Get Smart

Get Smart (Peter Segal, 2008)

THE SCOOP
Director: Peter Segal
Plot: Maxwell Smart, Agent 86 for CONTROL, battles the forces of KAOS with the more-competent Agent 99 at his side.

Genre: Action/Comedy/Crime
Awards: -
Runtime: 110min
Rating: PG for some rude humor, action violence and language.

IN RETROSPECT
Peter Segal's remake of the hit TV series, Get Smart, is less of a nostalgic affair than expected. The effort is there for all to see though. Running at slightly less than two hours, Segal's movie still feels a tad too long. I'm not complaining though, because it's definitely a hell lot better (and shorter) than Sex And The City (another TV-to-cinema transition). Steve Carell plays a bumbling secret agent with a face of a statue. During scenes which require him to show physical emotion, his deliberate stoic facial expression is a constant source of hilarity.

The chemistry between Carell and Anne Hathaway is sizzling, which is an important factor that elevates Get Smart into something more than a derivative action-comedy. While Adam Sandler shows he's past his prime in the new comedy, Don't Mess With The Zohan, fellow comedian Carell proves that he has what it takes to last the distance than Sandler. Hathaway, apart from being eye candy, plays her role more effectively than most Bond girls would have accomplished. The strong references to Bond pictures in Get Smart should end just there. There is no need for a comparison. Get Smart is played for laughs, while 007 films are action-thrillers.

Get Smart has several laugh-out-loud dialogue sequences including an unforgettable one in which Carell’s character meets two armed Russian baddies in their 'nuclear facility'. The action sequences are at times unrealistic (especially the 'parachuting' part) though technically quite well done. However, the attempt to infuse loads of humorous material into action scenes takes it toll after a while. The climactic scene in the concert hall is reminiscent of Hitchcock's own take in The Man Who Knew Too Much. Even though Get Smart has its moments, it's never a top-notch action-comedy. It will get plenty of laughs though, but it is never enough.

SCORE: 6.5/10
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Recommendations: Toy Story 3 (Lee Unkrich, 2010), To Kill a Mockingbird (Robert Mulligan, 1962), The Visitor

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Last updated: 2010-06-08 21:53:41 by eternality_tan

get smart

i finally went to see this movie.  i was skeptical.  the trailers didn’t really look that funny which usually means trouble.

get smart is the first tv show i remember looking forward to watching every week.  this was before we had a color tv, mind you.  i just thought it was in black and white.  of course i thought everything was in black and white until i saw a color tv.  there’s really no going back.  and it wasn’t that long ago, my family was just slow on the color tv thing.  we was poor, ya see.

but anyway, it is actually really funny.  and mostly appropriate for youngsters.  there are a couple of what could be considered adult jokes but they are double edged so the little ones think they are just making a joke about someone’s privates.  which they are.  but you know what i mean.

steve carrell is funny as max and anne hathaway is gorgeous as agent 99.  the rock is enjoyable as always and you can never go wrong with alan arkin.  bill murry, one of my personal favorite actors of all time, has a cameo where he plays an agent in a tree.  he’s sad and lonely and i can really relate to his character….

they paid homage to the tv series in a few ways that i really enjoyed, having been a huge fan of the television series.  you get to see the shoe phone in action and steve carrell delivers all the old catch phrases smooth like butter.  “missed it by that much.”  when he and agent 99 swing from roof top to the side of the next building.  “sorry about that chief,” when he mistakes the chief for a chaos agent.  and “it’s the old shoe phone relayed to the cell phone so you would trace the call back to DC then i’d appear on the roof top right next to you trick”, when they traced his cell phone back to DC only to find him on the roof top with them.

anyway, it’s funny.  go see it.  take the kids.  and make sure to add it to the collection.

i give it three and half shoe phones out of five.

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Cal Reed

Get Smart

I was incredibly tired from college but I got pulled to see Get Smart. And it was funny as shit! Laughed the whole way through!



So Get Smart is based on a 1960's comedy series about an agent named Maxwell Smart who is assigned with Agent 99 played by Anne Hathaway who are trying to investigate the people behind an attack in CONTROL headquarters and uncovers a plot involving KAOS and lotso nuclear bombs.



