GET SMART Movie Review

OK… Peter Segal’s remake of the 1970 spy comedy, Get Smart is rated PG-13 for a reason. According to the MPAA, it is rated PG-13 for “rude humor, action violence, and language.” The enhanced rating summary is there so that you know what you are getting into if you take your small kids to the movie. With that said, Get Smart is one of the best and funniest retro-remakes I’ve seen in a long while.

Most retro-remakes are either absolute spoofs (and usually star Leslie Neilson - whom I do not like as an actor whatsoever) or essentially just make fun of the 60s/70s culture (such as with Starsky and Hutch). Get Smart, however, is truly a redo that updates the storyline for today’s culture. On top of that, its really quite funny – thanks primarily to Steve Carell and Dwayne Johnson (who can be surprisingly funny). What’s more, not all of the humor is crude – most, in fact, is not.

I used to love watching the old Don Adams reruns of the Get Smart TV series, so I really enjoyed the movie remake. Steve Carell made a convincing Maxwell Smart – more so than I expected, because I don’t typically enjoy the characters that he portrays (OK, can I say that I hate the fact that I find The Office funny?). Steve Carell’s Maxwell Smart character, however, was not nearly as bumbling as Don Adams. Yes, he was ridiculous. Yes, he was a bit of a buffoon, but it just seems to me that I remember the Don Adams character always beating the bad guys purely by coincidence (or more specifically because of Agent 99). Steve Carell’s character actually did some pretty intelligent things… well, sort of… but I won’t say anymore… no spoilers, you know.

On the other hand, I thought Anne Hathaway did not make a very convincing Agent 99. I enjoyed her portrayal nonetheless. I don’t remember “99” ever being antagonistic towards Maxwell Smart; and even though she came around towards the end of the movie, I thought their conflict was way overplayed… In the series, Agent 99 would have never turned her back… wait… no spoilers… Here's an interesting factoid: I read or heard somewhere that Anne Hathaway found out that she had pink-eye when she and Steve Carell k- (oops again, no spoilers - sorry).

If you never watched the TV series – which doesn’t even come on the obscure channels anymore (but hey, there’s always YouTube) – then you probably won’t appreciate the subtle, and not so subtle, tributes the movie gives the series. I found a good number of them, including the cascading iron doors, the phone booth that drops through the floor, the shoe phone, the cone of silence, "Hymie" the robot, the red MG Midget, and of course several of Don Adams' patented comments (of which I think there should have been more). I know there are others that I don't remember, and I'm sure I missed a few.

Bottom line, I have to say I really enjoyed the movie. You really should keep in mind that it is PG-13, and before you decide to take your kids, check out this more complete analysis of the content cautions from crosswalk.com - http://www.crosswalk.com/movies/11577733/page2/ (but beware there might be a spoiler or two in there).

Otherwise, enjoy a good, entertaining movie.