June 21, 2008 -- The movie “Get Smart” is a very funny take off on the original TV series. It wisely doesn't try to duplicate the orginal series, but it retains much of its flavor. Maxwell Smart (played in the original series by Don Adams) was extremely dumb in the original series. In the modern movie version, he really is smart (played by versatile comic actor Steve Carell of “Dan in Real Life”) but is also socially inept. He is sort of a super nerd. Having a smarter Maxwell Smart, as well as a smarter Agent 99 (Anne Hathaway of “Becoming Jane”) opens up the story to more comic possibilities. Updating the story to the modern day opens up another comic avenue: a modern battle of the sexes.

The story also takes advantage of a nerds versus jocks subplot. The nerds, Bruce (Masi Oka of the “Heroes” TV series) and Lloyd (Nate Torrence of “Marksman”) are clearly on the side of Maxwell Smart, while the jocks, led by Agent 23 (Dwayne Johnson of “Gridiron Gang”) are in to manly man stuff, and never read Smart's lengthy reports and have no respect for the nerds. Max's boss, The Chief, (Alan Arkin of “Little Miss Sunshine”) thinks so highly of Max's analytical skills he can't promote him to field agent status because that would be a waste of his talents.

An attack on Control headquarters (yep, Control and Chaos are still around) blows the cover of all the Control agents, except Agent 99, who just had plastic surgery. Max is promoted to field agent. He and 99 head overseas to find out about Chaos' suspected nucelar weapons program. They bicker and engage in one-upsmanship for most of the mission, where they encounter a giant Chaos operative (played by Dalip Singh). The Jaws-like Singh is just one of many references to Bond films and other movies. There is one very funny reference to the film “Entrapment” when Agent 99 slithers Catherine Zeta-Jones-style through a web of laser beams. At one point 99 accuses Max of watching her butt while she is slithering. Max has to admit, yes, he was watching. After all, he is a guy who just happens to have a pulse.

There are many references to the old TV series (original Get Smart writers Mel Brooks and Buck Henry consulted on this film) including the Sunbeam sports car, the shoe phone, the cone of silence (much more high tech now, but it still doesn't work). The writers put in a few of those old “missed it by that much” and “would you believe” lines, but did not overwork them. The movie has some other holdovers from the TV show. Bernie Kopell (VP of Chaos in the original show) appears in the movie as the driver of a vintage Opel car. Leonard Stern (writer for the original TV series) appears as a Cesna pilot. There are a lot of funny sight gags in the movie, including one scene with Max desperately hanging onto a banner behind a flying airplane with a message about a suicide hotline. This is a funny film. Silly, but funny. It rates a B.

Click here for links to places to buy or rent this movie in video and/or DVD format, or to buy the soundtrack, posters, books, even used videos, games, electronics and lots of other stuff. I suggest you shop at least two of these places before buying anything. Prices seem to vary continuously. For more information on this film, click on this link to The Internet Movie Database. Type in the name of the movie in the search box and press enter. You will be able to find background information on the film, the actors, and links to much more information.

Copyright © 2008 Robert Roten. All rights reserved.
Reproduced with the permission of the copyright holder.

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