The big change that the movie makes from the series is that the character Maxwell Smart is no longer that bumbling incompetent idiot who gets things done on sheer luck. Now we have a character who is a smart man but just makes stupid mistakes which makes the character a whole lot funnier.



Everyone is perfectly cast in this film. We have Steve Carrell who is always funny as hell as Maxwell Smart. We have Anne Hathaway as sexy Agent 99 but still an intelligent woman, The Rock as the undercover villain, Alan Arkin as the Chief and Hiro Nakamura with some other guy playing the sidekicks to Steve Carrell.



Anne Hathaway is smoldering in this movies. And she does a pretty decent job in this. She and Steve Carrell have great chemistry, she's incredibly funny with him and tell me you didn't like it when she tore of her skirt and did the tango. What I need from her right now, is a movie where she's dressed in tight leather and swinging a samurai sword. Yes that is my fantasy. Don't judge me!!!



And why can't The Rock just stick do doing decent roles like in Gridiron Gang and in this one. He's not a bad actor that man, it's just that he's been doing some really shitty kids movies like The Game Plan. He does an okay job in this, nothing to go crazy about but definitely a step up from what he did in The Game Plan.



There's a lot of funny moments I loved in this film. The Cone of Silence bit is hella hilarious, cameos from Bill Murray and The Great muthafuckin Khali were fantastic to. I neve knew the guy could speak fluent English. He was always mumble mumble mumble rarr in WWE. I loved all the James Bond references and parodies and I loved Steve Carrell's humor in this.



The only complain I have is that this didn't have to drag on for 2 bloody hours. I was so tired at the end I could barely remember half of the movie. There were plenty of stuff that they could have shaved off in this. Like that bit with KAOS which really didn't do anything for the story.



So yeah, funny movie.. great characters. What more can you ask for a summer comedy?

RATING: 6/10

NicholasC

Get Smart

What did spy movies look like before James Bond? Was there actual spying going on? It’s hard to credit the idea of spy movie these days without glamorous locations, mouth-watering women and enough car chases and explosions to make espionage synonymous with a demolition derby. Before Bond, spies were all Smiley’s People. Nowadays, even comedy spy movies come with artillery. Get Smart, based on the Sixties TV show of the same name, can’t be Austin Powers again after three Austin Powers movies, so instead it opts to beTrue Lies with more laughs (and less racism). It’s all in the best tradition of spies who don’t spy.

Plot, as always in comedy, is secondary. Get Smart is a spy movie. There are good guys and there are bad guys. The bad guys are trying to blow up the president and it’s up to the good guys to stop them. To do this, the good guys must: travel to a variety of exotic locations; jump out of aircraft while in mid-air; blow an ungodly amount of shit up; sleep with each other (this, presuming one of the good guys is a man and the other is a woman); drive fast cars; jump from fast cars; do 99% of the above at the Last Possible Moment… and look good while doing it (the bad guys should be preferably ugly, bald, Middle Eastern or Terence Stamp).

Steve Carell, who looks like a lawyer, is well-suited to smart comedy. He’s made his career thus far on the basis that he’s not Jim Carrey or Robin Williams, and while he doesn’t have the I-might-just-kill-somebody edge of either of those actors, you don’t figure he might just kill somebody (which is always a plus). Carell plays Maxwell Smart as a bit nebbish, but not quite a nerd. It’s a sideways step from his role as The 40 Year-Old Virgin: not quite flinging aside the quietly hurt looks he does so well or the air of maligned dignity he carries with him; more re-directing those qualities into someone who you might share a commute with (as opposed to someone who dreams of commuting aboard the Starship Enterprise).

Anna Hathaway breaks out a pair of legs that could end the War on Terror, and probably says something as well (kidding!). Having been crowned the Next Julia Roberts (in a long line of next Julia Roberts’) a while back, her career is taking shape now with a nice mixture of drama, comedy and Jane Austen. She makes the right decision in Get Smart never to play it too tough even when she’s mad at Max (the old Julia Roberts could learn a thing or two here) and she seems relaxed and in control as the Sexy Girl in a comedy spy movie. Hathaway doesn’t do shrill. The movie even finds time for her to act a little when her character talks about having undergone plastic surgery (“I used to look like my mom”). All credit to an actress who makes that line affecting even when the context is absurd.

