New York Daily News by Joe Neumaier

The story Stiller tells manages to float in a most peculiar, satisfying way.

Village Voice by Amy Nicholson

Stiller balances his big ambitions with small, grounded truths.

Empire by Olly Richards

As a director, this feels like Stiller’s moment. Mitty is a film that bravely rejects cynicism. In many ways, it’s the new Forrest Gump. Go with it and it is, in all senses, wonderful.

Total Film by Paul Bradshaw

Like most daydreams, The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty is funny, sad, weird and corny all at once – and you’ll probably only remember the good bits as soon as it’s finished. But it’s still a lot better than real life.

Rolling Stone by Peter Travers

In his uniquely funny and unexpectedly tender movie, Stiller takes us on a personal journey of lingering resonance.

Boston Globe by Peter Keough

The quest ends in a surprise Capra-esque resolution, which both satisfies and cloys.

Philadelphia Inquirer by Steven Rea

The momentum Stiller has built up - his character's globe-trotting derring-do, the care and consideration on display in his directing - carries the movie a long way. Falling short of fantastic, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty is still a fantasy to enjoy.

Miami Herald by René Rodríguez

Shirley MacLaine pops up as Walter’s ever-forgiving mother, and Wigg kills in an elevating sequence in which she sings David Bowie’s Space Oddity at a karaoke bar. Penn only gets one scene, but it’s a great one, and it reminds you how funny of an actor he can be.

McClatchy-Tribune News Service by Roger Moore

It’s a charming, whimsical and ever-so-slight film, a bit of an over-reach but pleasant enough, even when it falls short.

Los Angeles Times by Kenneth Turan

Stiller's sensibility creates a movie that's smarter than you think it will be.

The Hollywood Reporter by David Rooney

Audiences willing to tune in to its blend of surreal fantasy, droll comedy and poignancy will be rewarded.

Time Out London by Dave Calhoun

Cloying at times – but always good-natured.

Variety by Peter Debruge

Rather than channeling James Thurber’s satirical tone, Stiller plays it mostly earnest, spinning what feels like a feature-length “Just Do It” ad.

Austin Chronicle by Kimberley Jones

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty is a very pretty production – pretty colors, pretty scenery, pretty bromides – and a busy one, too, which helps distract us from the sad fact that the movie is generous and humane but not all that interesting.

The New Yorker by Anthony Lane

The result may be the oddest film of the season. It boasts an array of sublime backdrops and a yearning score, but the climate of feeling is anxious and inward, encapsulated in Stiller’s darting gaze, and the movie itself keeps glancing backward, at the lost and the obsolete.

IndieWire by Eric Kohn

Shows none of the edgy storytelling looniness present in Stiller's finest work. Instead, every element seems calculated to service an easygoing commercial product that plays up the sentimentality of the scenario while rendering it inoffensively bland.

Film.com by David Ehrlich

Palpably well-intentioned, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty is nevertheless phony to the core.

The Playlist by Rodrigo Pérez

Part escapist action-adventure, part would-be exhilarating quest of self-discovery, The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty isn’t so much a mess because it wants to be everything at once, but because it employs hackneyed and mawkish methods to achieve a false sense of joyfulness.

New York Post by Kyle Smith

The story of a guy who never goes anywhere or does anything. Until he goes everywhere and does everything, but he might as well have stayed home.

Slant Magazine by Nick Schager

Ben Stiller's aesthetics blend overly manicured imagery with soaring rock songs that underline every emotion, lest the film's corporate logo-driven message-making didn't get the point across clearly enough.