Get Smart

Review By: Michael Dance
MichaelDance@TheCinemaSource.com

Ever since the first preview was released, there's been a decidedly old-school vibe surrounding Get Smart. Obviously, the main reason for that is because it's based on the classic TV show, which remains unseen by me but is beloved by many. But while the story is updated to be set in the present day, it still feels like you're watching a plot and performances that would be at home on TV Land or Nick at Nite.

Steve Carell is Maxwell Smart, the bumbling secret agent for a top secret agency called CONTROL, which naturally fights an opposing group of bad guys called KAOS. It's surprising how spot-on Carell is throughout the whole film -- he mixes deadpan and physical humor to achieve the perfect pitch for the character. No one else could've played the role as well (well, except Don Adams of course, but I'm talking about for this movie).

Meanwhile, Anne Hathaway and her legs (seriously, those things practically deserve separate billing) play Agent 99, the partner who keeps getting Smart out of trouble. For a love interest, I originally thought Hathaway looked a bit too much like she could be Carell's daughter, but the film conveniently glosses over that by saying she just had plastic surgery -- secret agent stuff, I guess -- and is actually older than she looks.

The plot is typical James Bond stuff -- Smart and 99 go on a mission that takes them to the Russian countryside, a terrorist's cocktail party, a secret nuclear weapons lab, and finally back to the U.S. to prevent a nuke from exploding in L.A. Along the way are the requisite number of gunfights, spy stuff, car chases, that sort of thing. Back home, they're aided by the Chief (Alan Arkin) and new hotshot Agent 23 (Dwayne Johnson), who had to sit out the mission because a spy for KAOS uncovered the identities of most of CONTROL's secret agents. But that's enough of the overarching plot, which includes a double-cross so easy to figure out that it makes everyone at CONTROL look like idiots by comparison.

While the script does throw joke after joke at us -- many of them legitimately laugh-worthy -- the filmmakers didn't cut any corners with the action, which is staged as well as any typical action movie. When it all comes together, you get some great moments, like Smart navigating through a laser beam field, or trying to reason with a henchman who keeps punching him. The parachute fight sequence was pretty cool, too.

Still, in an age where it seems like a parody of the spy-movie genre is a yearly occurrence, Get Smart is pretty forgettable. The press notes mention that the film includes a number of in-jokey references to the old TV show, which I imagine will immensely please most existing fans. For the rest of us, Get Smart isn't much more than a pretty decent ...