The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
Overview
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty is a 2013 adventure comedy-drama film directed by and starring Ben Stiller, based on the 1939 short story by James Thurber. The film follows Walter Mitty (Ben Stiller), a negative assets manager at Life magazine who spends his days daydreaming of heroic adventures. Walter is a shy, introverted, and lonely man. He works in the basement of Life magazine, processing photographs. He has a crush on his coworker, Cheryl Melhoff (Kristen Wiig), but he is too afraid to talk to her. He has a negative, overbearing boss, Ted Hendricks (Adam Scott), who is planning to fire him. Life magazine is about to publish its final print issue, and the photographer, Sean O'Connell (Sean Penn), has sent Walter a negative that he says is the "quintessence of life." The negative is missing. Walter must find Sean O'Connell and retrieve the negative. He travels to Greenland, where he jumps out of a helicopter into the freezing ocean. He is attacked by a shark. He travels to Iceland, where he skateboards down a volcano. He travels to Afghanistan, where he hikes through the Himalayas. He finds Sean, who is photographing a snow leopard. Sean tells him that the negative is in the wallet of the gift he sent. Walter returns to New York, and he finds the negative. He quits his job, and he sells his father's piano to pay for his trip. He walks into the Life magazine office and presents the negative to Hendricks. The final issue of Life magazine features a photograph of Walter, working in the basement, examining a negative. The film is a celebration of life, adventure, and the courage to take risks. The Secret Life of Walter Mitty was a modest box office success, earning over $188 million on a $90 million budget. The film is a beautiful, visually stunning, and inspiring film about stepping out of your comfort zone and living your life to the fullest.
