Get Smart review

Get Smart is the latest in an increasingly long line of old American TV shows to be dusted down, given a new lick of paint, and sold to movie audiences as an nostalgic homage rather than what it really is: an admission of a lack of new ideas. In this case, it's the 1960s comedy series created by Mel Brooks and Buck Henry about a bumbling government secret agent. Kind of like James Bond meets Inspector Clouseau. But while many TV shows struggle to make successful transitions from the small screen (recent notables being The Incredible Hulk and Speed Racer), Get Smart fares a little better.

Much of the credit for this is attributable to the film's strong cast, led by Steve Carell as Maxwell Smart. Carell brings his familiar brand of droll, dead-pan wit to the role of the inept agent who invariably succeeds by luck rather than design. He's paired with Agent 99, played by the doe-eyed beauty Anne Hathaway who shows a natural gift for comedy as she spends the bulk of her time bailing Smart out of trouble. Carell is also joined by his Little Miss Sunshine colleague Alan Arkin as Smart's boss The Chief, head of CONTROL, the US government spy agency. And Dwayne Johnson (aka The Rock) does a great comic turn as the ultra suave Agent 23.

There are plenty of fun gags spoofing the high-tech elements of the Bond films, including special gadgets, in this case a penknife that incorporates a flame thrower and crossbow, which results in one of the film's funniest scenes when Smart finds himself arrested as a suspected terrorist on a plane. For the most part director Peter Segal keeps the action moving, but at 110 minutes long, it could have benefited from some more ruthless editing.

Screenwriters Matt Ember and Tom Astle throw in plenty of gags, dishing them out generously to everyone but, in their quest for laughs, they abandon anything resembling a clear plot. There's a vague thread centered around a search for nuclear weapons which involves CONTROL's nemesis KAOS, headed by Siegfried (Terence Stamp), but it's more a cursory idea than a compelling one.

Fans of the TV series will spot the film's many nods to its origins including an appearance of Smart's famous Sunbeam Tiger car and the line "missed it by that much," but for the most part Get Smart establishes its own identity with Carell taking a very different approach from the role's originator Don Adams. It even veers off into political satire with the inclusion of an oafish President (James Caan), who's clearly modeled on Bush Jr., even using his infamous mispronunciation of "nuclear" for those in any doubt.

There are obvious parallels between Get Smart and the Austin Powers films though the earnest, staid Smart is the antithesis of the flamboyant Powers. In Hollywood, box office success is more important than artistic success. And though by no means a classic, there are enough laughs in Get Smart to suggest that, providing the figures add up, it won't be such a long wait next time until we see Maxwell Smart again.

Kevin Murphy