Summer Movie Review: Get Smart

[thatcrazycajun]

As my sweet Songbird has finally flown back to the wilds of deepest, darkest Africa, I decided to take my first day alone again to cross another of the big summer movie releases off my to-see list. Warner Bros. and Village Roadshow Pictures, the partnership behind the recent film version of Speed Racer, have unleashed their next repurposed TV property: the big-screen adaptation of Mel Brooks and Buck Henry's classic Cold War spy-farce, Get Smart. Steve Carell picks up the fallen mantle of the world's most inept secret agent, Maxwell Smart, left by the late Don Adams, with Anne Hathaway (The Princess Diaries I-II) taking over from Barbara Feldon as Max's lovely sidekick/paramour, Agent 99. Rounding out the cast are Alan Arkin as The Chief, Heroes' Masi Oka as a nerdy CONTROL techie and Dwayne Johnson (he apparently no longer wishes to be called by his old pro-wrestling moniker, "The Rock") as the super-suave Agent 23.

First off, I have to say the main cast is all superbly chosen; I don't think anyone now alive could have done Agent 86 for the new millennium better than Carell does, and Arkin is also a hoot as the head of the agency. Some may argue—and in fact, some critics have—that the new Max is too much more competent at times than the old Adams version. I think today's audiences (myself included) are too sophisticated in our experience of both real-life intelligence work and fictional characterization to buy the notion that such a complete and total brainless fuckup that Adams essayed, succeeding only despite himself thanks largely to dumb luck and the intervention of 99 and others, could be a top government spook. Carell's Agent 86 is more of a wonk than a goof, but likable enough that we want him to at least occasionally show that he does have something on the ball that makes him valuable and enables him to save the day. If Brooks and Henry (who are listed prominently as consultants) are okay with it, that's good enough for this longtime GS fan.

Carell and Hathaway (who has shaped up quite nicely in both acting talent and sultriness since her teen-actress days) do have an undeniable chemistry. The film hit all the right notes for old-school fans, from the exhibit of the "defunct" agency's memorabilia in the agency lobby (including the famous little red sports car Adams drove into the show's opening credits, which becomes more than just a standing prop later on) to all the catchphrases we know and love, or almost all (only Max's famous response to warnings of the dire danger he's going to be in, "And....loving it!" was missing) to the expected cameo by an original-series star (I'll leave you to guess which one...) to the dedication to Don and the also-deceased original Chief, Edward Platt, at the very end of closing credits. And I am smugly pleased with myself that as far back as the first viewing of the trailer, I correctly predicted that Johnson's character would end up being the KAOS double-agent who is behind the exposure of all of CONTROL's agents that forces the Chief to grant Max his longed-for promotion to field work.

My only quibble: I do wish they'd have found some role for Babs F. to play; perhaps as 99's mother, who is mentioned. Ah, well, if this film does well enough, maybe they'll get her for the sequel. And an aside for gorgeousgary: I agree with you—having now gotten my first good look at it, I sincerely feel that whoever thought that the design of the Disney Hall in L.A. was acceptable as the look for a major public cultural space ought to be taken out and shot, along with Frank Gehry, the alleged architect who keeps inflicting this kind of crap on the world.

Comments

[sdelmonte]

Some critics who liked the old show have actually noted that Max was sometimes very capable. It wasn't so much that he was a bumbler as a buffoon, someone whose skills never got in the way of him saying or doing something foolish.

Either way, I have been pleasantly surprised by the response to this film by both people I trust and critics I trust, and plan to see it every day for the next month.

Would you believe twice a week for the next two weeks?

How about over the holiday weekend?

[robin-june.livejournal.com]

I don't wonder that Dwayne Johnson no longer wishes to be called "The Rock;" while I was watching him, I kept mentally naming him "Chris Rock," and then going, "No, that's not right..."

[baggette.livejournal.com]

I am hoping that some Barbara Feldon scene or interview is in the DVD special features. I too was hoping that more kitche from the original series had been inserted. Only ONE "sorry about that Chief" ? Gee whiz! But agent 13 and Mr. Koepple were delightful!
I must say that some of the gags went on a little too long. After three times with the cross bow......he should have used the blow torch....lol........even if it was only accidental.

Just my two cents