History Film / TheSecretLifeOfWalterMitty

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* FoolishSiblingResponsibleSibling: Walter is a hard working, financially responsible adult caring for his aging mother. His sister Odessa is an AdultChild who despite being in her late 30s/early 40s has no real career and is a hopeless mooch and generally immature. Her idea of a perfect birthday present for her 42 year old brother is a Stretch Armstrong toy like the one they had as kids.

-->'''Sean O'Connell''': "Sometimes I just like to watch... without the lens."

* BrokenPedestal: [[spoiler:Downplayed. The pedestal never really ''breaks'', and he moves on pretty quickly, but Walter is still reasonably frustrated with how recklessly Sean chose to handle negative 25 (which led to Walter accidentally throwing it away), and still makes it a point to say that he looked up to him for a long time.]]

* WhatTheHellHero: [[spoiler:On Walter's end, when he admits he threw away the wallet containing the film negative, Sean bluntly states that his feelings are hurt, and rightfully questions why Walter would throw it away if he really loved it.]]

* ArtisticLicenseGeography: You can't get to Afghanistan through Yemen by bus as shown. The only land route would have taken Walter into Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and then Iran.

* BrickJoke: Walter used to work at Papa John's as a teenager, and his mother claims he doesn't like thinking about it because his father died when he was young, [[TraumaButton and the name of the place would remind Walter of his dad]]. [[spoiler: Guess where Walter stops by in Iceland?]]

* ExactWords: Subverted. New Boss Ted gets Walter to agree that the next time they see each other, Walter will have the missing negative. [[spoiler: While Walter tries to adhere to the trope, he ultimately fails.]]

* FoolishSiblingResponsibleSibling: Walter is a hard working, financially responsible adult caring for his aging mother. His sister Odessa is an AdultChild who despite being in her late 30s/early 40s has no real career and is a hopeless mooch and generally immature (her idea of a perfect birthday present for her 42 year old brother is a Stretch Armstrong toy like the one they had as kids.)
* FreezeFrameBonus: Walter's budget shows that, among other things, he paid the fine his sister incurred for missing jury duty. Similarly, when Walter checks his email at the end of the film and sees the message from Cheryl's son, we briefly see that his inbox also contains a party invitation from his old co-worker Hernando, as well as messages from the helicopter pilot and the fisherman he met in Greenland, and Todd from eHarmony.

** And now, along with the skills, professionalism and hardworking attitude he got from having had to work at the age of 17 after his dad passed away, he's developed an attitude where he's willing to go out of his comfort zone and be adventurous and willing to take necessary risks. [[spoiler:With the talking-to that he gave to Ted at the end as well as asking out Cheryl to watch his sister's play with him]], he's also grown to be more confident.

* WhatTheHellHero: [[spoiler:After Sean tells Walter that the film negative was in the wallet - only vaguely alluded to in the accompanying note - Walter actually points out to his idol what irresponsible treatment that was for such an important item. To his credit, Sean quickly admits the point and they move on.]]
** [[spoiler:On Walter's end, when he admits he threw away the wallet containing the film negative, Sean bluntly states that his feelings are hurt, and rightfully questions why Walter would throw it away if he really loved it.]]

* AluminumChristmasTrees: There were in fact ''Air Greenland'' flights between Baltimore and Greenland for about a year in 2007 and 2008, which is close to the time the movie presumably takes place. So it's not entirely implausible that Walter could have taken that flight.

* GenreBusting: Wiki/TheOtherWiki refers to it as "an American romantic adventure fantasy comedy-drama film". And it's sort of a feel-good inspirational film, too.

** As of right now, you can't fly directly from New York City to Nuuk, Greenland as shown. The only flights that go to Greenland are from Iceland and Denmark, so it is plausible to fly directly from New York City to Copenhagen then to Nuuk.

* DiegeticSwitch: When Walt isn't feeling up to riding the helicopter with a drunk pilot, he starts daydreaming that Cheryl is playing guitar on the stage at the bar, singing [[Music/DavidBowie "Space Oddity"]]. When he finally gets the resolve to hop into the helicopter, at the pivotal point in the song, it changes from Cheryl singing to the original version by Bowie.

