Get Smart

Right off the bat, if you're the kind of person who hates all remakes then of course you'll hate this movie. But if that's you, then why even bother reading reviews?

Good, you're still here, so we'll assume that you're willing to give this flick a fair shake. "Get Smart" (2008) is a reboot of the iconic tv series, and by "reboot" I mean that it doesn't necessarily follow the original storyline except that the characters share the same names. In this version, Maxwell Smart is a lowly analyst who gets his big shot at being an agent. Other than being a general nerd, his schtick is that, being an obsessive intelligence analyst, he knows the enemy inside out. So even though he may not be a dashing superhero, his intelligence is his strength. When he's not being a total clueless dolt, that is. I thought this was a great new angle.

His counterbalance is Agent 99 (Anne Hathaway), an experienced field operative who has to put up with Max's quirky arrogance. She may possibly have some anger issues. Again, a really fun character to watch.

The plot? Not important. Like the original tv show, the plot is rather superficial with the real entertainment being carried by the gags. There were some nice nods to the original show, such as the ridiculous "cone of silence", the absurd gadgets crammed into common household objects, and of course some of the original trademark catchphrases ("Missed it by that much"). A few of the zingers were really funny and got some full belly laugh out of me. But they were sparsely placed, and that's my only criticism. Perhaps in an attempt to keep the plot moving, there were not enough bizarre wisecracks as I would have liked. One of my favorites was when Agent 99 somberly tells Max that if he gets caught, there's a pill in his belt buckle that causes death in 9 seconds. To which Max replies: "But how will I get them to take it?" This is the kind of humor that made the original so fun and makes this version a worthy homage.

The cameos are awesome with fleeting appearances by Kevin Nealon (from SNL), Patrick Warburton (Elaine's weird boyfriend "Putty" on Seinfeld), James Caan as "the president" (who can't pronounce "nuclear" - I wonder who that is), and none other than Bill Murray as Agent 13.

Dwayne Johnson practically steals the show as Agent 23, a caricature of every action hero he's ever played.

A final note worth noting: the technical consultant mentioned in the credits is THE Mel Brooks. It didn't surprise me because at times this has a somewhat Brooksian flair, especially in the hilarious ballroom dance number, oddly reminiscent of "the czardas" dance in Dracula: Dead & Loving It. Bottom line, if you are ready for a good time you'll have a good time.

I enjoyed every minute of Get Smart. It's an agreeable and fun mixture of the action, spy, and comedy genres. Imagine a combination of Mr. and Mrs. Smith and Pineapple Express, with some Steve Carell-style comedy mixed in. It's not similar in story to either of those movies, but it does manage to blend action and comedy together in a comparable way.

The casting is perfect, and really what makes Get Smart so likable. There is a pretty amazing group of actors gathered here, especially considering the fact that these kinds of films do not often attract A-list talent. Everyone seemed like they were having fun and enjoying their roles, and it shows in their acting.

Get Smart has a basic spy-type plot that certainly won't be winning any awards for originality. At the same time, I never though the fairly typical story was detracting from the movie. You're probably not watching this for a deep and thought-provoking experience, anyway.  

And who would have guessed that Anne Hathaway would be so good in an action role? I'd love to see her do more of this kind of thing in the future, she has a bit of a talent for it.

OK, I'll admit I never expect much from remakes of classic TV shows. I chose to watch this while donating blood - a decision I reserve for movies I don't expect to be good enough to share with my wife. The surprise: well, it's actually pretty good!

First of all: great casting! Steve Carell and Anne Hathaway give performances that nicely reflect those in the TV series, without doing cheap impressions of the original actors. Their performances stand on their own, and Carell delivers all your favorite Max-isms ("Sorry about that, Chief", "Missed it by that much", etc.) with aplomb. But the real prize in this movie is the casting of Alan Arkin as the Chief of Control. Brilliant casting, great performance!

Even beyond the leads, the casting was outstanding - from old friends (Larabee, Siegfried, Shtarker) to new characters (notably, Dwayne Johnson as Agent 23).

In all, a fun 110 minutes that stands on its own while also paying tribute to a classic.

I'm going to preface this review by stating that I haven't seen the original TV series upon which this film was based on. Therefore I'm unable to draw comparisons and will just stick to reviewing this film.

One thing I did think was really good about this film was some of the casting choices; Carrell is particularly good here and is very convincing in his respective role as the bumbling & inept rookie agent. He brings a sort of naïve charm to many of his performances and I can't think of a role I've seen him in where I didn't enjoy his performance. Likewise, I think that Hathaway is a perfect compliment to Carrell and their chemistry in this was great - Hathaway pulls off the sexy, sassy & ultra confident field agent with ease. Alan Arkin is a great actor and is always watchable. Likewise, I thought Terrence Stamp was a very effective villain and was quite menacing. Even Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson (who is not the best of actors) managed to also be quite good here.

I wasn't convinced by all of the characters however; I found Koechner & Crews characters to be more annoying than funny. The same could be said of the two nerds who were also annoying rather than funny (although not as much as Koechner & Crews). Bill Murray also has a cameo in this which seemed a bit pointless to me.

The one problem with this film was its rather muddled plot- I found it to be very unfocused and it seemed to jump around from place to place and the narrative seemed to jump back and forward which made the story hard to follow at times. Although this was a problem for me, thankfully it wasn't a huge problem as I still found that I enjoyed the film as a whole even if the plot was a little scattershot at times. The main reasons that this film works is due to the excellent chemistry between Hathaway and Carrell and their great interplay makes it possible to ignore some of the issues with the plotting.

Get Smart is funny, but it's not a film that's consistently funny but rather a film that is occasionally funny - although I must admit that some of the jokes were really funny so perhaps it's just a case of quality over quantity. Whilst I haven't seen the original TV Series the closest thing that this film reminds me of is Johnny English - therefore if you enjoyed Johnny English then you should enjoy this too. Nothing spectacular, but it's definitely worth a look.

This film is about an incompetent agent who is assigned to a mission to save the world from terrorists with nuclear weapons.

I was hoping "Get Smart" to be a comedy with intelligent humour, but I was so disappointed. The plot is hopelessly contrived and full of clichés. The film is full of silly jokes that are irritating instead of funny. Those so called funny scenes are repetitive and tiring. The tooth microphone joke is not funny, but they did it three or four times. The get hit by a car scene is annoying as it tries to be funny by stating the obvious. Hence, the scene become not funny.

"Get Smart" is boring, with irritating and silly humour that fails to be funny. I am thoroughly disappointed by it.