Didn't live up to its potential.

Rating: 6/10 (29 April 2014)

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty was unfortunately a bit of a disappointment. It had all of the pieces in place to be one of those great movies that combine a certain innocent charm with insight and introspection to deliver a heartfelt and emotional movie that anyone can relate to. However, instead of putting that all together in a fashion that feels genuine, like The Truman Show for example, it just feels like it's missing something. Ben Stiller is great and Kristen Wiig, Shirley MacLaine, and Patton Oswalt (among others) do a great job in their supporting roles, albeit far shorter than they should've been. I think the big problem was Adam Scott's character. People like that are so seldom they almost don't even exist and this movie hinging on his "bullying" made it tough to relate to. I don't mind that the pace was slow either. I expected that. I didn't expect for the film to build to a moment of revelation only to end abruptly and without much to hang your hat on, so to speak.