The rest of the cast is: The Rock (all smiles), Terence Stamp (all sneers), Alan Arkin and the guy who plays Hiro in Heroes. They all do fine and Arkin is still the best crotchety old man in show-business. The action is handled like the director watched Point Break and Entrapmentand pinched the best bits – but plagiarism isn’t such an issue when you’re making a spy spoof. What matters is that the movie doesn’t play like Mike Myers had anything to do with it.

As much as spy movies have left spying behind, recent comedy (post-Myers) hasn’t had much to do with laughs. That Get Smart is funny is down to the fact that Steve Carell doesn’t do fart gags (or dick jokes, or any of the other dross that’s Myers’ stock-in-trade). Get Smart is a movie with jokes to amuse the over-12s, made with a clear love for the James Bond of From Russia with Love and Dr. No. It’s not a comedy of searing wit or irony (Carell does show his bare ass to the world), but faced with The Guru as the only other big-budget comedy this summer – isn’t intelligence preferable to a bomb?

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GET SMART (2008)

BOTTOM LINE: Surprisingly, much of this big budget remake captures the spirit and nuances of the original 1960's TV show, particularly with the charismatic performances of the cast; but the out of place action scenes and certain adjustments to the characters themselves make this film silly, which is a shame because without them this would have been a great remake instead of a mediocre one.

THE GOOD: The previews for this remake didn't fill me with much hope that its makers had captured the spirit of the television show, but I was surprised to see that a lot of what they'd done is actually faithful to the show. Maxwell Smart (Steve Carell) gets his first job for Control as a secret agent in the field. He is partnered with Agent 99 (Anne Hathaway) and together they go about stopping Kaos from its diabolical plans to conquer the world. Steve Carell does an excellent job of playing Maxwell Smart; he's not Don Adams but he never could be. Instead, we get a portrayal of Maxwell Smart that feels right. Carell manages to infuse Max with that same sense of bumbling foolhardiness combined with an eccentric intelligence that made the character so funny in the television series. The entire second Act of this film is great for this when we see him in action as an agent and it is this part of the film that recalls those fond memories of the original television show. Anne Hathaway is great as Agent 99, the more competent agent in the partnership. Dwayne Johnson is very good as the tough guy Agent 23 who seems like a great agent for Control but maybe there's something else going on. And Terence Stamp is spot on as the evil Siegfried, hired by Kaos to put their plans in to action. The cast is fabulous and elevates this film beyond the substandard remake this film easily could have been. I enjoyed seeing Max walk though all those doors to get to the Headquarters of Control; it was a very nice touch, even with the phone booth at the end as in the TV show. There's some very good comedy on display, with most of it coming from Carell. A lot of this remake of "Get Smart" comes close to capturing the spirit of the television series which makes this film a good piece of entertainment when it's focused on its character and clever dialogue moments.

THE BAD: There are a few places that "Get Smart" falls down. The absolute major drawback is the inclusion of several action sequences which were clearly targeted towards getting a youth audience to see the film. The best parts of the original television show were the funny dialogue and embarrassing situations that Max found himself in; the inclusion of the action scenes in to this remake make for some very silly and childish moments that detract from the stronger character and comedic moments. Seeing Max flying over the tops of cars as he tries to hang on to a banner attached to the bad guy's car is wacky and not reminiscent of the original show at all. Then there's the over the top banana peel moments. Some work because an intelligent joke follows it (such as when Max accidentally loosens the beads on a door divider which later on cause a bad guy to slip on them; his response later, "I set that up"). But others are just embarrassing. As an example, Max's use of a small bow and arrow in a plane toilet to try and shoot off his hand cuffs is banana peel stuff at best, and on top of that they have to repeat the joke of him shooting himself about ten times. "Get Smart" is a spoof, but it works best as an intelligent one, not as a stupid one. Some smaller drawbacks are in the first half of the film. Agent 99's animosity towards Max may be understandable but its out of place given the original setup of the characters from the TV show had 99 take a more understanding approach to Max. Max's set up as a data analyst who wants to get out in the field as an agent felt out of place, largely because the original show had him out in the field in each episode. Agent 23's introduction is quite silly. But perhaps the worst thing was seeing 99 and Max get together romantically at the end. I guess it's how you look at it. If you're a fan of the show these types of things will be irritating, but a younger audience who has never the show will probably go for it. Even not taking these issues in to account, I think the film would have been much better if it relied more on clever dialogue and character moments, but hey, Hollywood shies away from that sort of things these days doesn't it?

