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"Beautiful things don't demand our attention."

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty is a movie that has flown under the radar thus far in its release, and probably will continue to do so. That’s a real shame, because in this madcap season of Oscar contenders and “emotional” movies, Ben Stiller’s latest really belongs at the top.

Walter Mitty is something special, and there are many reasons for that – but it may not seem like much of anything at first glance. After all, it’s just the story of a guy who’s worked at LIFE Magazine for sixteen years in the “negative processing” department. On the eve of LIFE’s last print issue, Walter receives a set of negatives from one of the best freelance photographers around, with explicit instructions that Negative #25 is destined for the cover. Trouble is, Negative #25 isn’t in the package, and if Walter doesn’t find it, he’ll lose his job.  This setup would have us believe that the film is going to be yet another story of the Everyman rising to the top, discovering hidden potential, getting the girl, and all that. But if we did believe that…we’d be wrong. And therein lies the real beauty of this story.

Walter Mitty himself is the shining heart of this whole endeavor. He is, in many ways, the “Everyman” we expect, at least on the surface. Mild-mannered, quiet, not quick with a comeback. He’s simply ordinary, at least on the outside. But on the inside…on the inside, Walter is a man who may have grown up, but never left his childhood imagination behind. He tends to do what those close to him call “zoning out” more often than most people consider to be socially acceptable. As viewers, we’re taken along for the ride on Walter’s “zone-outs”, and are thereby shown the value of them.

On the inside, Walter imagines himself the hero – saving a puppy from a burning building, making that snappy comeback to his nasty new boss, getting the girl. In reality, though, he’s doing things like missing his train to work and chatting with Patton Oswalt’s endearing eHarmony rep.  What’s so crucial (and unique) about these scenes is the manner in which they are presented. These are not flights of fancy, played for laughs. They don’t distance us from Walter. Instead, they teach us about his strength, make us identify with and understand him. Walter is no caricature. He’s never larger than life, and never reduced to less than what he really is. He’s painfully true. That simple fact earns this film more respect and love in my book than any in recent memory.

See, we live in an age when it is “cool” to see quirky characters. It’s supposed to be funny and neat when someone like Walter makes a lame comeback or struggles socially or something, because we’re being conditioned to believe that going through situations like that in everyday life just means we’d make a cool character in a YA book someday. Problem is, for most of us who are like Walter, that’s just not true. Perhaps the greatest value of Walter Mitty is in its ability to recognize that fact and honor it. The struggles Walter goes through, those daily moments that just don’t turn out the way they would in movies, are real, and the film never pretends otherwise. Nor does it make Walter into an escapist loser who only ever accomplishes something in his own mind.

The film honors and values the reality of its main character, and all of us like him, through and through. Many movies with characters like Walter surreptitiously teach us to value those characters only inasmuch as they have an ability to change. We’re taught that the Everyman/Everywoman only has true value, and is only really a hero(ine), once they have completed the Hero’s Journey. Having conquered their formerly meek selves and become for all intents and purposes someone else – only then do they really matter. We’re taught that we must change, must be completely extraordinary, and that being as such means leaving ourselves behind. The beauty of Walter Mitty lies in its ability to remind us of the strength and intrinsic value we all have to begin with. We’re reminded that sometimes, the most ordinary people are in and of themselves extraordinary.

The journey Walter takes is one you should discover for yourself. Seeing it summed up here would truly only lessen its impact. Suffice it to say, the story of The Secret Life of Walter Mitty is one that will take your inner cynical old man with a shotgun (you know, the one who grouses at kids about his lawn?) and turn him into a sentimental teenager filled with hope again. That alone is worth the eight bucks.