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It would be hard to think of a better roster of
actors to fill out the current incarnation of the Mel Brooks/Buck Henry
classic spy spoof Get Smart. Hot off his own clueless role on TV’s The Office, Steve Carell is
tailor-made for the bumbling Maxwell Smart, while Anne Hathaway seems more
than capable of filling the boots of Barbara Feldon as Agent 99. Throw in
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson as studly Agent 23 and Alan Arkin as
The Chief and you have to say that it looks like the movie is halfway to a
success.
Unfortunately, the problem with Peter Segel’s Get Smart is that it feels
like half a movie at times, skating by on the charm and talent of its cast
instead of giving us what every successful film needs, namely a solid
script. The enterprise seems to be working initially because it gives us
new material on Smart, fleshing out the character by showing him as an
expert at analysis who longs to strap on a firearm and get into the field.
We end up pulling for the guy, especially once he gets his chance. KAOS,
led by the nefarious Siegfried (Terence Stamp), reveals the identities of
almost all of CONTROL’s agents so newbie Smart is pressed into
action, paired with Agent 99 who can’t believe her bad luck. This
awkward duo is given the unenviable task of preventing the assassination of
the president and the detonation of an atom bomb.
This is all good stuff; however, once the
film’s caper kicks in, the movie begins to coast, giving us an
adventure that we’ve seen many times before, none of it improved by
the elaborate slapstick routines Segal and his crew throw into the mix.
Segal and writers Tom Astle and Matt Ember put themselves between a rock
and hard place by trying to work in the show’s many trademark lines
and gadgets while updating the film for contemporary audiences who may not
be familiar with the previous incarnation. The Cone of Silence,
Smart’s shoe phone, and all of the familiar one-liners are present,
recalling the more innocent aesthetic that Brooks and Henry mined so
successfully. These elements clash with the modern action scenes that are,
unfortunately, requisite for a film of this sort. The result is
incoherence. Less would have been more here but, of course, that’s
not Hollywood’s style. Carell is perfect here and while some may object to
the new degree of competence he brings to Smart, at least when it comes to
sorting through the reams of information that comes to CONTROL, I thought
it was a welcome change. It generates a degree of sympathy for him,
especially when he’s trying to win 99 and 23’s approval.
Hathaway seems a bit out of her element in the action sequences, but her
comic chops are sharp enough for her to keep pace with Carell while
Johnson’s natural screen presence holds him in good stead again,
making us almost forgive him for The Game Plan. Arkin, of course, is good as the put-upon Chief, while
James Caan pops up as a president who would much rather nap than worry
about the security of the free world.
Get Smart isn’t
necessarily a bad movie. Its sin is that it doesn’t live up to
expectations and is unsure as to how to bridge the gap between the TV
show’s Cold War sensibility and today’s terrorist paranoia.
Ironically, what this film needed is, would you believe, more lunacy.
This article appears in Jun 12-18, 2008.
