for missing it… by that much.
I don’t want to mislead you with that little snippet above. This movie didn’t really miss it. It nailed it, but it just wasn’t perfect… and that’s okay.
If you never saw the old TV show, you should. Get Smart was always great, in the same way that Police Squad was great (Police Squad being the TV show that came before the Naked Gun movies). In a world jam packed with awful genre parodies, like the “[blank] Movie” franchise (Scary, Epic, Date… and Meet the Spartans, because really, even though they changed the name format, its the same thing), its nice to see a movie that is genuinely funny and doesn’t rely on jokes that won’t make sense to anyone in five years… okay, I’m being generous… three years.
Get Smart is a funny spy movie, as opposed to being a funny movie about spy movies. Maxwell Smart is the best analyst at Control. So good that even when he passes his field agent exam he isn’t going to be assigned into the field because they can’t afford to lose him. That is, until Control is compromised and covers are blown, and the only way to track down the forces of Kaos is to use an agent no one knows… Maxwell Smart. Accompanied by Agent 99 (who for reasons I won’t spoil is also able to work in the field), they try to learn Kaos’ plans and save the world.
Steve Carell plays the part of Maxwell Smart to perfection. Don Adams would be proud, I think. The rest of the cast is also fantastic, Anne Hathaway, Alan Arkin, Dwayne Johnson, Terence Stamp… just great.
In the end, this is a great comedic film about spies. In my opinion, well worth your movie going dollar.