Keith & the Movies

I’m no card carrying Ben Stiller fan but I was really interested to see his vision of “Walter Mitty”. This is the second film based on the 1939 James Thurber short story and some doubted it would ever see the light of day. Various versions of the script were tossed around and actors such as Jim Carrey, Owen Wilson, and Sacha Baron Cohen were all in line to play the lead role. But after years in development limbo, it was Stiller who was signed to not only star in but direct Steve Conrad’s final script.

Stiller and Conrad use Thurber’s vision of Walter Mitty as a reserved average Joe who experiences the life he wants within his vivid world of daydreams. But the movie ends up pushing that aside and goes off on its own, becoming a film about fulfillment and self-discovery realized through a pretty remarkable journey. I was fine with that as long as it served the picture well. There are moments of greatness in “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” and there are scenes that really drew me in. But there was also something missing – something that holds the film back and keeps it from being the great movie we are often teased with.

In this modern telling, Walter Mitty (Stiller) works in the ‘photo negative assets’ department of Life magazine. One morning the employees get news that the publication will be turned into an online-only magazine making many of their jobs “nonessential”. Acclaimed photojournalist Sean O’Connell (Sean Penn) sends the magazine a negative that he believes to be perfect for Life magazine’s final cover. But Walter misplaces the negative. So with his job on the line and the pompous transition supervisor (Adam Scott) breathing down his neck, Walter sets out on a globe-trotting adventure to find O’Connell and hopefully the negative.

Walter’s journey takes him to some gorgeous locations including Greenland, Iceland, and The Himalayans. Stiller and cinematographer Stuart Dryburgh draw us into these places sometimes with breathtaking perspective. They invigorate Walter’s journey and in some ways substantiate his personal transformation. But I also struggled with certain aspects of his adventure. There are so many obvious questions that the film prefers you not ask. And there are also an insane amount of conveniences that aid Walter’s quest. Regardless of the situation there is almost always a perfect out for him. Perhaps there is a deeper meaning to it but it isn’t hinted at from the story.

“Walter Mitty” also seems to have a small identity crisis. There are some pretty funny bits early in the film but then there is a long stretch where it takes things pretty seriously. The humor is back-burnered and it becomes a casually paced drama with a fair share of high points and lulls. It lacks a consistency that great films have but it also had an unexplainable attraction that I never could shake.

As for Stiller’s work in front of the camera, I was really impressed. In a year featuring a number of towering performances, I wouldn’t call Stiller’s the best. But there is a legitimate sympathetic charm to what he brings to the Walter Mitty character. I was really drawn to him and personally sympathized with his perception of himself and his inadequacies. Stiller magically captures all of that. He does lose some of his attraction as his character changes towards the end but I still love this performance. I also thought Kristen Wiig was good but underwritten as the proverbial ‘girl of Walter’s dreams’ and Shirley MacClaine is good in a smaller role. Adam Scott is harder to gauge. His performance isn’t that bad but the writing makes this typical corporate bad guy a little too on the nose.

“The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” is a tough movie to score. It certainly gets points for its visual style and gorgeous locales. It also gets points for Stiller’s fine performance and the sweet infectious charm of his character. Unfortunately it is an uneven film with a few too many contrivances and the occasional lulls. But yet there is something about the movie that I can’t dismiss. It has stuck with me and left the impression that I really need to see it again. That’s usually a sign that a movie works, at least on some levels.

VERDICT – 3.5 STARS

In the comedy/drama “Nebraska” Bruce Dern plays an elderly man named Woody Grant from Billings, Montana. Woody receives a marketing flyer in the mail that convinces him he has won $1 million. All he needs to do to collect is travel to Lincoln, Nebraska and claim his prize. The problem is his two sons and his cantankerous wife all know it’s a scam. But Woody is determined that he is going to Lincoln even if he has to go on foot. To appease Woody, David (Will Forte) agrees to drive him to Lincoln and hopefully have some bonding time with the father he barely knew.

That’s the main story, but this is an Alexander Payne film so you know there is a lot more under the surface. Payne has always been interested in characters and this is a character-driven picture. “Nebraska” touches on a variety of real life subjects including alcoholism, greed, family dysfunction, and declining health of the elderly among others. And while there’s nothing inherently funny about these things, Payne and writer Bob Nelson don’t allow the movie to drown in its seriousness. In fact at times it’s a very funny film – that near perfect mix of comedy and drama.

One of my favorite things about “Nebraska” is its authenticity. This could easily have been a conventional comedy featuring a stereotypical old codger. Instead it’s a very real story featuring real characters and set around a very real depiction of small-town America. With a few small exceptions, “Nebraska” never hits a false note. The majority of the time the characters feel just right and the Nebraska locations seem yanked out of real life.

I also love the choice to shoot the film in black-and-white. While it wasn’t popular with the studio, Payne and cinematographer Phedon Papamichael saw it as an intricate part of their storytelling. I think it was a brilliant choice. It creates a very gloomy and bleak look that is perfectly in tune with much of Woody’s story. But it also works in the film’s portrayal of America’s dying small towns. There is a striking parallel between Woody and these rural locales that I found fascinating and the black-and-white made it all the more powerful. But at the same time there is a beauty to the look of this picture – a classic beauty that I don’t think color could provide.

That hints at another facet of the movie that really worked me. As someone born and raised in a place very similar to Woody’s hometown of Hawthorne, I was impressed with the film’s accuracy in capturing the essence of the small town. Payne, a Nebraska native, was able to show the sad side of what these places look like now while also painting a beautiful picture of how they once were.

But once again it’s the characters that gives this film its life. Bruce Dern delivers one of the most earnest and committed performances of the year. Woody is a captivating character with more layers than you may think. He’s deeply flawed yet genuinely sympathetic. He can be unintentionally hilarious yet also sad and depressing. There is also a cloud of mystery that surrounds Woody. We get hints that he’s battling some form of dementia but it’s never clearly stated. Also, through the eyes of his wife and sons, we see Woody as a pretty bad husband, father, and man. Yet we learn new things about him from the people in his hometown that tell a slightly different story. There are numerous other nuances to this character that I loved.

The great film critic Leonard Maltin noted that “Payne has a Fellini-like eye for great faces”. I couldn’t have said it better. Much like a Coen brothers film, there are an assortment of memorable faces which add so much character and detail to the setting and the story itself. Everywhere you look there is one small character that feels a part of the fabric that makes up “Nebraska”.

There are also an assortment of other great characters many of which are comic spark plugs. Perhaps the most talked about is June Squibb as Woody’s mean and degrading wife Kate. She undoubtedly has some of the movie’s funniest moments, but she also exposes one of the film’s only problems. Payne takes her snarky, belligerent, and sometimes foul attitude a bit too far. Don’t get me wrong, I laughed my butt off at some of her antics, but Payne overdoes it. Here’s an example. There’s a great scene where Kate, Woody, and David are visiting family grave sites at a small country cemetery. It’s a fantastic scene with the right mix of drama and humor. That is until the Kate character suddenly does a vulgar act clearly intended for a cheap laugh. It really hurts what could have been a brilliant scene.

While Payne does overplay his hand which hurts the movie a bit, I still found “Nebraska” to be one of the strongest films of the year. Not only is it a piercing examination of some very real issues, it’s also one of the funniest movies of 2013. And if Bruce Dern doesn’t get a Best Actor Oscar nomination for his phenomenal work, it will be hard to take the category seriously. It is smart and fresh filmmaking that I really hope gets rewarded this awards season.