Dull, but for Iceland, Greenland & Sean Penn!

Rating: 5/10 (3 December 2013)

It wasn't an auspicious start for The Secret Life of Walter Mitty in my life. With the screening due to start, the lights remained on and the screen remained black. For almost an hour. Then, when Ben Stiller's fifth feature as director finally started, the quality was so unbelievably, um, unwatchable (it appeared to have been bleached and mashed through a cheese grater), that approximately 95% of the attendees for the advanced screening walked out en masse. The hardcore ten or so remained, the film faltered, the lights came up, staff wandered aimlessly around the auditorium and finally, almost 90 minutes late, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty was reborn.
Was it worth the wait? Hmmm.
It bears little resemblance it the 1947 original, starring Danny Kaye and adapted from James Thurber's short story, although modernization of such an old story is often essential. More distressingly, it lacks the magic and fun of the original.
Walter Mitty (Stiller) is an anonymous worker cataloguing photographs at Life magazine and dreaming his dull life away; the scenarios that whizz around his brain being infinitely more exciting than his mundane reality. As Life prepares to publish its final print edition, Mitty clashes with his villainous new boss (Adam Scott), longs wistfully for the attention of co-worker, Cheryl (Kristen Whig) and looses one frame of a roll of film sent by legendary photojournalist Sean O'Connell (Sean Penn), prompting Mitty to improvise quickly.
It's a great idea poorly realized. There are sparkles to attract the attention (the opening titles on noticeboards etc.) and occasional, smile-inducing subtle humour. But mostly The Secret Life of Walter Mitty is dull. Predictable and dull. Long, predictable and dull. Long, predictable and dull but with some beautiful scenery. The film reinforces my desire to visit both Iceland and Greenland and, yes, I want to experience many of the situations that Mitty finds himself in, in reality. Who wouldn't? That's where The Secret Life of Walter Mitty works.
But mostly it's dull.
When, at long last, Sean Penn wanders into the screen, or, rather, the camera finds him, the film blossoms. It evolves into an entirely different film of depth, joy and beauty. And when the camera has finished with him, guess what? It becomes dull. Lost, perhaps.
There are a few 'action' sequences but they bubble along rather than flood, gush and hurl. The Secret Life of Walter Mitty is a film of almosts. It almost works, it almost entertains, it almost finds a funny bone
Whig does a reasonable job with a small supporting role and Stiller is a step above his Zoolander level but, scenery aside, the star worth watching is Penn.
Find the DVD, fast forward to his scenes and quit once he's moved on. It won't take a genius to fill in the gaps. Like the protagonist, your imagination is almost certainly more colourful than the reality.
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