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Get Smart (2008)

Director: Peter Segal

Critics' rating

Average user rating
2 reviews

Synopsis

Steve Carell steps into Don Adams's shoes—complete with shoephone—as the bumbling Maxwell Smart.

Movie review

From Time Out New York

Fidelity to the source is probably not a fair criterion by which to judge a film based on an intermittently funny 1960s television show, but still. In taking agent Maxwell Smart out of the Cold War and into the new millennium, screenwriters Tom J. Astle and Matt Ember have retained all the easy signature jokes (“Sorry about that, Chief.” “Would you believe…” “Missed it by that much.”) but softened the lead character beyond recognition.

You can almost imagine the script conference at which someone insisted that Max needs a goal and a sympathetic backstory. And so the spy (Carell, who often seems to be shoe-phoning it in) has been transformed from a dense, self-regarding bumbler to a lovably klutzy but very smart intelligence analyst who dreams of being a field agent. When all of control’s operatives are compromised by a security breach, he gets his chance. Joining him in the field are sexy Agent 99 (Hathaway, trying gamely with weak material) and charming superspy Agent 23 (Johnson, whose comic gifts recall a bull in a china shop, only with better teeth).

Director Peter Segal (Tommy Boy, Anger Management) displays his usual middling feel for comedy, flatly presenting gags that seem as though more humor could be wrung out of them. The only real fun is watching old pros like Arkin (as the Chief) and Stamp (as evil Siegfried) sell material that doesn’t deserve the love they give it. There’s nothing terribly wrong here, but there’s nothing terribly right, either. Missed it by that much.

Author: Hank Sartin

Time Out New York Issue 664: June19 - 25, 2008

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User reviews of this film

  • Joseph C. Cavella said...
    Posted on Jun 21 2008 13:03 Get Smart movie review
    As one of the writers of the original “Get Smart” TV series, I was dismayed by the new, flawed “Get Smart” movie--I never understood why remakes don’t at least talk to the original material writers. Maybe it’s a kind of immature tantrum, “I want to do it myself, mom.”
    That said, for the writers of the next remake, here’s a bit of advice: The essence, the fun of the Don Adams character was his child-like confidence and his bravado (not unlike the character often played by Bob Hope) presaging the inevitable catastrophic blunder. “Sorry about that.”
    Any writer charged with vetting agent 86 should start by studying the origin of the character, Don’s early nightclub routines. His defense attorney bit: “Look at those trim ankles, the well turned calf. Now I ask you. Are those the legs of a homicidal maniac?”
    Joseph C. Cavella
    HowToWriteComedy.com
    Report as inappropriate
  • Amber said...
    Posted on Jun 21 2008 09:06 I think you got this wrong. I think they paid just enough homage to the original show, but gave it their own touch. In the theatre where I saw the film, the audience was laughing constantly, including my husband, who is British, and never saw the original series. Anne Hathaway was spot on as 99, secretly loving everything Max does while publically loathing it. When the film was finished, the audience clapped! So I think you're wrong here. I think it's a feel good movie, that didn't try to hard to be the original, and didn't try to hard to be something completely different either. As a huge Get Smart fan (watched it on Nick at Nite when I was a kid), I thought it was awesome.
    Report as inappropriate

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Get Smart

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Cast & crew

Director: Peter Segal

Cast: Steve Carell, Anne Hathaway, The Rock, Terence Stamp, Alan Arkin, Terry Crews, David Koechner, James Caan, Bill Murray, Patrick Warburton, Masi Oka, Nate Torrence, Ken Davitian full cast

Rated: PG-13

Duration: 110 mins

US Release: Jun 20 2008


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