Got Smart
Get Smart
A Review by Cade Antilles
Multiple steel doors, a phone booth, a shoe phone, the cone of silence, missing it by that much and (don’t forget) the element of . . . SURPRISE! Icons of a nearly forgotten franchise. I loved the original series from the ’60s (which I watched in syndication), and follow-up film (Get Smart, Again!) in 1989, which starred the late Don Adams, and was created from the comical genius that is Mel Brooks. I LOATHED the 1995 TV series revival. Fortunately, that piece of defecated nonsense only lasted 7 episodes.
Now, with Steve Carell picking up the reigns, could this slapstick, James Bond spoof live up to its namesake? The answer is . . . yes!
Not only does the film live up to its name, it surpasses it. All of the original jokes are there, and a number of new ones as well. Steve Carell is a perfect Maxwell Smart, combining his strong comedic timing with fluid physical gags. Anne Hathaway is a hot and commanding Agent 99, and Alan Arkin is an awesome Chief. Quite a list of co-stars and cameos, too: Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Terence Stamp, James Caan, Bill Murray, Masi Oka, Patrick Warburton, and Ryan Seacrest (to name the most recognizable). There’s also an appearance of the original Siegfried from the ’60s series, Bernie Kopell.
What makes the comedy of this incarnation so strong is its simplicity. Instead of mostly relying on elaborate slapstick gags, most of the jokes are quick and well-delivered. Of course, it wouldn’t be Get Smart without slapstick, and this movie delivers a few of those as well. Not only that, but crude humor hardly plays a role, which was surprisingly refreshing. It also takes a number of the series’ original, iconic jokes and brings them back fresh. I only wish that the simple hand gesture that indicated by how much Max had missed had accompanied those jokes. Would’ve made those lines a tad funnier. There are plenty of homages to the original series, as well.
Get Smart is also a decent action movie. Plenty of gunplay, explosions, and hand-to-hand combat to keep any action fan interested. It does a great job of combining the action with its Bond-parody nature. This even includes a fight with a Richard Kiel look-alike (Dalip Singh, aka The Great Khali from the WWE). Singh and Kiel are even the same height (7′2″)! For those of you who don’t know who Richard Kiel is, does the name “Jaws” ring any bells? If not, oh well.
The only real downsides are its general silliness and predictability. But, if you like silly, then that’s not much of a problem, is it?
If you’re a fan of Get Smart, silly comedy, and solid action, you’ll probably love this movie. If you’re not a fan of Get Smart, I highly recommend it anyway, since its still a solid action/comedy. If you don’t like slapstick at all, you may find less interest. For me, this film was exactly what I’ve been craving. Nobody seems to make movies like this anymore, and they really should.
Grade: A- (91%)
June 25th, 2008 at 3:57 pm
I’d agree with most everything here. One exception is just from the viewpoint of someone new to the series/movie. Its got a lot going for it, but without the links to the old series some of the stuff falls a bit flat. It’s not a huge killer for the overall movie, I’d just put my score in high B territory. 88% perhaps.
Not a huge difference though. The bit with Patrick Warburton was awesome with or without deep knowlege of his character for instance.
I predict that Gamin will say that the preview gave away too much, and i predict that i will tend to agree.
Cool/funny movie.
June 25th, 2008 at 4:29 pm
I agree with thejsun in that I agree with most of what you said. The casting was good, and all the old throwbacks from the show were awesome, but as far as “surpasses it” I’m afraid it falls really short on that mark. I consider this movie a nice homage to the original series, but it in no way comes close to how good the original series was. I would also give this movie a ‘B’.