Bust out your shoe phones, everyone!

Get Smart
Directed by Peter Segal
Warner Bros. Pictures

Ah, yes, summer. That wonderful time of year when the beaches are crowded, the clothing is minimal, the ice cream flows like rivers, and the Hollywood studios toss out a veritable cornucopia of sequels, adaptations, and remakes (I'm keeping my fingers crossed for Saving Private Ryan 2). So, let's see, what's on the previewing slate today? Ah, it's an updated version of the great 60's TV show, "Get Smart".



For those who don't remember (or were in the pre-zygote phase at that time), "Get Smart" was a send-up of the spy genre that had become ridiculously popular during the height of the Cold War; some guy named Connery made a couple of spy films around that time, I think. Anyway, the TV show focused on Maxwell Smart, a dim-witted (yet exceptionally effective) agent for CONTROL, a spy organization that did constant battle with the evil forces of KAOS, led (somewhat) by the evil Siegfried. Smart's companions at CONTROL included, among others, a robot that could best be described as gullible and a lovely (and highly-skilled) partner, Agent 99, who eventually becomes his wife. This was a great comedy, mainly for two reasons: 1) Don Adams (who you children-of-the-80s might know better as the voice of Inspector Gadget) was a brilliant comedian, and portrayed Max with a deft mix of confidence and slapstick humor; 2) One of the head writers was Mel Brooks. Enough said.

Therefore, since Mr. Adams has sadly passed on, and Mr. Brooks is focusing more on Broadway at the moment, I'm looking at the movie release with a little hesitation. Nevertheless, there are several things about the movie that pique my interest. For starters, if any person alive today would play the role of Maxwell Smart, it would have to be Steve Carell. Just look at his portrayal of Michael in The Office: very self-assured, yet sublimely oblivious to the fact that he has no control over the situation at hand. Also, Alan Arkin was a solid choice to play the Chief (it seems Mr. Arkin has reached that age where every role he is offered is to be the boss of some government organization... maybe it's just me), and adding in The Rock... oops, sorry... Dwayne Johnson as another CONTROL agent (...or is he??) can provide for some extra physical comedy that wouldn't work right with Maxwell Smart. It appears, from the early trailers, at least, that there is a fair amount of action (it is still a spy movie, after all), but it doesn't let the explosions override the laughs, which is always a good thing.



The one casting decision I'm rather unsure about is Anne Hathaway as Agent 99. Don't get me wrong, she is a fine actress who has very good comedic timing, and quite easy on the eyes, too. The issue I haven't isn't so much about her playing Agent 99 per se, it's more about the chemistry she might have with Steve Carell. Remember a couple of paragraphs back where I mentioned that Smart and 99 get married? Well, I'm having a little difficulty imagining any believable romantic tension between the two characters when the actors portraying them are nearly 20 years apart in age (granted, Don Adams and Barbara Feldon were 10 years apart, but it wasn't so noticeable a gap). I think that Carell and Hathaway will play off each other well comedically as partners, but part of the charm of the sitcom was the dual relationship between the two leads, so it might lose a little something in the big-screen translation. Come to think of it, it does seem that a lot of the agents for CONTROL are really young, as in "After work, I'm heading over to the kegger at Sigma Nu" young; perhaps that's to show just how out-of-place Max is at the start. But those are just minor gripes - for the most part, the casting is pretty much spot-on; I'm just waiting to see how they all interact and just how closely they adhere to the original storyline.

All in all, it looks like a pretty good adaptation of a great show. It doesn't quite reach the level of sharp, witty dialogue that the original did (again, it's nigh impossible to replace the mind of Mel Brooks), but it does retain the overall silly-yet-bright sense of humor that made the show so great. Toss in some intriguing action sequences (including a fight mid-skydive), some fun cameos (Bill Murray, anyone?), and some old favorites from the show for nostalgia purposes (Hymie the Robot, the shoe phone, etc.), and it looks like an action/comedy that could provide plenty of entertainment this summer.

Get Smart will be released in theaters on June 20. Don't miss it (by that much!)

Sorry, I couldn't help it.