"Get Smart" For The New Millennium

Picking a fractal for today’s post (a review of Get Smart) proved to be quite problematic. (How do you pick an image for THAT???) I ended up choosing Peter Max 6 mainly because I couldn’t find a more solid connection: Peter Max is an iconic artist who got his start the 1960s and the original Get Smart started at the same time. Yeah the connection is tenuous (at best) but it was the best I could do. SO--on with the review!
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I was but a wee lad (yeah right!) when the original Get Smart ran on TV way back in the 1960s. I caught some of the original episodes and saw most of it in reruns but, in all honesty, I was never a huge fan. Right now I can’t say why: maybe Don Adams’ snakrky (and all too nasally) performance put me off, maybe it was the constant bumbling--although I did have a huge crush on Agent 99 (the oh-so-sexy Barbara Feldon). Now, like so many other staples of classic television, Get Smart has made the transition to the big screen--and, sad to say, I’m still not much of a fan…
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Get Smart has gotten an update for the new millennium: Maxwell Smart (Steve Carrell doing his “loveable bumbler“ schtick) is an Intelligence Analyst for CONTROL. He longs to be a Field Agent but he’s too good (not to mention thorough and by-the-book) to be promoted. Still, he gets the chance when KAOS attacks and decimates CONTROL. Max is teamed with veteran Agent 99 (Anne Hathaway) who recently got a new look (thus KAOS doesn’t have pics of her). The rest of the story is a pretty standard “quest” that holds a couple of none-too-surprising surprises. (I figured out the “real” villain just by looking at the cast list and seeing his first few minutes on screen.)
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Steve Carrell did a wickedly-perfect imitation of Paul Lynde in the big screen adaptation of Bewitched (and it was the highlight of the movie). He doesn’t imitate Don Adams for the part of Max (although he does a few of the same physical gags and the “would you believe…?” schtick). There is virtually no chemistry between Carrell and Anne Hathaway. Dwayne “the Rock” Johnson plays Agent 23 and Alan Arkin is the Chief. Terramce Stamp plays Sigfried, the head of KAOS. Masi Oka (Hiro from Heroes) puts in an appearance as gadget-guy Bruce. Bill Murrey does a brief cameo as Agent 13 and several actors from the original series pop up here and there although why Barbara Feldon and Dick Gauthier (the last living series regulars)didn‘t make an appearance I‘ll never know.
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You have to give the film makers credit for trying to update the story for the 21st Century. Still, Get Smart is at its best with the various homages to the original series. (LOVED the “Shoe Phone” and the all too brief appearance of Max’s little red convertible--although I could have done without the “Cone of Silence.”) The stunts are pretty good (considering this isn’t an “action” movie) and some of the battles are quite nice. Sadly, there isn’t much chemistry between the two leads--which makes the ending hard to believe.
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Get Smart is an OK summer diversion. It’s the sort of movie you can enjoy on video or when there isn’t anything better at the Multiplex. The language is a bit strong for the littles and the violence might be a bit intense but all in all it is pleasant enough.
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FINAL GRADE: C+