"Get Smart" - spoiler movie review

I was a fan of "Get Smart" when I was a kid, though I'm not sure that I saw all of the episodes. I liked the humour and generally found the show to be very funny. I can't say that I remember too much about the show now other than the basics, and I haven't watched an episode of the show in years, so I don't even know if I'd like the show now.

I wasn't necessarily terribly interested in seeing the film - Steve Carell isn't really my thing, and I'm a little done with re-imagining old television shows into big-screen movies that hardly resemble the original show in the first place. But the husband was interested, and I wasn't against it enough to decline to go, so I figured, ok, what the heck. And then I heard a review from Ralph Garman at KROQ that the movie wasn't really much like the TV show, and Maxwell Smart wasn't the Agent 86 that we knew from the TV show. Ooooooookaaaaayyy. Ummm, that's where much of the humour was generated from. The husband heard that review too, and his interest was dampened a bit, so we didn't see it when the film opened. Friends saw the movie and though they weren't entirely enthusiastic about it, they recommended it enough to say that it was worth seeing and wouldn't be a waste of time. Lacking any other new movie to see on Fourth of July and not having time in our schedule to see Indy IV again (which would have been the other choice), we opted for "Get Smart".

It might be because I went into it not expecting that much, though I suppose I could have had the same reaction regardless, but overall, I enjoyed the film. I thought the first half-hour was very slow, moreso than you might normally expect as the situation has to be set for those coming into the movie without any knowledge of the television show whatsoever. Smart is not in fact an agent - he's just a desk analyst, but he wants to be an agent, looking enviously at the adoration and respect heaped on super-agent and all-around loved-by-all Agent 23, played by Dwayne Johnson. I found many of the attempted jokes to fall flat in that first half-hour - they were trying hard but just missing the mark.

The film picked up after Smart is pressed into service as an agent and teamed with a very reluctant Agent 99, played by Anne Hathaway. As usual, Smart has to help CONTROL thwart the machinations of evil Siegfried and the rest of KAOS.

There are a number of fairly good action sequences in the film, and I found the jokes and gags in the later part of the film to be much better, where I was laughing out loud on numerous occasions.

The film is obviously set up for a sequel, especially with the cameo appearance of Patrick Warburton as Hymie, but I'm not sure I'd be interested in seeing a sequel.

Steve Carell actually does a very good job of playing the Smart as drawn in the film. He's not over-the-top like Don Adams, but that was perhaps a good decision - there's no way that anyone could have compared to Adams' Smart. The standout performance for me was Anne Hathaway. I've only seen her in a couple of movies, and she's always played the demure, nice girl-next-door. Well, her Agent 99 is a far cry from Barbara Feldon's Agent 99 - Hathaway is kick-ass, sure of herself, opinionated, not afraid to show her strengths and definitely doesn't cater or pander to Smart. Perhaps the Agent 99 played by Feldon wouldn't have gone over well in this modern age. In any case, Hathaway showed a fire and a savvy that for me was very unexpected - I loved her scenes in the evening gown, both before and after she ripped the lower half of it. I think her performance in this film shows that she can play a wide range of characters. Hmmm, I wonder if she'd make a good Catwoman?

Alan Arkin does a good job as The Chief, and Dwayne Johnson is very good as well. (I loved the bit with stapling the paper to the guy's forehead. OK, yeah, OWWWWW, but too frickin' funny, especially since Hymie does it at the end of the film as well.) I don't remember Agent 23 being significant in the television show, so I'm glad they had a non-descript, unfamiliar agent who ends up being the traitor, unlike, oh, I don't know, "Mission: Impossible", which made well-known, head-of-the-gang Jim Phelps the traitor, or "S.W.A.T.", who made well-known and well-liked T.J. the traitor. Ummm, no.

Terence Stamp is fine as Siegfried, though he doesn't really have all that much to do. And no, this time, I didn't think it was Malcolm MacDowell. I *loved* Bill Murray's cameo as the agent relegated to being stuck in random objects. Murray had the exact right attitude for this poor guy who's still resorting to old-school tactics like hiding in a tree. Masi Oka (Hiro from "Heroes") has a smallish role, and he's fun to watch, but he also doesn't have too much to do, though his scene where he's trying to capture Smart and is "overpowered" while on surveillance camera was pretty funny. The cameo by Bernie Kopell was *priceless*. I didn't care for James Caan's turn as the Bush-esque president. That wasn't Caan's fault - I blame the writers for that unimaginative and overdone portrayal.

All in all, a decent movie.