The TV Addict 

GET SMART is in many ways your average, typical summer comedy action buddy flick. Story-wise it’s complete fluff, with a paper-thin story featuring loads of underdevelopment and gaping plot holes. That means if you want to emerge from the theatre having been fully entertained, the comedy will have to be good enough to help gloss over those shortcomings, the cast will have to be on-the-ball, and the concept (if not its narrative expansion) has to be involving enough. For the most part it succeeds in that.

In terms of comedy, we’ve got Steve Carell here and that’s more than enough for me. It’s incredibly hard for me to not laugh at anything he does, especially in a film like this where the humor is perfectly tailored to his comedic stylings. Carell is undoubtedly the star of this film and it’s the better for it. In fact, it’s a big reason why it still succeeds to entertain.

He’s not alone though. Though I wasn’t sure she could do it, Anne Hathaway completely blossoms her as a serious, sexy in-charge super agent. It’s nice to see she can expand outside of her pigeonhole, and she contributes a lot here, most notably great comedic and romantic chemistry with Carell. Their characters’ relationships is one of the most underdeveloped parts of the film, but in the moment of their interactions you’d be hard pressed to realize it because the actors’ shorthand makes up for a lot.

The other actors do well too. Alan Arkin is a reassuring, calm presence in the film. Masi Oka and Nate Torrence play bumbling nerdy analysts who elicit more than an odd chuckle, as does Dwanye Johnson who once again gleefully plays with his image (which is actually becoming his new image slowly now).

As for the concept, though people seem divided on the issue, I feel that the film in many ways is an incredibly successful and loyal adaptation of the original TV show which I adored. Yes, it’s not an exact adaptation, but I felt it more than maintained the spirit of the TV series in its humor. It helps that I don’t think there is anyone else on this planet who would have been more ideally suited to fill Don Adams’ shoes and play Maxwell Smart than Steve Carell. I mean that both in terms of appearance and comedy.

Again, the story itself is anything but impressive, but what carried me through the film was the affection it seemed to have for its source of inspiration (even if I felt they could have done a wee bit more), and the spirit of the film itself. I’d be hard pressed to say GET SMART is a great film, but it was an entertaining film that did enough right in terms of its action and comedy, that I found myself willing to turn a blind eye and let myself be pulled along for the ride.

Overall rating: B-