The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

PG

Released Dec 25, 2013

1 hr. 54 min.

Comedy

Adventure

Fantasy

List

52%

199 Reviews

Tomatometer

71%

50,000+ Ratings

Audience Score

Walter Mitty (Ben Stiller), an employee at Life magazine, spends day after monotonous day developing photos for the publication. To escape the tedium, Walter inhabits a world of exciting daydreams in which he is the undeniable hero. Walter fancies a fellow employee named Cheryl (Kristen Wiig) and would love to date her, but he feels unworthy. However, he gets a chance to have a real adventure when Life's new owners send him on a mission to obtain the perfect photo for the final print issue.

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Critics Consensus

It doesn't lack for ambition, but The Secret Life of Walter Mitty fails to back up its grand designs with enough substance to anchor the spectacle.

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Garrett K

Maybe I'm a sucker for travelling and photography but the message, laughs, and heartfelt ending came across really well for me. The imaginary scenes were great. Just one thing I found myself thinking in parts of the movie was "there's no way he has the experience or the fitness to do this," but that's not the point of the story nor does it impact it too much for a fun movie like this in my opinion. The ending and most (if not all) of the characters' stories end nicely and come full circle. For what it is, it does it very well. Great job from all the actors too!

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

04/18/24

Full Review

Finn W

This movie is super fun, and it conveys a great message!

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

04/06/24

Full Review

Tong W

kinda confused but i can see the overall broader message. I like how he daydreaming becomes less occurent. However, his relation with cheryl kind of comes out of nowhere at the end. Good watch. Enjoyable watch and fairly easily digestable.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

04/04/24

Full Review

Mark D

Just loved it. It always makes me feel happy. A good way to just escape and feel great

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

04/04/24

Full Review

TV Shows, Movies a

I loved this movie. It is simplistic, yet at the same time has a lot of depth. It is beautiful in its shots.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

03/22/24

Full Review

Antun N

At first watch didnt understand the movie , but now one of my favorite. Its about finding yourself again and livining the life as you should . Would recomend :)

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

03/22/24

Full Review

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Ben Stiller

Director

Ben Stiller

Walter Mitty

Kristen Wiig

Cheryl

Shirley MacLaine

Edna

Adam Scott

Ted Hendricks

Kathryn Hahn

Odessa

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Jason Bailey

Flavorwire

With such high aims, it's too bad that 'The Secret Life of Walter Mitty' falls somewhat short of greatness. But it's not often that you come across a "big" movie as earnest and patently un-cynical as this one.

Jun 19, 2016

Full Review

Richard Roeper

Richard Roeper.com

This is one of the more disappointing efforts of the holiday movie season.

Rated: 1.5/5

Jan 21, 2014

Full Review

Dana Stevens

Slate

Stiller's attempt to braid together introspection and humor kept me engaged and curious, even when I wasn't quite sure what he was setting out to do.

Jan 1, 2014

Full Review

Emiliano Basile

EscribiendoCine

While not genial, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty recaptures the charm of hopeful stories by giving a comedy twist... [Full review in Spanish]

Rated: 7/10

Dec 11, 2023

Full Review

Wael Khairy

The Cairo Scene

I admire the film’s originality, and the thought-provoking twist ending, but daydream of a deeper director’s cut.

Sep 23, 2022

Full Review

Brian Eggert

Deep Focus Review

Less about Walter Mitty’s secret life than his actual, perfectly romantic, impossibly realized adventures, the film loses itself in a fantasy world all its own and never fully embraces the everyday balance of reality and imagination.

Rated: 1.5/4

Aug 19, 2022

Full Review

Read all reviews

Synopsis

Walter Mitty (Ben Stiller), an employee at Life magazine, spends day after monotonous day developing photos for the publication. To escape the tedium, Walter inhabits a world of exciting daydreams in which he is the undeniable hero. Walter fancies a fellow employee named Cheryl (Kristen Wiig) and would love to date her, but he feels unworthy. However, he gets a chance to have a real adventure when Life's new owners send him on a mission to obtain the perfect photo for the final print issue.

Director: Ben Stiller
Executive Producer: Gore Verbinski, Meyer Gottlieb, G. Mac Brown
Screenwriter: Steve Conrad
Distributor: 20th Century Fox
Production Co: Samuel Goldwyn Films, Red Hour Productions
Rating: PG (Language|Action/Violence|Some Crude Comments)
Genre: Comedy, Adventure, Fantasy
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Dec 25, 2013, Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Sep 30, 2015
Box Office (Gross USA): $58.2M
Sound Mix: Datasat, Dolby

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