“The Secret Life of Walter Mitty,” although it came out nearly ten years ago, continues to be my go-to comfort movie. In my opinion, the movie perfectly captures the feelings of wanderlust and adventure with its dramatic camera shots and stellar soundtrack contributing significantly to its atmosphere. It was one of the first Hollywood blockbuster films to prominently feature Iceland as its setting and partially contributed to a large uptick in tourism to the country, a fact which I think speaks volumes to the movie’s ability to convince us to explore the world.
This review has to start with a huge celebration of the soundtrack, arranged and compiled by Theodore Shapiro and Jose Gonzalez (a Swedish native, despite his very Spanish name, and one of my favorite musicians currently). The soundtrack draws heavily on an Indie Rock sound, as well as on Gonzalez’s own discography, with the highlights for me being Rouge Wave’s “Lake Michigan,” and Junip’s “Far Away.” Both songs are located at climaxes of the film, where Mitty (played by director Ben Stiller) makes his choice to step out into the world, going to great lengths and distances to track down a lost picture. The movie also uses David Bowie’s “Space Oddity” both in the soundtrack and as a recurring theme throughout, a personal highlight for me.
Other highlights include the impressively strong opening title sequence and a great performance by Ólafur Darri Ólafsson, my favorite Icelandic actor. This was my first introduction to him when I initially watched this movie years ago and I have enjoyed watching him crop up in other dramas (his supporting roles in Iceland’s “Trapped” and Australia’s “The Tourist” also come highly recommended). I appreciated the inclusion of LIFE Magazine’s slogan as it both led a more realistic feeling to the movie and gave it a needed foundation to build off of. The original “Walter Mitty” story, written by John Thurber in 1939 is very bare-bones and focuses more on Mitty’s wild fantasies than any real life adventures.
Where I think the movie falters is in its comedic pacing. While Mitty’s outrageous daydreams do play a role in the movie, they are packed into the beginning exposition scenes before any real plot takes place, leaving the rest of the movie devoid of one of the more interesting aspects of the base story. The rest of the movie is plenty strong nonetheless but something does feel out of sorts and lacking. As a romantic-comedy, it is funny enough. The jokes always land, but tend not to be set up well, sprinkled seemingly randomly throughout the movie and sometimes unexpectedly taking the edge off a meaningful moment. The strong performances from all involved and the soundtrack help to shield these moments a smidge, saving it from campy-ness.
“The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” has flown under the radar long enough. This movie deserves to be remembered as a highlight of Ben Stiller’s career as well as as a monument to the celebration of adventure. Most every part works together to create an easy-going watch that you can come back to again and again. I continue to do so, finding more and more resonance with the central quote: “’To see the world, things dangerous to come to, to see behind walls, draw closer, to find each other and to feel.’ That is the meaning of life.” (LIFE Magazine).
“The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” is available on Hulu and HBO Max.
