Special Movie Review - Get Smart

Get Smart


Steve Carell is, to me, one of the funniest new comedians in mainstream television and film right now. His ability to vary his acting and comedic talent to suit different genres is impressive, considering he can swap from the acerbic, eccentric, and uncomfortable character of Michael in The Office to voicing the Mayor from Horton Hears A Who! with no problems of being unconvincing. I was looking forward to this remake of the 60s television show almost for the sole reason of seeing Carell in another lead role. I was just afraid that the film wouldn't be what I was hoping for.

Get Smart is based off of the television show of the same name, although I have never seen it myself. I can't be sure how faithful it is to that show, but my parents let me know that the movie did do a few throwbacks to its predecessor. In this rendition, Maxwell Smart is part of a government agency that tracks down and stops terrorist threats on the United States. Smart works in communications, listening and recording messages that could contain some threat to America, but he gets promoted to an agent, working with Agent 99 (Anne Hathaway) on a case involving the terrorist group KAOS after Smart's agency, CONTROL, is attacked. 99 and Smart infiltrate one of KAOS' agent's parties, dancing their way towards new information on a nuclear threat led by a man named Siegfried (Terence Stamp). Smart and 99 finally uncover a factory producing yellow cake bombs, but when Agent 23 (Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson) "finds" no evidence of radiation, Smart is locked away as a double agent, just as he and 99 were falling for each other! Yet after a coded tip from an insider in KAOS, Smart breaks out of his holding cell to let CONTROL know that Siegfried is planning to murder the President as he watches a concert held in Disney Hall.

Even though Get Smart is mainly gimmicky comedy, the plot is actually quite entertaining and absorbing, drawing emotion from the audience mainly through Hathaway and Carell's chemistry as partners and love interests. Carell is goofily endearing, as most of his characters are, in a way that he can be the doofiest guy in the movie, yet still look good messing up. Dwayne Johnson's appearances are few and far between, but when he does show up, he holds his part well, although his turn as a villain felt stretched. The guy's a giant teddy bear.

Most of the comedy is what one would expect - stupid immaturity, yet appealing in an I-shouldn't-be-laughing-but-I-can't-help-it way. Some of the jokes felt reused - such as a urination scene which was reminiscent of Austin Powers - but they were different enough to lessen the association between the two. Get Smart didn't just parody spy and espionage movies; it also tackled the chore of poking fun at recent political establishments, like George W. Bush and even some airplane security cracks. I really liked how Get Smart tried to move past the untouchable territory of 9/11, making a joke of what the president was doing when it happened. The subtle humor in the film may not be uproariously funny, but it's appreciated in a time where audiences are requesting more and more out-in-the-open humor.

The choices on where to find humor were surprising, such as a dance scene with an overweight woman. Obviously using weight-inspired jokes to its advantage, Get Smart did something few comedic movies do - made being overweight seem alright. In fact, it made it seem quite dapper indeed. It promoted the fact that pretty doesn't mean thin, that tall or oddly-shaped does not mean ugly, which was highly commendable for a film in a genre where gross-out laughs at the expense of homosexuals or the overweight are almost a staple. Similarly, the film utilized racist tones in such a way where it came off as just what it is - a joke. It poked fun at many different cultures, including American culture, to a point where it was okay to laugh and joke and not feel racist, to not feel like subconsciously you feel like American culture is superior. The fact that Get Smart is an American movie poking fun at its own culture lessens any racist feelings.

Only a few flaws were readily apparent in the viewing of the movie. Events seem to happen too fast and furious, which in itself could be a parody on spy movies, and also the beginning was too bland. It took a while for the movie to really warm up, but when it did, the quick-flying jokes took away the gritty feeling of the jokes that flopped in the first half hour or so of the movie.

Get Smart was, to my disbelief, quite captivating, and its two-hour runtime was unnoticed as the film moves speedily to its conclusion. It pours out equal amounts humor and action, drama and stupidity, parody and seriousness, to a point where one almost forgets at times that the movie is generally classified as a comedy. Sometimes the laughs are spaced out too far apart, and they may be a bit juvenile, but with the movie trying to tackle so many different genres and emotions at once, a lack of perfection from the jokes is understandable, and, at its finale, we reach the conclusion that has been stated towards us from the very beginning in the title - the film's not stupid, and its subtle humor, parody, and emotion has allowed Maxwell Smart to live up to his name.

Get Smart on Rotten Tomatoes

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