Ben Stiller Does Great in Front, as Well as Behind, the Camera

Rating: 8/10 (2 March 2016)

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty is directed by and stars Ben Stiller as Walter Mitty, a man with a boring job and boring life. Most everyone that works with him makes fun of him, mostly because he zones out a lot. He daydreams. He daydreams of himself being a Latin mountaineer, or saving Cheryl's (Kristen Wiig), a woman he's interested in, three legged dog from a building explosion. At his job, he processes negative photographs, sent from a mysterious man named Sean O'Connell (Sean Penn). One day, he doesn't receive a particular negative from Sean; the one he claims is his best photo yet. After too much pressure from his superiors, he takes off and goes on a real life adventure to find Sean, taking him to Greenland, Iceland, and Afghanistan.
To start, this film is directed beautifully. Ben Stiller does a great job in front of, as well as behind, the camera. The cinematography is some of the best cinematography of the 21st century. I'd even dare to compare it to Avatar, especially since these shots are real life, and not CGI. The wide shots of mountain landscape in Afghanistan, or the volcano is Greenland is amazing. Ben Stiller's camera work is really good, which isn't too common in actors-gone-directors, but he does great.
The acting is also pretty good. Ben Stiller, like I said, does great on both sides of the camera. Kristen Wiig does good as well, which was unexpected. Sean Penn, given the little screen time he has, does amazing. He really owns the role of a danger-seeking photographer. Adam Scott, with his fake beard, plays a great jerk- off boss; constantly making fun of Walter and calling his "Major Tom." There's also a child actor in this film, and he's about 12 or so. He does okay, but didn't really excite me in his performance like I wanted him to. He just seemed like a normal kid trying to act in a middle school play.
The plot seems a bit weird, but it plays off very well. The film was based off of a short story, written by James Thurber. It's hard to turn a short story into a feature length film, but this movie does it, and does it very nicely. The Secret Life of Walter Mitty also has some good comedy. There's a scene in this film that pokes fun at The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008), and it's freaking hilarious. That's all I'll say, because I don't want to spoil anything.
The main negative in this film is a certain character. It's hard to talk about this character without spoiling anything, but his name is Todd. Todd is periodically in the movie, and almost for no reason. Towards the end of the film, the audience gets to see why he was placed there, but it feels like a rushed excuse. It seems as if the writers got to a certain point, and got stuck on finding a way out. So, they threw Todd in random places throughout the movie, just so they could get out of a sticky situation.
Overall, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty is a really good film, and I quite enjoyed watching it. I think the movie's pretty underrated, and deserves a bit more credit than what it's received. I'm going to give The Secret Life of Walter Mitty a B+, or an 8 out of 10.