Surprisingly good, yet too trapped in Hollywood conventions (and product placement) to be great

Rating: 7/10 (20 July 2014)

I hadn't heard much good about this movie and wasn't planning to watch it, but then my girlfriend saw it on a plane and said it was great, so I decided to check it out.
It is a much better movie than I'd been lead to expect, a thoughtful movie with a nuanced performance by Ben Stiller as someone who has settled into a rut and spends his time dreaming of the adventurous life he'd like to be living. There are fun fantasy sequences, an engaging story, and a lot of nice scenery, and overall I enjoyed this movie, which is funny and heartfelt.
*** SPOILERS BELOW ***
That being said, I felt the movie could have been a little braver. There was a moment, when Mitty is climbing the mountain and all that, when I thought, maybe this movie won't do the Hollywood thing. Maybe Mitty will realize that by taking control of his life, he can move beyond his obsession with the cute co-worker. That she, nice as she was, was nothing but another fantasy. I would have liked to see him start fresh. It's the sort of thing that could happen in a European film, but not in a mainstream American one. To me, this cheapens a tale of self discovery; was it all just to get some girl?
I also felt that sometimes the movie was a little too in love with itself, as in the getting-on-the-helicopter scene, which seems to go on *forever*. But then, someone else who reviewed the movie here specifically mentioned that as one of the best scenes in the film, so I guess some people consider it a soaring moment rather than a point hammered into the ground.
I could have also done without the sometimes relentless product placement. It's not so much an objection to seeing products in movies as to how perfectly framed they are in a way that just screams out, "THIS IS AN AD." Can't these things just be off to the side in a less obvious manner? I'm sure the corporations demand this sort of prominence, but it's hugely distracting to me.
Still, it was enjoyable and I'm glad I watched it. I just wish it had been a little braver and a little less pat and predictable.