Ben Stiller directs and stars in this remake of the 1947 film and while he aims high, ultimately the film fails to achieve velocity.
There's lots of grand visuals and amazing stunts and daring-do but somehow it all just doesn't come together. Perhaps it is because Walter himself is such a dull fellow. Sure, he goes off on a quest to track down a ground breaking photo but nothing he does ever seems to really affect him - or us in the audience.
It's just one escapade after another without any sort of emotional mile stones in place to let us know what it is he is actually achieving. It's all quite interesting and watchable but Walter never really rises above himself; he just stumbles rather blankly from scene to scene.
So far I prefer his more straightforward comedies like 'Zoolander' and yes, even 'The Cable Guy' because in the safety of comedy Ben allows himself to be truly silly. But in Walter Mitty it's like he's reigning himself in and preventing the really cool ideas from being allowed to formulate because he's trying so hard to be 'profound'.
Not a bad effort and it certainly has it's insightful moments, but all up it feels rather hollow with one too many missed opportunities.
**1/2 out of *****
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