Review-Get Smart
Review-Get Smart
Posted by
Petes1234567 164 days ago
Theatrical Review: Remaking the satirical '60s spy sitcom Get Smart without Steve Carell in the Maxwell Smart role would have been pretty dumb.
Lucky for them -- and, by extension, us -- the creative team behind this rejuvenated Smart wisely tapped the unassuming funnyman to fill the late Don Adams' telephone-disguised-as-a-shoe. Carell's nimble turn as a calculatedly incompetent agent of CONTROL ensures that this modern spin on an outdated television property -- while rarely intelligent -- is consistently witty.
Director Peter Segal comes to Smart after back-to-back-to-back Adam Sandler comedies. He has a completely different comedic tool in Carell, and doesn't hesitate to experiment with the actor's go-for-broke physical approach to a gag. The most inspired finds Smart in a cramped airplane bathroom, where he attempts to escape plastic handcuffs using a miniature harpoon tool. The cuffs, of course, are the only thing Smart repeatedly misses. His toe, ear, cheek, arm, and unmentionables take a razor-sharp beating in a violently humiliating (and hilarious) sequence that might rival the chest-waxing scene from Carell's breakout hit, The 40-Year-Old Virgin.
Blessed with the sexiness of a Bond girl, Hathaway's main assignment is to look amazing in leather cat suits and diminished cocktail dresses (mission accomplished) as she lobs comedic softballs to her home-run-hitter of a co-star. Dwayne Johnson (formerly known as The Rock) treads water as uber-spy Agent 23 -- he is to CONTROL what Michael Jordan was to the Chicago Bulls, and though Johnson is underused, there's a reason that reveals itself in time.
Lucky for them -- and, by extension, us -- the creative team behind this rejuvenated Smart wisely tapped the unassuming funnyman to fill the late Don Adams' telephone-disguised-as-a-shoe. Carell's nimble turn as a calculatedly incompetent agent of CONTROL ensures that this modern spin on an outdated television property -- while rarely intelligent -- is consistently witty.
Director Peter Segal comes to Smart after back-to-back-to-back Adam Sandler comedies. He has a completely different comedic tool in Carell, and doesn't hesitate to experiment with the actor's go-for-broke physical approach to a gag. The most inspired finds Smart in a cramped airplane bathroom, where he attempts to escape plastic handcuffs using a miniature harpoon tool. The cuffs, of course, are the only thing Smart repeatedly misses. His toe, ear, cheek, arm, and unmentionables take a razor-sharp beating in a violently humiliating (and hilarious) sequence that might rival the chest-waxing scene from Carell's breakout hit, The 40-Year-Old Virgin.
Blessed with the sexiness of a Bond girl, Hathaway's main assignment is to look amazing in leather cat suits and diminished cocktail dresses (mission accomplished) as she lobs comedic softballs to her home-run-hitter of a co-star. Dwayne Johnson (formerly known as The Rock) treads water as uber-spy Agent 23 -- he is to CONTROL what Michael Jordan was to the Chicago Bulls, and though Johnson is underused, there's a reason that reveals itself in time.
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