Now it's time to leave the capsule if you dare (David Bowie)

I caught Ben Stiller's The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty a few nights ago and I can see why it only scored a 50% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

The film is a remake of the 1947 film starring Danny Kaye, which was based on the James Thurber story.

Ben's good, the love interest is good, art direction and cinematography is good, with wonderful locations, the flights of fancy interesting but... the premise is bizarre and far fetched.

 My suspension of disbelief took a major hit as a result.

Best bits for me were the huge Life magazine covers and that Life magazine quote - the purpose of Life. First sighting in the film resulted in me going - WHOOAAA and pausing the playback to check it out properly.  

The film also peeked my interest in the source material. Apparently Jerry Stiller's son and the '47 film deviated from the actual James Thurber short story. So back to the 1939 story I went.

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1939/03/18/the-secret-life-of-walter-mitty-2?currentPage=all

Interestingly, It's a very brief story. Interestingly, Stiller's movie 'version' has nothing in common with the source material beyond the idea of daydreaming.

The rest is a smoke and mirrors love story which is ultimately not convincing. Still- it's a harmless enough film and a pleasant diversion, and there's always that 'purpose of Life quote'.

Love and peace - Wozza