Steve Carrell goes from analyst to agent in order to stop Russian secret agents in the action comedy GET SMART. The film is based on the television series of the same title, with Carrell taking over the role of Maxwell Smart, a former US intelligence analyst turned agent. Smart, also known as Agent 86 is teamed with the beautiful Agent 99, played by Anne Hathaway, and their mission is to track down top Russian secret agents known as KAOS. Although Smart is anxious for his mission, Agent 99 is less than enthused about taking a rookie under her wing.
Although I wasn’t around for the television version of GET SMART, the film plays like a mix between James Bond and THE NAKED GUN. The film has its share of laughs, similar to THE NAKED GUN series, but much like the Bond franchise, it plays as rather bland in terms of plot. If the scales were balanced between these two factors, the action would tip the scales one way or the other, and GET SMART doesn’t quite deliver enough excitement. It’s a shame because Carrell and Hathaway almost make it worth the price of admission. Carrell’s gift, much like Will Ferrell or Steve Martin in his hey-day, is the ability to sincerely deliver ridiculous and asinine dialogue, and pull off even more outlandish actions. Carrell’s deadpan humor, which worked wonders on “The Daily Show”, and now on in “The Office”, does again. Hathaway is also very good. Despite her good looks and youth, she enables us to buy into the romance between her and Smart, and provides a good comic foil to Carrell’s funny man. The film is rated PG-13, but compared to YOU DON’T MESS WITH THE ZOHAN or THE LOVE GURU, GET SMART can pass as a family film. Inoffensive, often funny, but rarely engaging, this spy action comedy falls just short of the required intelligence.
Grade: C+
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