Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Get Smart





Stars:

Steve Carell
Anne Hathaway
Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson



Get Smart is the movie version of the 60's hit TV comedy series, many of us may not have been born at the time, but I believe at least some of us got to see the re-runs of this popular series on TV. The TV series was a spoof of spy flicks and starred Don Adams as the bumbling secret agent Maxwell Smart serving CONTROL, the clandestine US agency that locked horns with their Russian counterpart KAOS.

The CONTROL - KAOS face-off is resumed in the movie version, with KAOS demanding payment from the US Government in return for them not distributing nuclear weapons to "unstable dictators". Enter Maxwell Smart, who desperately wants to elevate himself to a field agent from his present status of analyst. He gets his chance when most of CONTROL's agents are either killed or exposed by KAOS agents whereupon he teams up with Agent 99 (Anne Hathaway) to thwart KAOS' evil plot.

Those who enjoyed the TV series would frown at the lack of comical dumbness that they have come to expect from Maxwell Smart and the plot in general. If anyone expecting to see a Johnny English type of bumbling spy spoof, then they will be disappointed. I, for one found it refreshing to see an actually competent Maxwell Smart, where it was the rest CONTROL that turned out to be the bumbling characters. There were some minimal attempts to reconnect the past with the use of the shoe phone and the red convertible, but by and large CONTROL has moved on to better and badder toys for their agents.

The sky diving, car chasing and factory action sequences are worthy of a serious action movie, the laughs are all there; both the slapstick variety as well as the witty one liners. Carell is likable as Maxwell Smart, and elegant Anne Hathaway is delightful as Agent 99. Dwayne Johnson provided the tough guy role as super Agent 23. The rest of the leading cast, Terrance Stamp, James Caan and Alan Arkin who are normally associated with more serious roles served out their comedy with great gusto.

Get Smart is an uncomplicated comedy action that dishes out a lot fun, an array of spy gadgets, a fair bit of action and a hint of romantic connection. What more can you ask from a spoof?

2 comments:

little black dress said...

i was quite lucky that i managed to watch the original Get Smart tv series rerun when i was a kid (thanks to singapore tv). im not a big fan of steve carell and i would like to hold on to the image of the old & original version of get smart which was reallyyy funny.. so i guess i'll skip this movie then. oh.. and i love the signature soundtrack of get smart.

Boone said...

I'm not a fan of Carell either (skipped Evan Almightly), but took this as a show without the TV series legacy.

Catch this on DVD then; it may yet surprise you.