Get Smart

Synopsis

Quirky and awkward Maxwell Smart (Steve Carell, The Office) is a high level analyst with the U.S. spy agency CONTROL, charged with foiling the criminal plots of a shadowt organization known as KAOS. When CONTROL headquarters is fatally attacked by the depraved crime alliance, and the majority of its agents are killed or their identities are jeopardized, chief (Alan Arkin, Little Miss Sunshine) promotes Smart to a field agent working along side the beautiful veteran Agent 99 (Anne Hathaway). Together, with Smart’s clumsiness and Hathaway’s braun, they must stop KAOS leader Siegfreid's (Terence Stamp) diabolical plan for world destruction.

Review

Well, I be darned. I truly thought that Get Smart wasn't going to be that good but, I was completely wrong. I thought all the funny scenes were being shown in the trailer. I was wrong again. The funny moments and one-liners continued through the entire flick and they cracked me up. The entire cast had great chemistry, which would seem tough given their diverse backgrounds and personalities. What you need to know is that this is a pretty good action flick rolled up into a comedy—something you might otherwise not expect from Carell.

Get Smart is a big screen movie version of the 1960's Mel Brooks & Buck Henry's secret agent TV series. A lot of the little jokes such as the shoe phone and the phone booth that drops straight underground are kept in tact for the film. I like that. It's good to keep some scenes in its original state, especially for fans of the original series. The main character Agent 86—or Maxwell Smart (Carell)—is still a blundering maladroit of an agent. He still attempts to get things right after 8 attempts or more. Smart has dreamt of being a field agent working alongside the legendary and skillful Agent 23 (Dwayne Johnson, Scorpion King). Not happeneing. He's too good of an analyst, says his chief (Arkin), so he must keep his desk job. But you do see some signs that Max has the right stuff—he may be a goofball sometimes but, he certainly is very good at shooting. Who knew?

When the headquarters of CONTROL is ambushed by their nemesis—KAOS—the action begins and Max gets his chance to shine. The end of this early scene tickled me. I don't want to give anything away, but just know that someone from his team gets JACKED UP by Smart. The scene also perfectly sets up the main premise behind Smart's character—he's clumsy and makes mistakes, but nonetheless his methods are effective.

When Smart is told by the Chief that he’s now a field Agent and will be partnering with the sexy female Agent 99 (Hathaway) he is extremely happy, and she's feeling like she has to endure a horrible blind date. And insert the old cone of silence from the original show. And the cone still doesn't work, especially when Smart can't contain his excitement and he yells his private thoughts—so he thinks—about his lucky new promotion and all his co-workers hear. Classic Maxwell Smart, and classic Carell.

Yes, there are some silly unrealistic scenes such as Smart lifting up a 300 pound woman above his head in a dance scene (and I'm being generous with that estimate!). Sounds stupid doesn't it? Well if you think that let me tell you something...it was. It was, but we were all cracking up. Just go with it. It's the beauty of the movie, Carell was cast perfectly as Maxwell Smart—nose and all. He proceeds Don Adams superbly. And I'm saying, Carell owed me something big after the utterly ridiculous Evan Almighty. That movie was so awful he still owes me even after Get Smart—but he get's a pass now. In Get Smart he pulled off the jokes and the expressions of the Smart character. He wasn't annoying. That's it! He was annoying as heck to me in Evan Almighty. I couldn't think of the right word. It was on the tip of my tongue. ANNOYING. Like that paper clip from Microsoft Office (wait for it...)

The state of the art James Bond jiggers or mechanical devices, if you will, were on point, such as the Swiss Army Knife two nerdy young engineers (Masi Oka, Heroes & Nate Torrence, Driftwood) created for Smart. As you’ll see when you watch this movie—this man kinda needs all the help he can get. But don't be fooled—Smart is actually pretty gangsta—and the more realistic portryals of voilence in the movie (versus the TV show) make him the butt of jokes, but you wouldn't want him to crack you in your coconut with the butt of his pistol. He may mess up eight times, but in the end he handles the BIZNEZZ.

Oh, and ladies, The Rock, oh I mean Dwayne Johnson (he likes to go by his birth name now) did not disappoint. I wanted to capture him on my cell phone to have a still pic so I could just...you know...admire. I'm exaggerating, but ladies, again, the man doesn't disappoint—oh...and neither does Get Smart.

My Rating ~ 3 Reels

Average Rating ~ What's Yours?