Maxwell Smart is back with a vengeance. Although this vintage Mel Brooks shtick will mean a lot more to those who saw it first hand in the 1960s, it is still headed for one of the top notches in the usually doggy summer film season.
Peter Segal’s new “Get Smart” film is a good lighthearted comedy and an excellent addition to what is usually a humdrum summer movie season. Steve Carell and Anne Hathaway are perfect as 21st century replacements for the original Don Adams and Barbara Feldon, although neither will win any awards for originality.
The major expansion and digression of the film as compared to the TV series is the addition of “Office Space” type corporate harpooning to the standard bureaucratic government environment. The film is not just about a few bureaucratic spies who bumble themselves to success a’ la Inspector Clouseau. It is also about the exaggerated hierarchy of senior spies vs. junior spies and, especially, the third class citizens, the analysts.
The analysts are the nerds who never get any respect but who consistently outthink the more glamorous spies. Of course, the spies are anything but glamorous as writers Tom J. Astle & Matt Ember skewer them at every turn.
In the TV series, the “Chief” was a crucial role. In the three person TV family of father, mother and son, the Chief was the father figure who represented the punishment awaiting the son (Smart) if he didn’t pull the rabbit out of the hat after rolling the family car. This allowed the limited scenarios to wring maximum enjoyment out of Smart’s predicaments as the audience savored what delicious tongue lashing awaited him this time.
Alan Arkin’s performance as “The Chief” is too measured and thoughtful. As a result, there is little anticipation of the whipping awaiting Smart. Like Clouseau, he needs a malicious boss and Arkin doesn’t come through with that. Of course, screenwriting and directing share in this shortcoming.
Carrell and Hathaway, on the other hand, replicate the original roles perfectly and bring a sophisticated “Burns and Allen” routine to their parts. Smart is once again the child who is consistently saved by his mother Hathaway (Agent 99) who is really smarter than he is but who doesn’t rub his face in it. More or less Motherhood and Apple Pie, Hollywood style. The film’s bench is anchored by the great supporting work of pro wrestling legend Dwayne Johnson as whacko super-agent 23. Max is the nerdly schoolboy and Agent 23 is the competing schoolyard bully who eventually bonds with his effeminate foil. Both are under the watchful eye of mom (Agent 99).
The end of the film dissolves into action sequences of marginal humor; or maybe the slapstick is just too much at 110 minutes. But the first half of the film has the zippy and zany dialog and luscious goofiness that has made Mel Brooks the icon of idiocy to three generations.
This film will resonate with older viewers who saw the original series in the 1960s but may leave younger audiences yearning for the more familiar territory of summer gross-out slacker pics. Although the vintage shtick of “Get Smart” counts on heavily on nostalgia it is still headed for one of the top notches in the dog days of summer. The cones of silence were never better.
Release: June 20, 2008
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