I have been using Rotten Tomatoes for years now—it is a very
valuable tool— but I have not felt compelled to comment until today after
watching "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty.”
I have been noticing a specific phenomenon lately; it is
somewhat alarming but still useful. Mediocre films by "top level"
directors get absurdly high "critic" ratings, but the audience’s
“liked it" ratings run well below those percentages. Whereas some fine
movies get mediocre reviews, and some mediocre movies get complete trashings
(“47 Ronin”), yet those critical reviews are countered by positive audience
responses.
Take, on the other hand, films like “Inside Llewyn Davis” or
“American Hustle,” both of which received 93% from the critics. I lived through
and loved the folk era—I recognized the Dave Van Ronk album cover and the
obvious Tom Paxton references. I also saw the Mark Spoelstra reference (The
Five and Twenty Questions album) which no reviewer seems to have noticed, and
the Peter, Paul and Mary and Al Grossman references as well. I was a fan of Jim
and Jean and the Clancy Brothers as well as Van Ronk and Dylan, and I loved
Dave Van Ronk’s wonderful autobiography, “The Mayor of MacDougal Street” upon
which this movie was purportedly based. Unfortunately, the movie was tedious
and lifeless with a complete disdain for the real musicians and the music scene
of the time. The Coen’s have every right to create a story about a crass,
selfish, self-important loser, but it is wrong to make so many direct
references to real individuals while making no attempt to make that depiction
have any basis in reality. The bit with the cat was the only redeeming virtue
in this piece with the possible exception of a couple of song performances and
John Goodman’s obligatory Coen Brothers’ cameo. This is either a mirthless
comedy or a pointless, mean-spirited dramedy, but clearly the filmmakers could
not make up their minds. The audience, of course, could make up their minds and only gave it a 75%, which is
still rather generous.
“American Hustle”? More mediocrity: unfunny slapstick;
aggressive scenery chewing by nearly all cast members (as much as I enjoy both
female leads); missing motivation and inexplicable actions; a painfully
predictable plot—even if you don’t know the “history”— with no real tension or
suspense (unlike, for example, “Argo”); and nothing at all noteworthy about the
actual style of the film. Critics: 93%
Audience: 81% (I would argue highly overrated by both).
“The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” is, on the other hand,
quite a masterful piece of movie making. The fact that it has much more in
common with the Danny Kaye movie of the same name than with the James Thurber
short story is forgivable. It would be nearly impossible to film the actual
story today. For one, it is extremely short (only a few pages); for another, it
is a very harsh and sarcastic, though amusing, attack on a daydreaming nebbish
who is a menace to himself and those around him. There is not one whit of
romanticizing about foolishly fantasizing Walter and his necessarily
domineering wife.
Stiller’s “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” is a thoroughly
engrossing new take on the theme of breaking out of one’s box and taking a
chance on life and love; an old story but nicely envisioned and reinvigorated.
From the first instant of the very clever opening credits, the viewers
understand that they are in an unusual world, a world that is an overlapping of
fantasy and reality. The filming of both the “real life” and the fantasy scenes
are truly noteworthy. The intertwining conceits of online dating and a mystery
surrounding the final cover of the iconic Life Magazine create a compelling
premise that takes the viewer on a nice set of turns along the way (and I don’t
just mean the skateboard). The action sequences and the wonderful vistas are
legitimately breathtaking while comfortably fitting the outlandish story. This
movie is gentle in its humor—plenty of chuckles but few guffaws—yet certainly
funnier than either of the other movies with which it is compared above. This
movie, though, was not going for guffaws, it was going for heart, which it has
in abundance. I defy anyone to find any real heart in either of those “top
rated movies.”