RATING: 6.5/10

Todd Murphy <br />
http://www.allaboutmovies.net

Special Movie Review - Get Smart

Steve Carell is, to me, one of the funniest new comedians in mainstream television and film right now. His ability to vary his acting and comedic talent to suit different genres is impressive, considering he can swap from the acerbic, eccentric, and uncomfortable character of Michael in The Office to voicing the Mayor from Horton Hears A Who! with no problems of being unconvincing. I was looking forward to this remake of the 60s television show almost for the sole reason of seeing Carell in another lead role. I was just afraid that the film wouldn't be what I was hoping for.

Get Smart is based off of the television show of the same name, although I have never seen it myself. I can't be sure how faithful it is to that show, but my parents let me know that the movie did do a few throwbacks to its predecessor. In this rendition, Maxwell Smart is part of a government agency that tracks down and stops terrorist threats on the United States. Smart works in communications, listening and recording messages that could contain some threat to America, but he gets promoted to an agent, working with Agent 99 (Anne Hathaway) on a case involving the terrorist group KAOS after Smart's agency, CONTROL, is attacked. 99 and Smart infiltrate one of KAOS' agent's parties, dancing their way towards new information on a nuclear threat led by a man named Siegfried (Terence Stamp). Smart and 99 finally uncover a factory producing yellow cake bombs, but when Agent 23 (Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson) "finds" no evidence of radiation, Smart is locked away as a double agent, just as he and 99 were falling for each other! Yet after a coded tip from an insider in KAOS, Smart breaks out of his holding cell to let CONTROL know that Siegfried is planning to murder the President as he watches a concert held in Disney Hall.

Even though Get Smart is mainly gimmicky comedy, the plot is actually quite entertaining and absorbing, drawing emotion from the audience mainly through Hathaway and Carell's chemistry as partners and love interests. Carell is goofily endearing, as most of his characters are, in a way that he can be the doofiest guy in the movie, yet still look good messing up. Dwayne Johnson's appearances are few and far between, but when he does show up, he holds his part well, although his turn as a villain felt stretched. The guy's a giant teddy bear.

Most of the comedy is what one would expect - stupid immaturity, yet appealing in an I-shouldn't-be-laughing-but-I-can't-help-it way. Some of the jokes felt reused - such as a urination scene which was reminiscent of Austin Powers - but they were different enough to lessen the association between the two. Get Smart didn't just parody spy and espionage movies; it also tackled the chore of poking fun at recent political establishments, like George W. Bush and even some airplane security cracks. I really liked how Get Smart tried to move past the untouchable territory of 9/11, making a joke of what the president was doing when it happened. The subtle humor in the film may not be uproariously funny, but it's appreciated in a time where audiences are requesting more and more out-in-the-open humor.

The choices on where to find humor were surprising, such as a dance scene with an overweight woman. Obviously using weight-inspired jokes to its advantage, Get Smart did something few comedic movies do - made being overweight seem alright. In fact, it made it seem quite dapper indeed. It promoted the fact that pretty doesn't mean thin, that tall or oddly-shaped does not mean ugly, which was highly commendable for a film in a genre where gross-out laughs at the expense of homosexuals or the overweight are almost a staple. Similarly, the film utilized racist tones in such a way where it came off as just what it is - a joke. It poked fun at many different cultures, including American culture, to a point where it was okay to laugh and joke and not feel racist, to not feel like subconsciously you feel like American culture is superior. The fact that Get Smart is an American movie poking fun at its own culture lessens any racist feelings.

Only a few flaws were readily apparent in the viewing of the movie. Events seem to happen too fast and furious, which in itself could be a parody on spy movies, and also the beginning was too bland. It took a while for the movie to really warm up, but when it did, the quick-flying jokes took away the gritty feeling of the jokes that flopped in the first half hour or so of the movie.

