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Get Smart
Director:
Peter Segal
Starring:
Steve Carell, Anne Hathaway, Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson, Alan Arkin,
Terence Stamp
 The
road from TV to the big screen is paved with failures. There's Miami
Vice,
which got turned into a dull two-hour mumble-fest. There's Starsky
and Hutch,
which somehow got turned into a distinctly average spoof of the
original series. The less said about The
Flintstones movies,
the
better. Or the Charlie's
Angels movies...
If only there was a way to show screaming in terror in text form.
Even a success like The
Simpsons Movie doesn't
feel quite like it does enough with the shift in screen, and many of
these adaptations succumb to feeling like extended episodes (and, as
we've seen very
recently, over-extended episodes too). I have to admit that I not
very familiar with the original Get
Smart TV
series, but from what I've read about it, this adaptation seems like
one of the best adaptations to date.
Maxwell Smart (Steve Carell), a reformed fat man, is the best analyst
at secret agency CONTROL, writing lengthy, 400+ page detailed reports
on potential terror suspects and their choice of coffee and muffins.
But Max wants something more: he wants to be a spy, just like revered
Agent 23 (Dwayne “Don't call me 'The Rock'” Johnson), and
even though he has passed his exam with flying colours, The Chief
(Alan Arkin) knows that Max is his best analyst and doesn't want to
lose him. However, when the CONTROL base is breached and almost all
of CONTROL's agents have had their identities compromised, The Chief
makes Max the new Agent 86 and sends him on his first mission. Max
isn't going alone, though, since he is going with Agent 99 (Anne
Hathaway), who has had major plastic surgery recently, and thus her
identity hasn't been compromised.
I
have to admit, I had a lot of fun with this film. The laughs in the
film are plentiful and while it is nothing highbrow, it is definitely
a comedy with a kind heart inside it. There's nothing mean-spirited
about Get
Smart.
It's dialogue occasionally nudges the line of risqué, but at
the end of the day, the film just wants to entertain and make an
audience laugh. It doesn't hold any higher purpose than that and why
should it? While some may bemoan the lack of satire humour regarding
world events, I personally didn't mind since I usually find humour
based on current events tends to date very quickly. (that said, there
is one joke about Kim Jong-Il that I expect will date a little bit)
Slapstick is the order of the day here and it is done very well.
I
think part of the likeability is due to the cast, which consist
entirely of confident, charming performers. The casting director
needs a bonus here, because every part is spot-on. Steve Carell
finally finds a vehicle that suits his mix of deadpan silliness
perfectly, unlike the movie he did last summer... What
was that called again? The role of Maxwell Smart also requires a
sort of childlike naivety, which we all know Carell excels at every
since he was the personification of it as Brick in Anchorman:
The Legend of Ron Burgundy. The
movie plays towards his strengths and Carell just has a ball of a
time. He does have shades of Frank Drebin from Naked
Gun,
since Carell plays a lot of his material straight while he manages to
cause chaos around him.
The straight “man” is, of course, Hathaway, who we all
know will be the love interest. Interestingly, Hathaway is asked to
play older than her age (her character is meant to be few years
younger than Carell, but due to the plastic surgery, you get the
idea...) and she does do a convincing job, I thought. She doesn't
oversell how old she is (there's no gags about her age giving her
trouble on the job). She and Carell do have a nice chemistry in their
scenes together, which is good since they are together for the
majority of the running time. Plus, she looks fantastic in a low-cut
dress. There, I said it. You were all thinking it.
One
unfortunate side-effect of the casting, though, is that you wish that
some of the supporting characters were on-screen more often. For
instance, The Rock (screw it, I'm not calling him Dwayne. I'm just
not.) and Alan Arkin don't get a lot to do in the second act, which
means neither can stretch their comic talents (particularly the
former, who managed to save Be
Cool
single-handedly
with his unappreciated comic ability). Thankfully, both actors get
plenty to do at the end. There are plenty of recognisable bit-parters
here also, including Masi Oka (Hiro from Heroes),
Terry Crews, David Koechner (best known as Champ Kind in Anchorman)
, WWE wrestler The Great Khali (who has a much better touch at comedy
than he does wrestling), James Caan (I haven't seen him in a while)
doing his best Dubya impression and one Hollywood big name turning up
for a surprise appearance (his high billing in the credits suggests
more with his character was filmed but cut). Each get a little
moment, but this Carell and Hathaway's movie.
The
director, Peter Segal seems to be oddly unsure of the film's tone
sometimes. For instance, our introduction to the villains is played
straight, including violence, which is a tad odd in a comedy. Some of
the gags in the early stages don't quite get the laughs they should,
either. (for example, a spoof version of the skydiving sequence from
Moonraker)
I have to admit this is strange considering the man directed Naked
Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult.
That said, he does manage to get the pacing and tone right in the
last half of the film, which is easily the best and most confident,
mixing action and comedy in a way the early stages did not. His
experience in comedy does make sure he gets the maximum comic
potential out of each of his performers.
In the UK, this film got scathing reviews, which leads further
evidence that if I ever attend a screening for critics, I could get
stoned for having the blasphemy to laugh at something which knows it
is just a fun piece of entertainment you watch when you're in need of
some laughs and fun. Will I remember it when December comes along?
Probably not. But did I enjoy it while it lasted? Absolutely. The
casting and performances are spot on for the movie and once it gains
confidence in itself, the movie is a laugh riot. Just sit back, relax
and laugh. You can thank me for it later.
3.5/5
This article was done by Film Brain
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