Shoe-phoning it in

Get Smart
Review by Nathan Weinbender

I wanted very much to laugh at “Get Smart,” and I did, but not very often. This is the type of movie that assembles all the ingredients for a solid comedy but never employs them properly. Much like Maxwell Smart, the film has some impressive weapons in its arsenal, but it just ends up shooting itself in the foot.

Smart, the bumbling private eye who is always a few steps behind, was first immortalized by the invaluable Don Adams on the Mel Brooks-Buck Henry TV series. In this new big-screen adaptation, Adams is replaced by Steve Carell, who, thankfully, doesn’t duplicate Adams’ quirks but rather channels them through his own understated delivery. Carell has the uncanny ability to walk the fine line between self-assuredness and self-parody; his reincarnation of Smart is so desperate to appear composed that we wonder if he realizes how hopelessly incompetent he is.

He is an analyst for a spy agency called CONTROL, the operations of which are as mysterious as the identities of its agents. When CONTROL is the subject of a massive security breach, there’s no other suspect but an evil crime operation known as KAOS. Smart is promoted as a field agent to bring down the bad guys, and he’s teamed with the lovely Agent 99 (Anne Hathaway), whose duties include looking good in snug outfits and getting Smart out of deadly situations.

The plot goes off the rails fairly early—there’s some business involving the President, a symphony concert and a bomb under the piano that’s thrown in at the last minute—but I suppose plot doesn’t really matter in a movie like “Get Smart.” What matters are the performances, the action sequences and the jokes; I can report that the cast is terrific and the action is well-choreographed, but most of the jokes fall flat.

There are some very funny moments in “Get Smart”—I loved the gag involving the defective “Cone of Silence,” and another in which Smart has to pretend to be a deaf-mute at the drop of a hat—but more often than not the film goes for predictable, sitcom-level gags. The movie also doesn’t know how to handle slapstick comedy: Max’s struggles with his technologically advanced gadgets are more painful than funny, and we cringe rather than laugh.

The supporting cast has been impeccably assembled: Dwayne Johnson (having dropped “The Rock” from his name) as Smart’s rival agent; the ever-stoic Terence Stamp as the head of KAOS; Alan Arkin as the Chief. And the action scenes are surprisingly good, especially a climax involving a helicopter, a speeding SUV and an oncoming train. But let us not forget that “Get Smart” is, above all else, a comedy, and it simply never aims high enough with its jokes.

Grade: C

Directed by Peter Segal. Written by Tom J. Astle and Matt Ember. Starring Steve Carell, Anne Hathaway, Dwayne Johnson, Alan Arkin and Terence Stamp. PG-13; 110m.