The Movie Get Smart Missed the Mark

Let's face it. We're all nostalgic for the "good ol' days" no matter when they were. They could be the 80's, 50's, 1999, it doesn't matter. The point is we all have something in the past we love dearly and are convinced the world would be wonderful again if we could just return to that time. If only we had shows like the Brady Bunch once more, gas prices would go down and the war would be over. If only...

My period of nostalgia starts in 1965 when Mel Brooks was approached about a television show that would spoof James Bond and other spy shows famous at the time. Get Smart featured Don Adams as the bumbling Maxwell Smart, secret agent 86, and Barbara Feldon as the comic foil and sexy secret agent 99. Edward Platt finished up the trio as the Chief of CONTROL who was always battling the evil KAOS. The television show ran for five seasons and won several awards before it was cancelled.

Get Smart seems aware of the tropes that made the television show so successful and, unlike the Pink Panther which came out a few years ago, this movie remake does not make the mistake of misrepresenting the classic characters some of us know and love (although at times it does lead us slightly astray). We see the famous shoe phone come into play as well as classic Maxwell Smart catchphrases. Would you believe the 1965 Sunbeam Tiger that Smart drove in the series makes an appearance in the film? The cone of silence is modernized and poor agent 13 is still stuck in cramped desolate locations.

Steve Carell is an accurate casting of Maxwell Smart and does a fine job of presenting the character as bumbling yet likeable. You can tell that Carell is trying to give Smart a heart and a back story (even if the back story is lame. Really? The reason he's a sympathetic character is because he was once fat? Buck Henry and Don Adams always gave us so much more than that.) Alan Arkin plays the Chief admirably if not a little out of character and Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson does what we've come to expect out of him. My biggest problem with the movie is the casting of Anne Hathaway as 99. She is too young to play this character and the writers know it. The excuse they give us as to why she looks twenty-five is ridiculous and the love story between the two characters is forced and uncomfortable at best.

This movie remake offers action, mystery, and comedy but all in a watered down version. I enjoyed the film more than I thought but I also went in with low expectations. Carell's comic delivery is excellent and helps provide many of the laughs of the film. But, if you are like me and love the chemistry between Don Adams and Barbara Feldon, giggle when Smart advises they use the cone of silence or do your best to copy the "would you believe" spill that is so famously agent 86, then you will probably leave the theatre a bit disappointed.

Get Smart is my favorite television show and therefore I have a bias. The film definitely seems aware that people like me exist and it does its best to recreate classic dialogue and throw in callbacks to the tv series. The problem with the film is that it also tries to appeal to a younger audience, an audience who does not know the tv show existed and is only going for a fun summer flick. Ultimately I think the film had more success on the latter goal, leaving the people in the nostalgic category still longing for the good ol' days.