Movie Review: Get Smart

Plots mean little to these action/comedy romps. What counts here is the overall tone and flavour of the proceedings and here director Peter Segal (Anger Management) succeeds in creating a fun atmosphere. Story-wise, we have our illustrious hero, Maxwell Smart, desperately trying to earn his stripes as a full-fledged Control agent. Thanks to a fluke Max gets promotes, largely out of attrition, and finds himself immersed in some worldly plot by the bad guys (Kaos) to use nuclear missiles to ransom the world. From there things get even more preposterous as the jokes fly off the handle and you’re not quite sure who are your friends and who are your enemies in this 112 minute escapade.

Where Get Smart earns its stripes is in the casting. Top level comic Steve Carell (The 40-Year-Old Virgin) is totally charming as the inept Agent 86. Good as his foil and nice eye candy to boot is superstar Anne Hathaway (The Devil Wears Prada) who deliciously plays Agent 99. Perhaps the biggest surprise of all is former football/wrestling star Wayne Johnson (Walking Tall) who continues to mature as another Control agent with that patented killer smile. Completing this fun-filled cast is veteran acting great Alan Arkin (Little Miss Sunshine) taking on the former Ed Platt role as The Chief and Terrence Stamp (The Limey) coming on strong as Kaos bad dude Siegfried.

Slapstick and stupid situations abound in Get Smart. Unfortunately and here’s the rub, there just aren’t enough gut-splitting jokes to make the movie that memorable despite the best efforts of the cast. My, oh my, how the studio here could have benefited from the wicked wit of series creators Mel Brooks and Buck Henry.