Get Smart

 

• Released Internationally on 19/06/08
• Released in Malta by KRS on 27/08/08

 

Preview (01/08/08)

In a nutshell

Based on the Mel Brooks TV series from the 60s, this spy-spoof films pokes fun at the whole secret agent world, much as Johnny English did a few years back.

Why we’re hyped

Steve Carell is one of the funniest actors working today, and this looks like a well-suited vehicle for his geeky persona. And like every spy-spoof worth its salt, this one promises to be full of death-defying stunts, stylish gadgets and headquarters, and a bungling but effective hero of the day.

Who’s in it?

Steve Carell is Maxwell Smart, the data analyst who gets promoted to agent due to desperate times. Anne Hathaway is the dazzling but deadly Agent 99, Dwayne (The Rock) Johnson is Agent 23, Alan Arkin is The Chief, and Terence Stamp is Siegfried, the current threat to world safety.

Review (26/08/08)

High-tech fun

From the word go, this film was a charming reminder of how a movie genre can be spoofed entertainingly. So-called spoofs are being released faster than you can watch them nowadays, and most of the filmmakers involved seem to think that if you simply re-create a scene from a famous film but have the actors fool around or bump into things, it will be funny. Thankfully, this is not the case here. This film throws up the whole secret agent genre by simply being a secret agent movie, but adding hints of exaggeration to the characters, the sets and the plots – whilst making sure that everyone looks dead serious throughout. And few people could do that better than Steve Carell, whom we see promoted to agent in times of dire need, and who proceeds to get the job done rather unconventionally.

He even gets the girl

Teaming up with him on his mission is the delightful Anne Hathaway, who is slowly but surely staking her claim as one of the leading young ladies of Hollywood. She shines in every scene here, and manages to make any eventual chemistry with Carell believable. And when geeky office types manage to save the world and get the girl, it’s hard not to leave the cinema feeling good.

Planes, trains and automobiles

As befitting a film of this sort, we’re treated to impressively scary henchmen, mentally unstable villains, nuclear threats, Cold war remnants and all sorts of modes of transport. But most importantly, the humour keeps running throughout, right up to the climax, which is of symphonic proportions.

 

 

Trailer:

http://www.apple.com/trailers/wb/getsmart/ (High-res QuickTime)