I have vague memories about reruns of the GET SMART TV series. Unless you really grew up with the series, the movie version will have no problem winning you over except if you don't like Steve Carell. The premise is simple. Maxwell Smart (Steve Carell) is waiting his turn to be an agent at CONTROL. He gets his chance when KAOS steals nuclear warheads in Russia and an unknown double agent strikes at CONTROL headquarters. Also all field agents have been comprised and a few are killed. Max is paired with the so much smarter streetwise Agent 99 (Anne Hathaway. Max makes many stupid mistakes and somehow comes out on top (sometimes with the help of Agent 99). He also has his techie buddies (one played by Masi Oki of HEROES fame) and Agent 23 (Dwayne Johnson aka The Rock).

Max is made Agent 86. He and Agent 99 go to Russia to find the missing warheads that were taken by Siegfreid, an agent of KAOS. GET SMART relies on plenty of action and some humor. It plays some humor more realistically than some comedies and sometimes even absurd as the stuff done in YOU DON'T MESS WITH THE ZOHAN. Steve Carell isn't stretching. He plays the same role- the underdog who comes out on top and gets the girl. GET SMART follows the same formula. Terence Stamp isn't stretching either. He feels at home as the bad guy. The humor and the story are the big strengths. Everyone knows this is a summer popcorn vehicle that will bring sequels. Anne Hathaway probably needed something else to do other than chick flicks and grow beyond the Disney films she started in. Bill Murray even collects a paycheck in a cameo as Agent 13. Then you have James Cann as the President Of the United States. If the material wasn't just good enough, the almost auto-pilot mode for every actor would stick out like a sore thumb.

Also Warner Bros. is banking people will see the DVD spin-off starring Max's two techie buddies and enough money at the box office to green light a sequel. I hope they push the actors to stretch a little more and get a script that improves on the first film. GET SMART is an OK popcorn film, but it will probably be forgotten eventually after you see it. OK to see once and yet not one I would go to see in the theater on a repeat viewing. The two previews shown before GET SMART will have a better chance of securing repeat viewings- THE DARK KNIGHT (highly likely if it is as great as BATMAN BEGINS) and HELLBOY II: THE GOLDEN ARMY. June is a holding pattern for summer films that are enough to entertain or really disappoint. GET SMART is just a warm up for the big guns of the next four weekends starting with WANTED. BR>
this movie review is (c)6-23-2008 David Blackwell and cannot be reprinted without permission. send all comments to lord_pragmagtic@hotmail.com  

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