‘Get Smart’ or “Missed it by that much” (Review)
There has been an intermittent and unnecessary trend in Hollywood and that is to remake old TV shows into feature lengths films. These are either straight updated remakes or “interpretations” of these old TV show properties. Alas… the majority of these TV show inspired movies have not turned out to be decent films at all. Movies like The Avengers, Mod Squad, Charlie’s Angels, Dukes of Hazard, Bewitched (the worst of all), Scooby Doo, Speed Racer, SWAT, The Flintstones, Lost in Space, Inspector Gadget, etc…the list goes on and it’s not shocking that they are almost all terrible…terrible movies. I do however have an inexplicable love for Michael Mann’s ‘Miami Vice’ movie because it was so very different from the source material. Now we have the modern update of the 1960’s spy comedy, ‘Get Smart’. Maybe I have Steve Carell-bias or maybe it’s because I was in need of anything better than the last movie I saw ‘The Happening’, but when I walked out the theater after seeing ‘Get Smart’ I said to my girlfriend, “that was actually pretty good”.
‘Get Smart’ takes the basic premise of the original TV show pulls it out of the 1960’s Cold War era and places it into a modern day contemporary setting. Steve Carell plays Maxwell Smart the bumbling agent 86 who works for the secret organization CONTROL who is set out to stop the rival terrorist organization KAOS. The supporting cast includes Anne Hathaway as the stealthy and confident Agent 99, Alan Arkin as The Chief, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson as Agent 23, Terence Stamp as the villainous Siegfried and various other character actors as well as a few cameos to please the mass audiences. The whole cast is good and I actually came out of ‘Get Smart’ with a fondness for Anne Hathaway and Dwayne Johnson more so than I’ve ever liked them in any movie before.
The story is really not the main draw of ‘Get Smart’, but there is a decent story in the movie. It’s a simple “good vs. evil” action comedy narrative that isn’t complex at all, but it does feature a couple fun twists and accomplishes what it needs to in order to put the characters in comedic situations that are believable in regards to the characters and the world that has been set up for the audience. Moviegoers are not going to see ‘Get Smart’ for an intricate spy story; they are going to see Steve Carell put into hilarious spy type situations. If that doesn’t sell you, Anne Hathaway is gorgeous in this movie as the sexy super spy Agent 99, and Alan Arkin is absolutely entertaining as the gruff old Chief.
I found ‘Get Smart’ to be a solid funny movie and it exceed my preconceived notions. This is a movie that deserves more credit than the critics are giving it. Yes, I’ll say it’s not the funniest, laugh-out-loud film of the year nor will it be. However…it’s a pleasant comedy and one of the better movies that’s spawned from an old TV show property. There are far worse movies, especially comedies to spend your money on seeing and in this day in age of high-ticket prices and so many movies to see. I’ll say that ‘Get Smart’ is worth the price of admission alone.
Dan Hacker
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