This past weekend, I went to see Steve Carell as “Maxwell Smart†and Ann Hathaway as “Agent 99†in the movie version of the classic TV sitcom “Get Smartâ€. In this big summer action comedy, we see the story of how Maxwell Smart got his start.
In the story, the headquarters of the U.S. spy agency Control is destroyed by the evil spy agency Chaos. As a result of this attack all of Control’s agents are compromised when their identities are discovered. Smart is an analyst for the agency, and is promoted by his Chief (Alan Arkin) to Agent only because none of Chaos knows his face. He is joined by Agent 99, who has recently had face surgery and who too is now unknown by Chaos. On the other side are the evil Siegfried (Terence Stamp), and his sidekick Shtarker (Kenneth Davitian), who have just got their hands on a huge amount of Nuclear weapons that they plan to sell to terrorist all around the world. With the help of a few gadgets from Bruce (Masi Oka), and Lloyd (Nate Torrence) Controls weapon’s builders, Smart and Agent 99 set out to stop Siegfried’s plans. Control also has the help of their number 1 spy, “Agent 23†(Dwayne Johnson), who is not to sure that Smart is up to the task.
This was a great adaptation of the classic TV show. Steve Carell was a perfect fit as the clumsy Smart, who always ends up getting his assignment done. Anne Hathaway plays Agent 99 superbly as the lovely, but very deadly agent. There’s a lot of bust out laughs in this movie to go along with the action that comes with spy movies. Now you won’t see any over the top type “James Bond†action scenes, but that’s because this movie is intended to be funny, which it’s pulls off from beginning to end. Also joining the cast are Cedric Yarbrough and Terry Crews who both give good performances as Control’s resident bullies. The movie even gives a hint at the end of there being another installment to the franchise, by bringing out another character from the old TV series. I highly recommend this movie if your fan of the Get Smart series, or a fan of Steve Carell, or just want to laugh. I laughed out loud several times, and was very pleased that this didn’t turn out to be another mistake of studio’s turning classic sitcoms into block buster movies. I can’t wait for the next one, and I hope the original cast stays on with the project, because they were all a perfect fit in their roles. I give this movie 3 telephone shoes out of 4. It’s very rare when a TV show is made into a movie, and it captures all the things you loved about the show. I’m sure†Nick @ Night†will be running the old episodes on the tail of the success of this movie. The movie ran 1hr & 50mins. It was rated PG-13 for some rude humor, action violence and language. It was directed by Peter Segal. The screenplay was written by Tom J. Astle, and Matt Ember with the source material coming by way of Mel Brooks, Buck Henry, and Leonard B. Stern. It was distributed by Warner Brothers pictures, under the production Company of Mad Chance Productions.
When your faced with Evil in life, Get Smart! Ezo.
Next week’s movie in review: “Wantedâ€
