'Get Smart' isn't all that witty
By Bruce R. Miller Journal staff writer | Posted: Friday, June 20, 2008
Anne Hathaway and Steve Carell star as Agents 99 and 86 in "Get Smart."
Would you believe "Get Smart" is good?
Then you probably didn't see the television version. Barely funny, the big-screen edition forgets one key element -- it's supposed to be a spoof.
Concerned only with creating a franchise, director Peter Segal stuffs his film with countless chases and action sequences. He has a handful of the touchstones ("Missed it by that much") but totally skirts the idea that this was meant to lampoon, not copy, James Bond.
On first blush, Steve Carell seems like a good choice to play Maxwell Smart, the ironically named agent who succeeds in spite of himself. Carell knows how to skewer blowhards. Unfortunately, he's just doing a riff here on his "Office" character. This isn't Maxwell Smart. It's Michael Scott pretending to be Maxwell Smart.
Similarly, Anne Hathaway has none of the kittenish charm we found in Barbara Feldon. Television's Agent 99 tried to make Max think he was doing the right thing. Then she actually did it. Here, Hathaway is more than willing to broadcast her superiority. They're still connected with Control, the secret agency determined to stamp out KAOS, their Russian nemesis. Max, though, is an in-house analyst who hasn't quite been elevated to agent status. (Earlier, we learn, he had a real weight problem.) When he gets the title, all hell breaks loose and he and 99 have to travel to Russia to settle things with Siegfried (Terence Stamp).
The film has so many location cards, you'd think you were watching "The Bourne Identity." The film doesn't really do a lot of globe-hopping (it looks like it was shot on a backlot) but it does jump. One minute it's in Russia, the next it's in Washington. Blink and it's time for the big fight scene. In California.
Through it all, that wicked Mel Brooks/Buck Henry sense of humor doesn't surface. Segal throws in the Cone of Silence, the shoe phone and the clanking doors but he doesn't know how to make them clever.
When he does try for something original, it falls with a resounding thud. A humorous reference to Sept. 11 and a deaf joke? No kidding, they're here.
Segal also copies bits from "Austin Powers," "Office Space" and "Epic Movie" and its ilk. That says volumes about the intelligence of doing a "Get Smart" update.
Considering the vast lot of people who go to movies these days (namely teenagers) haven't heard of "Get Smart," it doesn't make sense. It either needs to be a spoof (which is redundant) or a letter-perfect tribute.
This is neither.
The newest "Get Smart" is a lot like Kevin Federline. It's related. But it really has nothing to do with the original.
Rated PG-13, "Get Smart" features violence and adult talk.
On a scale of four stars, "Get Smart" gets:
1 1/2
Then you probably didn't see the television version. Barely funny, the big-screen edition forgets one key element -- it's supposed to be a spoof.
Concerned only with creating a franchise, director Peter Segal stuffs his film with countless chases and action sequences. He has a handful of the touchstones ("Missed it by that much") but totally skirts the idea that this was meant to lampoon, not copy, James Bond.
On first blush, Steve Carell seems like a good choice to play Maxwell Smart, the ironically named agent who succeeds in spite of himself. Carell knows how to skewer blowhards. Unfortunately, he's just doing a riff here on his "Office" character. This isn't Maxwell Smart. It's Michael Scott pretending to be Maxwell Smart.
Similarly, Anne Hathaway has none of the kittenish charm we found in Barbara Feldon. Television's Agent 99 tried to make Max think he was doing the right thing. Then she actually did it. Here, Hathaway is more than willing to broadcast her superiority. They're still connected with Control, the secret agency determined to stamp out KAOS, their Russian nemesis. Max, though, is an in-house analyst who hasn't quite been elevated to agent status. (Earlier, we learn, he had a real weight problem.) When he gets the title, all hell breaks loose and he and 99 have to travel to Russia to settle things with Siegfried (Terence Stamp).
The film has so many location cards, you'd think you were watching "The Bourne Identity." The film doesn't really do a lot of globe-hopping (it looks like it was shot on a backlot) but it does jump. One minute it's in Russia, the next it's in Washington. Blink and it's time for the big fight scene. In California.
Through it all, that wicked Mel Brooks/Buck Henry sense of humor doesn't surface. Segal throws in the Cone of Silence, the shoe phone and the clanking doors but he doesn't know how to make them clever.
When he does try for something original, it falls with a resounding thud. A humorous reference to Sept. 11 and a deaf joke? No kidding, they're here.
Segal also copies bits from "Austin Powers," "Office Space" and "Epic Movie" and its ilk. That says volumes about the intelligence of doing a "Get Smart" update.
Considering the vast lot of people who go to movies these days (namely teenagers) haven't heard of "Get Smart," it doesn't make sense. It either needs to be a spoof (which is redundant) or a letter-perfect tribute.
This is neither.
The newest "Get Smart" is a lot like Kevin Federline. It's related. But it really has nothing to do with the original.
Rated PG-13, "Get Smart" features violence and adult talk.
On a scale of four stars, "Get Smart" gets:
1 1/2
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