Walter Mitty (Ben Stiller) has been working for Life magazine as a negative assets manager (photographs) for the past 16 years. He is a daydreamer and escapes into a world of fantasy where he dreams of doing fantastic and adventurous things. Unfortunately, he never gets a chance to lead such a life in reality. However, soon things are going to change. He has misplaced a negative which is going to be on the cover of the last print edition of Life magazine that is soon to go online. This has never happened before with Walter.
Now, to recover the negative that he thinks was never delivered to him, Walter embarks on an ambitious adventure. He seeks out photojournalist Sean O’Connell (Sean Penn) from whom he can get the negative in time for the last print edition of Life magazine. This takes him to places like Greenland and Iceland. On this adventure, he imagines his co-worker Cheryl (Kristen Wiig) edging him on.
After he is summoned back to New York, Walter learns from his mom (Shirley MacLaine) that Sean had met her, and this leads him to another trip, this time to Afghanistan. Here, he meets Sean and learns from him that the negative that he is looking for was sent to him in the gift wallet. Unfortunately, Walter had disposed off the wallet just before embarking on his trip to Afghanistan.
What is he going to do now? The fate of Walter hangs in the balance at this point. The finale of the movie has in store some twists that the viewer will find extremely absorbing. The Secret Life of Walter Mitty doesn’t grip you initially, although as the the movie progresses in the second half, it turns out to be quite an engaging fare.
Ben Stiller who has also directed the movie has played the character of Walter Mitty quite superbly as also the rest of the cast turns in a fine performance. This is a movie that the viewer will appreciate long after the end credits are through and it has a moral that one can achieve remarkable things only if one dares to move beyond the confines of one’s comfort zone. In case of Walter Mitty, he made a choice to travel to meet Sean and in the process not only travelled to different countries but also realized what he is capable of doing in life.
What do you think?