Several popular, and a few not so popular, television shows have been turned into movies over the years. I am usually willing to give the movie versions a try even though some of them have been fairly bad. I have been wanting to see Get Smart since I first found out that Steve Carell was cast more than a year ago.

Maxwell Smart, an analyst for the secret spy agency CONTROL, dreamed of becoming an agent. The Chief didn't want to lose his best analyst, so he wouldn't promote Max. Then KAOS, an enemy spy agency, managed to infiltrate CONTROL and learn the identities of field agents. Agent 23, considered the best agent, was stuck in the office while Max, newly promoted to Agent 86, worked with the beautiful Agent 99 to stop KAOS.

Get Smart was a television show that started in 1965 and ran for five years. There were also a few movies made in the 1980's and a new attempt at the series in 1995 that didn’t last. I saw the movies and I have seen many episodes of the original show thanks to Nick at Nite, though it has been several years since I last saw an episode. From what I remember from the show, the movie stayed true to the spirit of the show. Several phrases that Max tended to say in the show were used. Agent 13 turned up in a unique location, something that tended to happen to him all the time on the show. Agent Larabee and Hymie also turned up. Siegfried and Shtarker, the main KAOS agents that Max and 99 had to deal with, were back from the show too.

In the television show, Max and the other agents of CONTROL frequently used many different types of gadgets, like the shoe phone and cone of silence. I always enjoyed seeing the gadgets, so I was happy that there were still interesting gadgets, though it would have been nice if there had a been a few more. Max did have a Swiss Army knife with all sorts of useful attachments that he used, or tried to use, several times. A newer version of the cone of silence turned up once and the shoe phone was utilized as well. The theme from the television show was used a few times throughout the movie.

Since I have seen the television show, I fully expected Get Smart to be at least somewhat silly. The show, created by Mel Brooks and Buck Henry, was poking a lot of fun at spy movies in general. It was a combination of the world of James Bond and the humor of Mel Brooks that managed to work well. That same type of humor was used for the movie, so there was silliness throughout the movie. That didn’t bother me at all and I thought it was very funny for the most part. I think certain things connected to Max were toned down a bit, though he was still involved in a lot of slap stick moments. Some of the laughs did come from Max doing something kind of stupid or being injured. Several of the funnier moments were in the trailers, but there were also several other funny things that weren’t in the trailers. There was one thing that was supposed to be funny that was just gross and disgusting. I really didn’t need to see that. A few crude jokes were used as well, though they weren’t as bad as what has been used in other movies. Other than the gross thing, I thought that the humor worked very well.

Get Smart had a decent amount of action and adventure throughout the movie. A little bit of time was taken to establish how much Max wanted to be an agent and how well he did his job as an analyst before the action got started. Max and Agent 99 ended up involved in most of the action, including chases and fights. There was a little bit of violence in a few scenes, but it wasn’t graphic or excessive. I thought that the action was well done. Agent 99 did some things while skydiving that I have no idea if they are possible or not, but it looked good and worked for the plot. The movie was rated PG-13 because of the violence, some language, and the crude humor.

It was clear right away that KAOS was connected to the breach at CONTROL. That didn’t mean that there wasn’t some mystery in Get Smart though since it wasn’t clear how KAOS had managed to do it. Max and 99 had to try to find a way to stop the latest plan by KAOS. Siegfried was the main villain shown, but there was someone else involved. I did manage to figure out who that someone else was. Certain aspects of the plot were predictable, but there were also a few surprises added in here and there.

In the television show, Max and 99 worked together frequently before they became involved and eventually got married. In the movie, Max and 99 met for the first time fairly early and then had to figure out how to work together. Even though he had no experience as a field agent, Max kept trying to take control of situations, something that really annoyed 99. She did seem to be irritated or annoyed with him most of the time, but there were moments when she seemed to feel differently. It was also made clear that Max was interested in 99 without that becoming a huge plot point or distracting from everything else that was going on.

Max was considered the best analyst even though many of the agents, including The Chief, didn’t read all of his detailed reports. Max was intelligent, though he didn’t have any practical experience in the field, so he did have some problems. Some things did backfire on him, but he was able to use information he’d discovered as an analyst more than once. Max wasn’t a complete idiot even though he did mess up at times. I loved Steve Carell in the part. He was perfect for Max.

Agent 99 was very dedicated to her job. She had been on a lot of missions and she wasn’t happy about having to work with Max. She had to bail him out a few times, but he also had to help her at times. 99 could take care of herself and was able to deal with bad guys in a fight. She was very beautiful and she wasn’t shy about using her looks and sex appeal to help in certain situations. I really liked Anne Hathaway in the part, which was a bit different for her. She was in several fight scenes and also got to show off her sexy side thanks to some of the outfits she wore, like something in tight black leather that looked like a cat suit. She also wore a dress with a slit so high it was a wonder she didn’t flash her underwear.

None of the other characters were developed as much. The Chief turned up several times, and even got in on the action at times. Alan Arkin was really good in the part. Agent 23 was thought of as the best agent by most of CONTROL and women seemed to drool over him. He seemed to be the only one who didn’t pick on Max before he became an agent. 23 ended up stuck in the office for most of the movie, so Dwayne Johnson didn’t have as much to do. Since I like him, it would have been nice if his part was bigger. Larabee and Agent 91 were always hanging around together, usually acting like idiots. Hymie only turned up in one short scene, so Patrick Warburton had almost nothing to do. Bruce and Lloyd were the guys that developed all the gadgets.

Siegfried was the guy in charge at KAOS, though he was taking orders from someone. He could be very cold blooded with his employees and tended to use threats to get things done. Terence Stamp was good in the part. Shtarker just seemed to be Siegfried’s flunky who was always around and sometimes on the receiving end of Siegfried’s irritation. Ken Davitian handled the part fine. Dalip was hired muscle for KAOS. He was a very, very large man who didn’t say much of anything. He was played by Dalip Singh, a professional wrestler who was also in The Longest Yard. James Caan turned up in a few scenes as the president. Bill Murray only had one scene as Agent 13. I think it would have been interesting to see more of him. Larry Miller and Kevin Nealon also turned up in small parts.

Main Cast

Alan Arkin - The Chief
James Caan - The President
Steve Carell - Maxwell Smart
Terry Crews - Agent 91
Ken Davitian - Shtarker
Anne Hathaway - Agent 99
Dwayne Johnson - Agent 23
David Koechner - Larabee
Bill Murray - Agent 13
Masi Oka - Bruce
Dalip Singh - Dalip
Terence Stamp - Siegfried
Nate Torrence - Lloyd
Patrick Warburton - Hymie

Peter Segal - Director

I really enjoyed Get Smart. It was a funny, entertaining movie that was a good update of the television show. Certain things were silly and predictable, but I wasn’t bothered by those things since I expected that. Fans of the television show or the cast should give this movie a chance.

Steve Carell Movie Reviews
The 40 Year Old Virgin ~ Bewitched ~ Bruce Almighty ~ Dan in Real Life ~ Evan Almighty ~ Horton Hears a Who ~ Little Miss Sunshine ~ Over the Hedge ~

Anne Hathaway Movie Reviews
The Devil Wears Prada ~ Ella Enchanted ~ Hoodwinked ~ The Princess Diaries ~ The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement ~


Recommended: Yes