The 2013 edition of ‘The Secret Life of Walter Mitty‘ starts very well. The titles are clever and original, and the introduction promises a quality comedy (with Ben Stiller the actor skillfully instructed by Ben Stiller the director) and a romantic intrigue, with Kristen Wiig, beautiful and acting well, embodying the object of the hero’s dreams. For a while, things are getting better and better. The film is a ‘remake’ in which the story of the shy middle-aged man who jumps from time to time with his imagination into an alternative reality different from his banal life is combined with the story of the last days of the printed version of LIFE magazine. The illustrated magazine might have been at the peak of its success in 1947 when the original film was made (in which Danny Kaye gets in trouble in an espionage story). Walter Mitty, the hero of the film, not only works for an obsolete magazine, about to be replaced by a full dot-com version, but also has the function of ‘negative administrator’, i.e. those photo clichés on film that became useless at once with the introduction of digital photography. Complications do not take long to appear, the hero’s life becomes more and more interesting, but not the movie. It is one of those cases where the film is a collection of beautifully filmed scenes and interesting ideas, but the result is less than their sum.
What did I like? As I already wrote, the beginning and the first 20-25 minutes of the film. The ‘alternative reality’ scenes that the hero experiences. The respectful nostalgia for the illustrated press half a century ago, which was a key vehicle of information but also a part of the American popular culture. The magnificent landscapes through which Walter Mitty runs, worthy of the most spectacular films of National Geographic. The cinematography in general. The chemistry between Walter (Ben Stiller) and Cheryl (Kristen Wiig). Shirley MacLaine and Sean Penn having obvious fun in supporting roles.
What did I like less? The story is too predictable. The film begins very well and ends banally and melodramatically. Walter’s alternate visions end abruptly and without explanation. The last one (Wiig singing a pop clip) is pathetic. The character of the ‘transformer’ of companies, in this case the LIFE magazine which from the illustrated magazine becomes an internet site, is a caricature stereotype and who also disappears for most of the second part of the film. ‘The Secret Life of Walter Mitty’ seems to have started with great ideas and big ambitions, which where all but forgotten during the production, and the result is just another feel-good comedy.