Get Smart is a film adaption of Mel Brooks and Buck Henry’s 1960s spy parody television series of the same name. Warner Bros.’ remake attempts to pay tribute to the old television series, which itself was a spoof of the then fairly new series of James Bond films. Doing a remake of a popular film or television series is always a tough sell. On one side of the argument, you have the fans of the original project, who argue that the original, with its stars, writers etc. can never be duplicated and on the other side, you have a group of moviegoers who are young enough not to care about the original a whole heck of a lot, they just want to see their favorite stars on screen.
While this division may be partly responsible for the mixed reviews Get Smart received during its theatrical run, there’s no doubt that comedy is a tough business. What makes one person laugh, can bore another to death. This is especially true when it comes to the kind of deadpan comedy style used in Get Smart. For example, Maxwell Smart is left standing on the sidewalk in front of a store, having just been given the brush off by the beautiful Agent 99 the first time they meet. He’s staring after her in dismay when a fellow from the store pushes a cart over his foot. Smart doesn’t appear react. We can see the pain in his eyes for this second insult. “Am I invisible?” he asks the world, and quietly limps off.
Unfortunately, no matter what your comic tastes, the 2008 Get Smart just isn’t very funny. As a remake it’s not terrible like Bewitched was, it just could have been better if director Peter Segal (The Longest Yard) and screenwriters Tom J. Astle and Matt Ember had taken so much of the bumbling personality out of Max that made him so likeable, in order to update the character for the 21st century.
Maxwell Smart (Steve Carrell) s still a secret agent for CONTROL, but he’s not the bumbling idiot he used to be. He’s actually a pretty bright guy who just happens to be out of his league, having just been promoted out of desperation from being an analyst to a full-fledged field agent because there was no one else available. So, he’s still bumbling around doing goofy things, but it isn’t because he’s too dumb to figure things out but because he simply doesn’t know what he’s doing.
The plot is pretty thin. A double agent has exposed the identities of CONTROL’s agents to top-KAOS bad guy Siegfried (Terence Stamp). An attack on CONTROL headquarters and their people on assignment leaves the organization crippled, forcing the Chief (Alan Arkin) to make Max Agent 86, and partner him with Agent 99 (Anne Hathaway). She’s reluctant, he’s eager, and they head to Russia to find some secret nuclear weapons so that Max can gain the confidence he needs and 99 can start to believe in abilities.
Much of the film shows us how Maxwell Smart got to where he is within the organization. In the original television series, he was already a full-fledged agent and 99 was his girlfriend. Perhaps in anticipation of a series of movies, the filmmakers have chosen to taken the audience back in time.
Much of the cast measures up well. Mel Brooks himself has said, he felt Steve Carrell was the perfect choice for Maxwell Smart. Carrell has great ability when it comes to the deadpan/clueless style that made Maxwell Smart so memorable and he does Don Adams proud. Anne Hathaway is beautiful and charming as Agent 99; though she doesn’t seem to be miscast very often. As the handsome and dashing Agent 23 we get Dwayne Johnson, also perfect in the role of an ego-inflated world’s greatest superspy. Best of all, though, is Alan Arkin as the Chief. He has always been one of my favorite actors and his characters inner rage is the highlight of the film.
In the end, Get Smart isn’t great but it’s not bad either. Some will really enjoy it, others won’t. If you do pick up this remake of Get Smart, I highly recommend checking out the original series to experience the craziness that started it all.
Overall, the transfer isn’t a bad effort, but I’ve definitely seen better. Backdrops, palette solidity, and edge emphasis all exhibit a lackluster digital competence, as larger spans of otherwise well-represented color and flesh tones exhibit obvious blocking and digital pixelation. Some minor details etch through well but overall it’s a pretty bland, somewhat muddy image that doesn’t show off the film’s rich visual renderings in the way that it probably should.
The Dolby Digital 5.1 audio track makes up for a good portion of the visual’s foibles, as Get Smart thunders and booms alongside some of its other action-based counterparts. Explosions, gunfire, mid-range shows, and overall dynamic range impress with their fidelity. Verbal clarity is very good, as dialogue is rarely — if ever — distorted or inaudible. It’s a fairly impressive track that helps to invigorate the film’s lively nature. English, French, and Spanish audio options are available, as are subtitle options for each language.
Disc one of this Two-Disc Special Edition contains the movie, plus an optional “Comedy Optimization Mode” (or “Smart Takes”). Whenever a telephone-booth screen pops up, you have the choice of watching an alternate take of the scene you’re in. It’s another way of the filmmakers providing deleted scenes. There are twenty-eight scene selections; English, French, and Spanish spoken languages; French and Spanish subtitles; and English captions for the hearing impaired.
Disc two contains the rest of extras, which don’t amount to much of great interest. First, The Right Agent for the Right Job: Behind-the-Scenes Training (10:30) discusses the casting of Carell and Hathaway. Next is a featurette, Max in Moscow! (6:20) on the film’s location shooting. After that, another featurette, Language Lessons: Spotlight on Linguistics (3:30) which has Carell being silly. Then there’s Spy Confidential: Gag Reel (5:39) a fairly funny reel, worth watching. Next up is, Get Smart’s Bruce and Lloyd Out Of Control Sneak Peek (3:03) – Masi Oka and Nate Torrence play “Bruce” and “Lloyd” the analysts (respectfully). This piece is a short look at their straight-to-DVD movie. Last, there’s a bonus Digital Copy compatible with iTunes and Windows media devices.
