Have been putting off watching Get Smart until a time when I could go with my dad to see it. Growing up, we watched Don Adams and Barbara Feldon weeknights after school together. Bonding moments, if you will. Those snappy lines ("missed it by that much" and "would you believe...") were a part of our regular conversations. So, when I heard they were making a movie I thought two things simultaneously: a) I have to go see this with dad and b) I hope they don't fuck it up. I mean, I loved Inspector Gadget but didn't enjoy the movie adaptation at all.I knew from within the first few frames that they would do it right when I saw "Dr. Claw (or 'Craw')" written on Smart's notes. Brilliant, that.
Anyway, the checklist.
- Casting: excellent. Carrell and Hathaway are perfect to step into the shoe-phones of Max and Agent 99. Alan Arkin is genius at the Chief and Terence Stamp is a fab Siegfried (honestly, can General Zod ever play a good guy?). Even the cameos are wicked, which I won't spoil here.
- Plot: actually quite engaging! I didn't expect to actually be surprised by anything, but I was. And, of course, the humour was there as well.
- Believability: absolutely. The spirit of the original show is still intact, but the actors make the characters their own. Even the technology is the exact mix of sophisticated and wacky.
Drawbacks? None really, except I didn't think it was as funny as people made it out to be (damn high expectations). For a comedy, I was thoroughly entertained and don't regret the movie theatre prices. Most importantly, Dad enjoyed it too. 4 out of 5 stars.
PS: "Chuck Norris with a BB gun"? Gold.
2 comments:
Get Smart looks okay overall, though Steve Carell seems to be veering more and more toward slapstick-style humor
I agree, which is too bad; however, I cannot think of a better person to play Maxwell Smart. Hopefully, this is an amusing detour and not a career-long road.
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