No, Get Smart isn't going to be the highest pinnacle of film making to come. But considering how much drek has appeared in recent comedies, especially comedies based on popular TV classics (Bewitched being the worst in recent memory), Get Smart is actually pretty good. Would you believe that? The first thing is the quality of the performances. Certainly, Steve Carrel is no Don Adams, but Carrel's performance as Smart is honestly better than I expected. The reason why: He knows he's not Don Adams, so he doesn't try to be. I expected Carrel to try and imitate Don Adam's down to his accent, and do a crappy job at it. He doesn't, Carrel instead focuses on crafting his own version of Maxwell Smart, and he does a damn good job. This screen version of Smart won't out-do Adams version, but he doesn't try to, which is a good move really. If only Steve Martin realized this when he did The Pink Panther. Anne Hatheway does a good job as 99, and Terrence Stamp puts a little menace into Siegfried (Although in terms of humor, Siegfried is one of the lower points of the film.) and dear god dare I say it, The Rock is solid, funny and even a little cool as Agent 23.
The plot of the film.. isn't really all that great, but thankfully it doesn't read too much into it. The plot is full of clichés, but as with the TV series, it's really just a skeleton to put a background setting behind the characters. They make up the meat of this movie, they just use the skeleton to get themselves into something funny. And funny is something this movie does great. There were several moments I found myself bursting into full blown laughter, a hard thing to give to me. The funny thing is, a lot of the jokes have been done a lot recently, but somehow this film pulls them off. Is it the direction of the film? The scripting? Maybe even the acting? I don't know, but the fact is it works. This is the film a lot of recent comedies tried to be, but failed to be. There are some moments where the humor even kind of resembles the old TV series. There are of course more modern jokes and crude jokes, but even they feel like the sort of thing the original creators would have done had the censors of the time let them.
So, all in all, would you believe the big screen Get Smart is actually very funny? You should. For those who love the TV show, they're going to find a well made tribute and update to the TV series. For those who don't know it, hopefully this movie will make them fans. It appeals to those nostalgic for the show, but it will bring laughter to those who haven't even heard of it.
The plot of the film.. isn't really all that great, but thankfully it doesn't read too much into it. The plot is full of clichés, but as with the TV series, it's really just a skeleton to put a background setting behind the characters. They make up the meat of this movie, they just use the skeleton to get themselves into something funny. And funny is something this movie does great. There were several moments I found myself bursting into full blown laughter, a hard thing to give to me. The funny thing is, a lot of the jokes have been done a lot recently, but somehow this film pulls them off. Is it the direction of the film? The scripting? Maybe even the acting? I don't know, but the fact is it works. This is the film a lot of recent comedies tried to be, but failed to be. There are some moments where the humor even kind of resembles the old TV series. There are of course more modern jokes and crude jokes, but even they feel like the sort of thing the original creators would have done had the censors of the time let them.
So, all in all, would you believe the big screen Get Smart is actually very funny? You should. For those who love the TV show, they're going to find a well made tribute and update to the TV series. For those who don't know it, hopefully this movie will make them fans. It appeals to those nostalgic for the show, but it will bring laughter to those who haven't even heard of it.
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