REVIEW: Get Smart (12A)

Get Smart may not be familiar to everyone, but in the U.S. in particular in was one of the most popular shows of the 1960’s. Don Adams and Barbara Feldman starred as Maxwell Smart and Agent 99 respectively. The series saw sporadic comebacks, with a final mini-series in 1995. Many attempts have been made at remaking much-loved series into movies, some successful (The Addams Family, Mission: Impossible), but most catastrophically (Wild, Wild West, The Avengers).

The 40-Year-Old Virgin star Steve Carell steps into the role for this remake, with Smart an eager-but-inexperienced analyst who longs to be an agent of secret service agency CONTROL. The Chief (Alan Arkin) is reluctant to chuck him in the deep in, but when CONTROL headquarters are breached, and all field agents compromised, Agent 99 (Anne Hathaway) is reluctantly teamed up with the newly promoted Smart to go after evil terrorist organisation KAOS, led by the villainous Siegfried (Terence Stamp). Dwayne Johnson (formerly WWE star The Rock) also stars as square-jawed hero Agent 23.

The plot is heavy on humour, which is both its greatest strength and fatal weakness. It never becomes anything more than light comedy, however that comedy is deftly executed. It’s telling that one of director Peter Segal’s first movies was the third Naked Gun film, as this feels a little like a more serious version of the Leslie Nielsen spoofs. The action is surprisingly full-on as well, with some great set pieces towards the film’s climax.

Carell himself does well not to impersonate Adams’ portrayal of Smart, turning him from an oblivious goof to someone a little more neurotic, but still hilarious and maintaining the essence of the character. Hathaway plays a good straight woman to Carell’s madness, but does little to define herself beyond that role. The Ro-sorry, Johnson hasn’t got much to do, but accounts for himself well, putting across a self-deprecating feel that helps win you over. A big reason why this film can’t be taken seriously is Stamp, who gives a lazy, bored performance, criminal when he has the brilliant Ken Davidian (the fat guy from Borat) as a sidekick. Arkin is very funny as The Chief, but like the inexplicably cast James Caan (as the president), he is sorely underused.

Overall, the remake that precisely no one was waiting for turns out to be a pretty good comedy. Despite a 20+ year age gap, Carell and Hathaway manage to be a believable and at times pretty hilarious double act, but a reluctance by the writers to have anything more than a lightweight, knock-around plot means it will keep your attention for the 110 mins, but won’t stick in your mind beyond that.