Get Smart

written by: Cory Q

SAH, Mrs. Q, and I went to see "Get Smart" the day it opened, which means, in order for this review to be timely, I am going to keep this review short. If you aren't familiar with the 1965 TV show from which the movie spawned, that is OK. If you do know the show, you will appreciate the little visual references (like the car, the multiple doors to get into the CONTROL center, etc) to the original. Steve Carell also uses a couple of the famous Don Adams catch phrases as well. It of course helps that Mel Brooks and Buck Henry, the guys who came up with the original idea and who are both very funny writers, had some input about the movie as well.

The plot, in short without giving anything away, is that Steve Carell plays Maxwell Smart, an analyst for a secret government agency called CONTROL. CONTROL's main concern is an organization called KAOS. KAOS is trying to blow up the President with a nuke. Pretty straight ahead spy stuff that, really. Add to this mix Anne Hathaway as Agent 99 as a foil and romantic interest, Alan Arkin as The Chief, Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson as Agent 23 (who is the agent Max Smart wants to be) and a few villains and you get the idea. The comedy punch in this movie comes from Hathaway's ability to play the straight man, Carell's wonderfully timed delivery of his lines, Arkin's cantankerous persona, and of course the strange balance of how the character of Smart is both brilliant about certain things and a complete rube at others.

There are certainly jumps in the movie that test the viewer's suspension of disbelief, but as it is a spy comedy, these are easily forgiven. The three of us all had the same impression of this movie. It was funnier, sexier, and more entertaining than we really expected it to be. I would give this movie a soild B+.

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