In The Movie The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty, What Dating Site Is He On
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (2013 Film) study guide contains a biography of director Ben Stiller, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis. Best summary PDF, themes, and quotes. In the film “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” (spoiler alert), Walter is a lonely negative asset manager (double meaning?) interested in a co-worker whom he knows is on eHarmony. He joins the site in an effort to contact her. We see him as his finger-hovers over the mouse debating with himself to push the wink button at her. The Secret Life of Walter Mitty runs 114 minutes and is Rated PG for some crude comments, language and action violence. Now playing in theaters. Let us know what you thought of the film in the comment section below. Follow me on Twitter @ benkendrick for future reviews, as well as movie, TV, and gaming news.
Considering that the literary character has become part of the fabric of modern pop culture, it is perhaps surprising that 66 years have passed since Walter Mitty last graced the big screen. Ben Stiller obviously thought the gap too long, having chosen to produce, direct and star in this contemporary take on the tale.
The Walter Mitty of 2013 is a little different to his predecessors, Stiller’s character is a bachelor, as opposed to the henpecked husband or leaned upon fiancee of the past, and he works as a Negative Assets Manager at Life magazine. At heart though, he’s still the same everyman dreamer, a meek guy who constantly longs to be someone more significant and more heroic.
Based on the 1939 short-story by James Thurber, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty was brought to life on screen in 2013.Directed by and starring Ben Stiller, the tale follows the life of a man named Walter Mitty as he struggles with the possibility of losing his job as the negative assets manager for Time magazine. The secret life of walter mitty is a 2013 american adventure comedy drama film directed co produced by and starring.
We’re introduced to Walter as he sits in his apartment, staring at the dating profile of a woman on the eHarmony website. He just sits, agonising interminably as to whether or not to send a ‘wink’ to her, it’s a moment encapsulates him perfectly; a lonely soul who seeks love but is sorely lacking in the confidence and conviction he dearly needs.
It emerges through a subsequent conversation with Todd on the dating site’s helpline that part of Walter’s reticence lies in the fact that the girl in question, Cheryl (Kristen Wiig), works for the same employer and his tongue-tied demeanour is already undermining any ‘chance’ encounters that he tries to engineer in the corridors of the building.
As Walter is disclosing all to Todd, he momentarily drifts away, mid-conversation and turns from position on the rail platform, plunges forward and dives into the window of an apartment block; he’s suddenly a hero and the girl at the centre of the fantasy is Cheryl, from this point on it becomes clear as he snaps back into reality and his phone conversation, that love is at the root of his current flight of fancy.
Walter wants to win himself the girl, but he wants to be taken seriously, to be noticed. At Life magazine he works in the basement with a solitary colleague for company, he moves about almost unnoticed, anonymous to the world, but today, fate has presented him with the opportunity to rectify it all. A downsizing exercise is taking place, the magazine is set to become an online only concern, jobs are being shed and employees are striving to prove their continued worth.
More pointedly, Sean O’Connell, one of the most respected photographers of his generation has taken a photograph that he considers to be his greatest work, one that defines the essence of the magazine and has entrusted the negative to his long standing, trusted associate in the basement. It stands to be the cover of the final issue. The only problem is that Walter cannot find it anywhere…
And so we have our story. On one hand we have Walter desperately trying to catch the eye of Cheryl, while on the other, he’s keenly trying to escape the gaze of his impatient, quizzical bosses. True to form, he faithfully employs his default mechanism of fantastical retreats to avoid dealing with harsh realities, flights of escapism in which he dominates his boss and woos his sweetheart.
Ultimately though, Walter reaches the point where he finds he has to take some responsibility and has to find that negative. He resolves that the only way to do so is to track down the elusive Sean O’Connell and by doing so, he embarks on a remarkable, bona fide adventure of his own.
The story is very much one of two parts, a humdrum existence punctuated by the fantastical interludes giving way to a voyage of discovery based very much in reality, all driven by a desire to discover the negative and win the girl. The daydreams invoke memories of ‘Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind,’ albeit some are rather more polished in their presentation and blockbuster-eque in tone. The actual journey meanwhile recalls the spirit of latter stages of Forrest Gump as we follow a man, singularly driven to reach his goal.
Stiller convincingly fills the lead role, but it is Wiig who provides the cement to hold the story together and drive the narrative; she’s the one who inspires Walter, both in person and through visions, and wholly convinces as the kind of woman that any guy like Walter would quite conceivably go through anything for.
That Walter’s actual journey seems to be cliched in the extreme is not necessarily a weakness of the script; the fact that it plays out like a lifestyle magazine adventure piece, actually strikes of being an appropriately deliberate ploy. The only point of debate is perhaps is how the writers choose to end the movie. Having shrouded the contents of the negative in mystery throughout the film, they writers could’ve chosen to either sign off with a pleasingly brave if also infuriating degree of ambiguity, or take the easier option of the big magazine cover reveal. Similarly, upon his return, the prospects for Walter and Cheryl’s relationship remained unresolved; would we be left to simply wonder and discuss?
Where To Watch Walter Mitty
Having invested in, and developed a great affection for the two characters over the duration of the two hours, I must confess that I was ultimately pleased with the route the film took on both counts. It kinda earned it.
Life affirming, heart warming stuff.
★★★★
The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty 1947
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