So I was planning on not reviewing Get Smart and instead reviewing old-skool King Kong, but I didn’t have enough time to watch the latter movie because of my attendance at a certain unenjoyable Subway Series game. I left to catch a 2:00 train, got to the park at 4, the game started at 4:20, was delayed an hour, ended at 8:20, I got home back at 11. 9 hours for a 3-hour game. Unbelievable. Johan Santana started out fantastic before he lost control of his fastball, the Mets couldn’t hit Pettite (especially Beltran), and Yankees fans are so fucking annoying. Tom Seaver t-shirts > Joba Chamberlain t-shirts.
Get Smart was a really fun movie that was based on a 1960’s TV show to which it bore very little resemblance. Steve Carell plays Maxwell Smart, a pencil-pusher for spy agency CONTROL who is reluctantly pushed into service (a day he loudly dreams about) when the secret identities of almost all the agents are compromised. In the TV show, Don Adams plays Maxwell Smart, and the differences between the two are immense.
While both are awkward and prone to all-too-quick thinking, the main difference with which I had a problem was the fact that Steve Carell’s Smart is actually a good agent, making correct judgments and doing his job. Adams’ Smart did no such thing, and managed to save the day using pure dumb luck. I can understand playing the character differently, since there are no two Don Adamses, but such a 180 is low-level blasphemy.
The other main character difference is expected with such a difference in actors; while Don Adams was cross-eyed and vacant, with hardly a smart word ever coming out of his mouth, Carell has an obvious twinkle in his eye as soon as he becomes an agent; both Smart and Carell enjoy the hell out of this movie.
These were basically my only problems with the entire movie, and in light of all the hilarity that goes on otherwise, they are small gripes. The sight gags are all fantastic (the code word is swordfish). Alan Arkin is gold as The Chief, as are David Koechner and that guy who played Damon in Friday After Next (Terry Crews) as Larabee and Agent 91, respectively, Masi Oka (Hiro/Franklin) and Nate Torrence (Studio 60 rookie) as Bruce and Lloyd, the tech guys, and Bill Murray (!) and Patrick Warburton in small roles that just killed me. Did I mention that Steve Carell is hilarious in this? Because he is, no matter how different he played Smart.
Anne Hathaway and Duane (formerly known as “The Rock” in casting, presently known as “The Rock” to the world) Johnson are good with each of their roles, but not great, and they do nothing to take away from scenes – they basically clear the path for the pros.
The action in this movie is good, not great, but I don’t get what I heard about it splitting time between its action and its comedy – there are plenty of gags in the middle of action scenes, like the banner behind the plane, etc, etc. And every comedy has to wrap up somehow, or else it’s just a super-long episode of live action Robot Chicken, as amazing as that would be. So you can’t really fault it for that.
I don’t think anyone is expecting to be blown away by Get Smart – they were just expecting a really funny action movie and another Steve Carell vehicle. That is exactly what we have here, so go and see it and have a great time. Just don’t expect an episode of the old show.
P.S. – Who the fuck am I kidding? NO ONE HAS SEEN THE OLD SHOW WHO WOULD READ THIS BLOG. Jeez’m craw. Sorry about the whole beginning wasting your time, but at least now you have a way to act pretentious about film interpretations to your friends if you talk about this movie.
I Ate My DVD Collection 