the final cover photo is finally unveiled at the end of the film it makes absolutely no sense for it to be the picture that it is.
I personally wouldn’t recommend this film but with a release date around Christmas I can certainly see there being an audience for it, and hopefully they can find more interest and charm than I could.
mcgoochie 