The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty ** (125 minutes)

Based loosely on James Thurber’s 1939 short story about a prosaic individual attempting to escape the mundanity of life through his fantastical daydreams - Ben Stiller’s new film is executed with a degree of style and precision, but suffers from a lack of essential humour.

With Stiller both directing and starring in the titular role, the character of Walter Mitty in this version is a photographic research manager at Life magazine who has a tendency to zone out of real life and imagine himself in more heroic dream scenarios, whilst looking longingly at his co-worker (Kristin Wiig). The way the film portrays Mitty’s daydream fantasies is through a string of action set pieces were the central character, for example, has an infuriating conversation with his boss which leads Mitty to imagine an explosive superhero style punch-up with him – a scene reminiscent of something from mind of Timur Bekmambetov(Wanted 2008) with its over-the-top, weightless CGI brawling. Although these dreamy visual asides sound entertaining, there is a strange tonal clash within the first half of the film. On the one hand, Mitty’s flights of fancy are there to provoke a humourous reaction, but the rest of Stiller’s movie is far too formal and po-faced for the comedy to translate effectively - leaving you feeling oddly detached from the proceedings. It also has an ultra-clean, stylish visual aesthetic with a lot of the camerawork directed to linger incessantly on Ben Stiller’s face. These languorous moments indicate that Walter Mitty is a bit of a vanity project for Stiller and although the central Freudian idea of men indulging in egoistical fantasies may allow the film to itself procure a certain level of narcissism, it doesn’t alleviate this misplaced sense of self-importance.

Although the first hour lacks a certain wit, the plot does get into gear in the second hour as Mitty has to go searching for a crucial photographic negative that has been misplaced from the archive, leading him to Greenland to find photographer, Sean O’Connell(Sean Penn). The character of Walter Mitty is immediately more engaging in the latter hour and the way his dreams overlap into reality is achieved with a level of efficient fluidity and interest. I could have done without the aggressive use of product placement from Papa John’s Pizza and eHarmony – both used in such a cringingly unabashed manner that entire plot points were dedicated to promoting the brands.  Despite the fact that Walter Mitty does become much more emotionally involving towards its resolution - it is still a very flawed endeavour.