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Review by David DiMichele

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Get Smart is a film that’s smart in its approach to the genre it is supposedly spoofing. It avoids the vulgar comedy, old routines and bad acting that the “spoof” genre is rightfully known for, and instead, cashes it in for believable characters, a good story and silly humor that actually works without having to be being forced down your throat. Hatching what seems to be a James Bond-esque plot that proves to be a distant cousin of those films, it delivers goofy, yet realistic humor reminiscent of the 1960s television series it lays claim to.

The main reason the movie works so well is because of the heightened state of seriousness it takes. Unlike last year's Hot Fuzz which intertwined deep and resonant material, Get Smart plays with a plot that could have ended up heavy, but which works instead with what its got going. Surprisingly Get Smart proves subtlety emotional at times.

What could easily have been a free-falling film trapped in worn-out nostalgia (shoe phone anyone?), Get Smart instead features actors who are more than willing to take the series to a new level for a new generation, and film director Peter Segal who directs as if he’s making a big-budget drama in an extravagant locale. The technology is exemplified in the exquisite chase sequences and perfectly crafted shoot-out scenes  involving high octane guns and contraptions that Bond would envy (explosive dental floss anyone?).

But what really puts the finishing touches to the movie is the casting. Carrying the bulk of the movie are the two leads: Steve Carell as Agent 86 Maxwell Smart and the gorgeous, especially when she wears that damn wig, Anne Hathaway as Agent 99. Both belong to a spy agency known as CONTROL which is out to stop the Russian KAOS from blowing Los Angeles to smithereens because the U.S. President will be attending a concert there.

CONTROL’s lair is so impenetrable it’s hilarious how many steel doors Smart has to go through. When one of the agents sees a fly flying around he says: “Now how did that get in here?” Hundreds of others including the Chief (Alan Arkin) and super cool spy Agent 23 (played by Dwayne Johnson with immense charisma) live and train here. Each of these actors achieves the status, after the movie, of being referred to as their characters. I could see no one else playing the role of either of them, especially Johnson’s turn as an iconic spy.

Siegel and his writers decide to go the route of explaining how Smart goes from being a boring and clumsy but great analyst officer to an aspiring self-confident field operative trying to save America. All the other agents in CONTROL have had their identities uncovered by the enemy so that leaves just Smart, very recently trained, and Agent 99 who underwent major facial reconstruction so that she wouldn't be recognizable to the enemy anymore. This sets up a series of scenes containing folly, love and desperation. Hathaway, who demands all of your attention when she’s on screen, and Carell play beautifully off of each other in a screwball comedy kind-of-way, especially in a dance sequence involving a Russian villain and an obese woman.

He may not have the looks but Steve Carell could legitimately play James Bond. Yeah, I guess you could say Carell is just a puny little guy who makes us laugh, which he certainly does in this movie, but he also does so much more. He shows that he can have Bond-like charisma even though he looks like the guy next door cutting his grass. Bond is known for always playing it cool and getting the beautiful women, and that is exactly what Carell does here. In every scene he’s a part of, something dangerous is always brewing and it’s up to him to keep his composure and never panic. And that’s exactly what he does. Every jam he finds himself in he manages to find a unique and effortless way to escape the grip of death. He’s your ‘everyman’ kind of actor.

I love how movies depict the United States President and all the important people under him as dumb. In a scene that brought Dr. Strangelove to memory, the vice president along with many other of people, sit at a round table with CONTROL’s Chief. They bicker over what to do with the Russians, who are portrayed as smart men who’ll crush you with their huge fists, and it eventually leads to a huge fight. The scene then cuts to the president himself as he’s reading books to children (reminiscent of 9/11). He is also, you guessed it, dumb. But even so, being American we can act dumb and stupid because we will always win. No matter if our enemies have faces as big as the Easter Island heads. And to depict us as this way shows just how far we’ve come since those attacks.

Film Rating: *** out of ****

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