Ok I am starting to think critics are big phonies. This was one of the bet films I have seen this year and it gets a 48% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Honestly i think critics are being paid by movie companies to praise their film and then when they review other films they put it down. This movie was shot beautifully and had great acting and great directing. If films like Forrest Gump and American Hustle are are in the 90 percent range why is this not. The secret life of walter mitty is on my best movies of 2013 list.
I gushed about this to anyone who could listen. It's so good at what it hopes to achieve. It's not written to be a serious film festival contender. It's what I wanted to see after teaching high school. What should I have seen? "Third world prison guard slowly, painfully, grimly and in subtitles begins to see the humanity and depravity in the foreign inmates in his charge but is helpless to prevent their execution, beating, rape, and anything else hard to watch." What fun! weeeeee!
Product placement is a fact of life now. At least Ben Stiller got to make that funny comment about Papa John's cups. No, I don't get it, but I loved the line. Are Papa John's cups weird? Now I want to go see. Arrested Development had fun with product placement. Now I want to see them seamlessly work in a plug for Haley's M-O.
oh, based on other responses, I guess I need to add I am American of northern English immigrants early 1800s (Some Anglo-Norman 1066)
critics can be wrong and they constantly are. if you actually read some of the reviews, you'll discover very unreasonable criticisms and ridiculous nitpicking.
ebert's take on zoolander for example. he praised everything about it except the inclusion of the rather innocuous assassination plot as "culturally insensitive"(he may have used another term or phrase, but that was his basic criticism of the movie), for that he didn't give it a higher rating than it deserved.
the criticism of stiller's other film cable guy was poorly received due to jim carrey's against the grain portrayal of a "dark" character, a sociopath, essentially. but that characterization made him that much more hilarious than another ace ventura knock-off.
and now, walter mitty gets panned due to its simplicity, because people fancy themselves intellectual, they like to regard thematically simple films as "culturally dumbed down". they fail to distinguish the fact that simple films can be good films too, just as complex films with multiple hidden narratives, subtle social commentary, can still be mediocre or bad.
that said, you can think this film is average or mediocre, or simple, etc. i concur. but anyone who thinks this is a bad film, or a film not deserving of a benefit of a doubt due to "product placement" is a moron. end of story.
This movie didn't "touch my heart." I found it to be inane. You want to touch my heart, reach my humanity? Give me a decent director like Darren Aronofsky, and I will feel the angst, the heartbreak, the love of other people. I will understand and care for those characters. But this film? The only heartwarming moment for me was when the credits started.
Darren Aronofsky? Seriously? How much more pretentious a statement can you make? This was meant to be a simple, heartfelt story, not a complex social narrative.
Liking or not is a matter of personal taste, but coming here and throwing out lots of obnoxious, movie critic wannabe comments, when you obviously dislike it, sounds quite insane. Like if you had to tell the world your opinion about something you have abhorred because everybody that disagrees of you probably are not right. Time to figure out better things to do in life.
The comments as usual are entertaining...... and for my 2 cents. This is a solid 7 out of 10..
Of course it is not a masterpiece and will fade away over time but in fact it exceeded my expectations. I enjoyed the cinematography tied with a great soundtrack and nice feel good vibe.... No it will not change my life but that doesn't mean I can't enjoy it.
Most movies are not 10/10 or 1/10 they sit firmly in the middle ground.
I agree with you 100%! It´s been a long time since I saw a movie that I loved as much as this one! It was beautifully shot and the actors were great. I left the cinema with a very warm feeling in my heart!
Much like almost every Ben Stiller film from the past ten years this one stressed me out something fierce. If I had to compare it to another film which I enjoyed equally, that movie would be 'Hancock'. I think that says it all. No more Ben Stiller from here on out. P.S. There's an 'I' before the 'T' in 'CRITIC'