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Movies Forum Index » Movie Reviews Forum » Review: Get Smart (2008)...
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| Homer Yen... |
 Posted: Tue Jul 01, 2008 12:18 pm |
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Guest
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Suprisingly "Smart"
by Homer Yen
(c) 2008
Remember the Get Smart television show? I remembered the bumbling spy
who somehow managed to thwart the evilest of evil plans thanks to his
shoe phone, timely assistance from others, and sheer dumb luck.
Though most of the original cast is now in television heaven, I think
that they would have had a good time with the updated version that has
just hit theatres.
"Get Smart" is a brisk spy/comedy (not a spy spoof) in which CONTROL
agents work furiously to outwit their KAOS adversaries. CONTROL
suffers a security breakdown that compromises most of their
operatives. The Chief (Alan Arkin) can only turn to two of his agents.
One is the agent-without-a-name, Agent 99 (Anne Hathaway). The other
is Maxwell Smart (Steve Carrell), who has been generously updated as a
spy with the deductive abilities of Sherlock Holmes and the fighting
skills of James Bond. Don't worry though, for he still possesses his
mixture of grand naïveté and sheer dumb luck.
You couldn't ask for a better cast. Who better a fit to play Maxwell
Smart than Steve Carrell? His comic timing and his deadpan delivery
always create laughs in every scene. He's like the wiseacre who
cracks a joke just as you're sipping your drink. Then, you suddenly
spit it out because you can't help but laugh. Anne Hathaway is very
refreshing in a Julia-Roberts-sort-of-way. She, the seasoned agent,
is bothered by Smart's inexperienced ways. After all, who would jump
out of an airplane and forget the parachute? Who would inhale a toxic
dart? Who would try to execute a difficult lift on the dance floor
with someone twice his size?
The supporting cast is also terrific. Fine performances are given by
Alan Arkin who plays the Chief of Control as more of an irked 3rd
grade teacher than a stuffy bureaucrat. He explains frantically to
one of his agents that Control is not a place where they staple other
people's heads. Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, who plays the
Hollywood-esque Agent 23, plays a frustrated agent who is unhappy with
his new management/desk job but who is happy with a stapler in his
hand. And there are other agents and tech geeks that lend a gag here
and there.
Smart listens to hours upon hours of intelligence chatter. From those
conversations, he surmises what out-of-the-way foreign restaurant they
can visit to find clues; where a major arms dealer resides; and how to
ingratiate themselves with a big, bad, enemy henchman. Despite it
being a big-budget summer film, it's the quieter scenes featuring the
crisp verbal comedy that make the film good, such as when Maxwell
Smart attempts to establish the upper hand against the mastermind of
KAOS.
Smart: "There are 300 hundred Control Agents outside this building."
KAOS Mastermind: "No, there is not."
Smart: "Would you believe 20 SWAT members?"
KAOS Mastermind: "No."
Smart: "How about Chuck Norris with a B.B.gun?"
The blockbuster budget allows the film creators to have set pieces and
action sequences that are far bigger than anything you would have seen
on the TV show. And, at times, it veered away from what made Get
Smart (the TV show) so simple and funny by adding in too much action.
The whole last act, for example, seemed overblown. The best parts are
certainly not the scenes where you can see the film's budget
skyrocketing upwards. "Get Smart" is, nonetheless, a crowd-pleasing
popcorn film. It offers laughs. It offers wit. It offers style.
Grade: B
S: 1 out of 3
L: 1 out of 3
V: 1 out of 3 |
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