A terrible movie. Directed by and starring Ben Stiller (and co-starring a bored Kristen Wiig and Adam Scott’s terrible beard), here’s how it “improves” upon James Thurber’s famous short story about a downtrodden man who daydreams his way through his life: 1. It throws in a romantic subplot. 2. It turns Walter Mitty’s daydreams into a self-helpy parable about the need to live a fully actualized life. 3. Walter Mitty is good at skateboarding! There’s less a “plot” than a series of handsprings from one product placement to the next, including ads for Papa John's Pizza, McDonald's, Cinnabon, Instagram, and Patton Oswalt’s shameless schilling as an eHarmony customer service rep. by Alison Hallett