Believe it or not, there was once a time when a movie directed by Ben Stiller was generating some serious awards season buzz, although it admittedly feels like a lifetime ago.
That’s not to say the actor and filmmaker isn’t capable of delivering the goods, and he’s proven himself a solid hand behind the camera across Reality Bites, The Cable Guy, the Zoolander duology and Tropic Thunder, but he’s largely stuck to comedy.
However, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty was by far his most ambitious feature yet. A $90 million blend of dramatic and comedic elements, lashed with plenty of fantasy and no small amount of whimsy, the early trailers promised a potentially stunning detour from what audiences had come to expect from Stiller.
Unfortunately, the finished product was wildly uneven, even if it did have plenty of winning moments peppered throughout. Rotten Tomatoes awarded The Secret Life of Walter Mitty a decidedly average 52% score, but audiences deemed it worthy of a much better 72%.
In the years since it’s gone on to gain a new appreciation as an underrated and unsung cult favorite, though, which could go some way to explaining why The Secret Life of Walter Mitty can currently be found as one of the 20 most-watched titles on Disney Plus, as per FlixPatrol.
Published: Dec 13, 2021 03:55 am