Film: The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

Well, I finally got to see The Secret Life of Walter Mitty! If you recall, I was supposed to see it last month, but they gave away too many tickets, refunded me, and I went to Anchorman 2 instead, for free. And then we were to see it over Christmas, but the weather intervened. It was with some sense of relief, therefore, that I booked it for tonight (it being in Cineworld, who give booking discounts).

I saw it in my local, Cineworld Fulham. With the problem I had before with them scanning the printed ticket, I again decided to try the ATM. Well, this time, the one that worked before wouldn't take the card - probably because I had two bookings (I'm going there again tomorrow night to see 12 Years a Slave). The machine said I should go to the ticket desk. Problem was, all the desks were unoccupied. And the two staff members standing in the lobby just continued to stand there, looking at me, until I asked whether one of them could get me my ticket. In the end, I did get both.

And so to the film. Frankly, I didn't expect a Ben Stiller film to be this good. I like him, but his films are generally not what you'd call classics. Now, we all know the story. Walter, played by Ben (who also directs and co-produces), is a dreamer. Always going off into a daydream, then waking to find himself the butt of a joke, with people standing around staring at him, bemused. And there's this girl he fancies (Kristen Wiig), but whom he never has the courage to ask out. Shirley MacLaine plays his mother, Sean Penn the elusive photographer whom he must track down - Walter works for Life magazine, and an important photo taken by this photographer has gone missing. Oh, and Gore Verbinski is one of the executive producers.

The first thing that struck me was - this was made by people with impeccable comic timing. It's laugh-out-loud funny. In an understated way. Most of the comedies out there could learn a lot from this. We can all recognise Walter's humdrum everyday life - no wonder he daydreams! The daydreams themselves hold nothing back - they're completely audacious. Personally, I cracked up every time he woke from one of them to find everyone peering at him. And when he finally starts to live his dreams.. o my. Suffice to say one of the filming locations is Iceland. And does it look good.. Recommended, for those of us who love to dream.

Back outside, and in the ladies' toilets, the cubicle door on the left doesn't lock, and there was no soap in the dispenser. Bah humbug.

Anyway, as I say, 12 Years a Slave there tomorrow night. On Saturday, I'm taking a break from films and heading to the National Theatre for the first time in an age, for the matinee of From Morning to Midnight.