Movie Review: Get Smart

Get Smart
2008
Rated PG-13


One of the best memories of my childhood was staying up late at night with my little sister and watching syndicated episodes of Get Smart on Channel 41. I was really excited to hear that they were making a movie out of it, but a little anxious, too—because what beloved TV show hasn’t had its memory desecrated by being adapted into a bad movie? Think Dukes of Hazzard and Beverly Hillbillies, just for starters.

I was reassured, though, when I learned that Steve Carell would be playing Agent 86, Maxwell Smart. Pre-release interviews were even more reassuring. When Carell talked about his interpretation of the Smart character, he payed proper respect to Don Adams, the comedic actor of the 60’s who originated the role for television, which told me that Carell honored the history of the show and the talents that first brought it to life. On the other hand, Carell also said that he would not be doing an imitation of Adams’ performance, that as an actor, he had to come up with his own interpretation of the character. Incidentally, all of the negative reviews of this film that I have seen centered around the fact that Carell did have his own interpretation, and didn’t just mimic Adams.

The movie begins with the premise that Maxwell Smart is a CONTROL analyst, and not yet an agent. He passes through the series of doors so well-known from the opening sequence of the show, into the same red phone booth, and into CONTROL headquarters. He analyzes information minutely and makes agents sit through interminable meetings while he reads through his tome-sized reports that nobody pays attention to. Yet, Smart is paying attention to his own data, and when events transpire to let him fulfill his dream of becoming an agent—Agent 86—most of those data are still in his head, ready for action.

He is paired with a reluctant Agent 99, played by Anne Hathaway, who objects to him as her partner because he has no field experience. In the 2008 rendition of the Get Smart world, 99 is tough and does not take a back seat to 86, as she too often does in the 60’s version. He respects her abilities, but eventually proves himself to her enough that she comes to respect him, too. The attraction and romance flow from there…quite believably, in my opinion, but I like the romantic subplots in any movie.

In the old TV show, Max was an idiot who thought he was all that, and 99, played by Barbara Feldon, was a competent, strong woman who always pulled him out of the fire (lit by his own ineptitude), and always let him take the credit for the win. If Max ever got anything right in the show, it was an accident. It was a one-joke show, enough to sustain a 22-minute sitcom and not much more. But in the new-millennium version, everyone thinks Max is less than competent—and he is terribly accident prone, providing many of the cringes and laughs of the film, such as falling out of the secret escape hatch of an airplane without a parachute—and nobody wants to make him an agent. And he sometimes does get things right by sheer good luck. But he is honest and intelligent and willing to learn, while also knowing that he knows what he knows…which is an important quality for the plot.

The plot, such as it is, is light enough for kids to follow, centering of course on the evil spy organization KAOS—who have now become international nuclear terrorists. So, yeah, it’s not a complex plot…but first movie plots never are. We don’t go to these films for the plot, we go to see 86 and 99 do their secret agent thing. (I did wonder why everyone at a Russian mobster’s party spoke English—and with an American accent…but whatever…) And they do the secret agent thing really well, because as Steve Carell put it, this isn’t supposed to be a spoof of spy movies, it’s supposed to be a spy movie that makes us laugh. There’s a big difference, and they seem to nail it. Anyway, director Peter Segal keeps the action moving, and keeps the plot going where it’s supposed to go.

Dwayne Johnson as the legendary hotshot Agent 23 is the perfect foil for Carell, in part because Johnson looks like he’s twice as tall as Carell. The differences between the two men are summed up when Max learns that 99 once had a relationship with 23, and says matter-of-factly, “I’m feeling very sexually threatened right now.” And Alan Arkin, too, gives the role of Chief more personality and substance than it ever got in the show.

Speaking as a fan of the old show, I think this film was even better. It kept true to the spirit of the show, while updating it to our time in all the good ways. And it was really, really funny. I can’t count how many times I laughed out loud, or clapped, or cheered. I would see it again, and I would take the kids to see it, too (despite a few butt jokes—because they were really good ones). I highly recommend it.