* NewMediaAreEvil: In general, the film treats LIFE Magazine's transition to online media as a bad thing, costing people their jobs and giving the reins of something sacred to many over to people portrayed as rather soulless.

* TheIllegible: Even it its clearest, Sean O'Connell's handwriting involves apparently random capitalisation, while his shooting notes are almost indecipherable. This considerably delays Walter's attempts to find him, as well as obfuscating the true meaning of negative #25.

** The helicopter pilot tells Walter to jump into "the boat". He meant the small pontoon boat that was sent out to pick him up. Since it never entered Walter's field of vision, he assumes the pilot meant the ship.
* PopUpTexting: Text relevant to the scene often appears on the background. One time Walter gets a text from a coworker and it appears carved on there mountainside behind him.

* SuperCellReception: No matter where he goes, as high and remote as the Himalayas, Walt is ''always'' receiving phone calls from Todd on his flip-phone with perfect clarity. Even after the thing was in the Atlantic Ocean! [[note]]Probably a Nokia[[/note]]. But those roaming charges are gonna suuuuuuck.
* TookALevelInBadass: Walter goes from a mild-mannered employee of LIFE magazine with an overactive imagination to an actual globetrotting adventurer. Todd even states that while he originally just envisioned him as an ordinary office drone, after listening to all of his adventures he now see Walter as an Franchise/IndianaJones-like figure.
** And now, along with the skills, professionalism and hardworking attitude he got from having had to work at the age of 17 after his dad passed away, he's developed an attitude where he's willing to go out his comfort zone and be adventurous and willing to take necessary risks. [[spoiler:With the talking to he gave to Ted at the end as well as asking out Cheryl to watch his sister's play with him]], he's also grown to be more confident.

* WhatTheHellHero: [[spoiler:After Sean tells Walter that the film negative was in the wallet- only vaguely alluded to in the accompanying note- Walter actually points out to his idol what irresponsible treatment that was for such an important item. To his credit, Sean quickly admits the point and they move on.]]

-->'''Sean O'Connell''': "Sometimes I just like to watch...without the lens."

* CoolButInefficient: When Walter needs to get from one Icelandic town to another in a hurry, he resorts to longboarding down the highway. It's a very cool scene to watch, but one wonders why he didn't have the sense to ask the guy who gave him directions for a lift -- especially since the guy arrives less than a minute behind him to save him from the volcanic eruption.

** The first one we see him have involves him outrunning a gas explosion in a building. [[spoiler: In Iceland, he outruns an actual explosion -- this time, caused by an erupting volcano.]]

** It's subtle, but when Walter comes back an visits his mother in her new home and [[spoiler:throws away the wallet Sean gave him]], she looks into the trash can to see what he threw away.
** While on the cargo ship, the sailor gives Walt a piece of cake that Sean had left behind and Walt notes that it's the exact same kind his mother likes to bake. [[spoiler:We later find out that Sean had actually visited Walt's mother in person.]]

* ArtisticLicenseGeography: You can't get to Afghanistan through Yeman by bus as shown. The only land route would have taken Walter into Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and then Iran.

* RidiculouslyAverageGuy: The best way to describe Walter at the beginning of the movie is, well, ''bland''. That is, until by the end of his journey, Todd calls Walter a replica of Franchise/IndianaJones who decided to be the lead singer of The Strokes.

* ArtisticLicenseGeography: You can't get to Afghanistan through Yeman by bus as shown. The only land route would have taken Walter into Saudi Arabia Iraq and then Iran.

* PoorCommunicationKills: The entire plot is kicked off because [[spoiler:Sean slipped negative 25 into the wallet he gifted to Walter rather than include it with the other negatives. He assumed Walter would understand the vague riddle he included with his message telling him where negative 25 was. This oversight is directly responsible for Walter losing his job.]]

* ProductPlacement: Of an extreme magnitude. Papa John's and eHarmony got their own subplots, the latter of which took up the first scene in the movie, and the main plot is about the magazine LIFE. [=McDonald=]'s, Cinnabon, Google, Instagram and Facebook also get name-checked.

* ConspicuousCG: The TSA x-ray screen is really cartoonish for something that's supposed to actually be happening.