Get Smart was, to my disbelief, quite captivating, and its two-hour runtime was unnoticed as the film moves speedily to its conclusion. It pours out equal amounts humor and action, drama and stupidity, parody and seriousness, to a point where one almost forgets at times that the movie is generally classified as a comedy. Sometimes the laughs are spaced out too far apart, and they may be a bit juvenile, but with the movie trying to tackle so many different genres and emotions at once, a lack of perfection from the jokes is understandable, and, at its finale, we reach the conclusion that has been stated towards us from the very beginning in the title - the film's not stupid, and its subtle humor, parody, and emotion has allowed Maxwell Smart to live up to his name.

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Last updated: 2010-01-17 07:21:43 by user01

Get Smart

Gwarsh. I’m watching lesser movies in cinemas these days. It is indeed a sad, sad thing.

Ok, let’s get to Get Smart. It was hard for me to remember the characters in the TV series because I was too darn young that time. Therefore, I cannot make comparisons with both forms of media. The choice of the lead actor, Steve Carell, is sad to say, a tad too predictable in his so-called funny moments. The only time I remember him being so brilliantly stealing the show was in Anchorman, where I thought that this guy is funnier than Will Ferrell. I have never seen his version of The Office. The 40-Year Old Virgin was ok and Evan Almighty was not as funny as we all hoped it would be. Carell may be slowly losing steam in movies to come. In Get Smart, he doesn’t really bring flavor to Agent 86; he just brings his own trademark silliness into the whole character.

What he really does well is to have an excellent onscreen chemistry to a very hot babe by the name of Anne Hathaway. Man, these two blend like vanilla ice cream with coke. As an actress and the sex appeal of the film, she performs really well in this commercial outing. As far as the list of actors is concerned, my favourite (over-)actor Terry Crews is in! Watch out for a cameo appearance of Bill Murray in a tree as well as the original Agent 99 from the TV series, albeit only in a photo form. If you thought that Dalip was all too familiar, probably you have seen in the remake of The Longest Yard, which has one thing in common with this movie – they are both directed by Peter Segal. How could I forget the artist formerly known as The Rock? Dwayne Johnson looks all polished and well-equipped as an actor now. Limited screen time aside, he is the man responsible for all the action scenes to look cool. There you have them, comedy (Carell), sex (Hathaway) and violence (Johnson), all in one single film.

Time to Get Smart!

Rating: 7/10

Last updated: 2009-08-11 02:55:17 by joekhor

Get Smart

Although the TV show aired before my time, I still became a big fan due to reruns.
If you were to ask me who would be the best choice to play Maxwell Smart, I’d have said Steve Carrell. He doesn’t disappoint, either.
Anne Hathaway has never looked better, especially when she is her party gown and her underwear and robe. Yes, there are many other actresses that could have taken role Barbara Eden immortalized, but I believe Anne is the only one that could have done it justice by not taking to too seriously.
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson shows here that he hasn’t forgotten how to be an action star. As a matter of fact, in the climactic fight at the end I could swear he used some of his WWE moves.
Masi Oka and Nate Torrence (who must be Jonah Hill’s good twin) really come into their own as the gadget guys. However, I don’t think they warranted their own film, but at lest it was direct-to-DVD.
I almost thought for a minute that Alan Arkin was the original chief. He is that much into this role and does a bang up job.
The rest of the cast is pretty good. Terence Stamp is a little underused for my taste, though.
One review I read said that this was an action-comedy that just had the title and characters from Get Smart. I have to agree. While there are a few funny moments, it doesn’t have the slapstick feel of the original show. Something that is sorely missing.
I can’t do this review without bringing up the kiss between Max and Agent 23. Who would have ever thought a man’s man like The Rock would kiss another man. It was unexpected. Of course, 23 being the mastermind behind the whole thing was a surprise, especially since they make it seem like he’s the best agent CONTROL has.
This is a very good film. It’s not perfect by any means, but its actually enjoyable. If you were a fan of the original series, you may be a little disappointed, but there are lots of references to keep you happy. For everyone else, its a good action-comedy that’s worth a viewing.

http://thankyounetflix.wordpress.com

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