The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

...doesn't have the lightness of touch you associate with a whimsical Wes Anderson picture. It does have a few cheeky moments - like one in which Mitty shows off some killer skateboarding moves, that Cheryl unfortunately misses - but not enough to make it a genuinely enjoyable watch. In the end it comes off as an indulgent vanity project for a misguided star who thinks two hours of his adventure-holiday videos would make for charming cinema viewing.

There's nothing that comes as a surprise in Walter Mitty, least of all the tiresomely predictable daydreams he goes into as the film opens. And his discovery of his true self happens with too few wrinkles, and with too unlikely a hinge, to make an impression.

There are a couple of sequences where the film becomes completely over the top in Mitty's daydream cutaways, if only the rest of the film were as engaging and intelligent as those two scenes.

Beautifully shot and easy on the eyes, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty is thoroughly engaging. Never before have I seen a room full of some of the sternest critics in town refusing to leave their seats, expecting more as the titles begin to roll in.

The Icelandic landscapes look picture-postcard perfect and the varied scenery, as he crisscrosses the globe, will take your breath away.

To begin with this reviewer is no great admirer of Ben Stiller. But in The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty, which incidentally is also directed by him, he does an excellent job putting to shame his earlier directors for not using him correctly. He's not only a comedian.