Ben Stiller has starred in a bunch of movies but he has only directed four. As a star for the Hollywood commercial machine he can do outrageous adult comedy (“There’s Something About Mary,” “Along Came Polly”) or he is willing to do under the barrel kiddie comedy (“Night at the Museum” or those god-awf-Focker sequels). Every five years he does an indie drama (“Greenberg,” “Your Friends and Neighbors”). The four movies he has directed however are dark comedies and every one of them has a cunning mean streak. That’s his edge, and it’s perceptible in “Reality Bites” (1994), “The Cable Guy” (1996), “Zoolander” (2001) and “Tropic Thunder” (2008). The last I consider a masterpiece of modern crude satiric comedy.

I would not have expected him to take on the kid-friendly “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty,” a remake of the light as a feather 1947 Danny Kaye movie. Mitty is a nebbish loner who dreams up outlandish fantasies to escape his mundane life. Easily a pushover, Mitty takes mistreatment from his mother, boss, fiancée, romantic rival and impending mother-in-law. Watch the YouTube trailer of the original.

A few years back Jim Carrey was set to star in the remake which you can imagine as a suitable fit. Walter Mitty would have been a much better decision than “Mr. Popper’s Penguins” that’s for sure. But if we’re lucky, élan Stiller, we’ll see a little bit of Simple Jack in Walter Mitty.