Get Smart: Movie Review

Have you ever seen Get Smart before? It was acted by Don Adams (passed away in 2005) as a very bumbling US agent who somehow manage to always makes thing bad at first and the best in the end. And that was the 1960's, and now we're in 2008 seeing the same by Steve Carell instead. And its a movie also instead. I got my chance today to really watch this, and it seems that I have a little bit of a edgy feeling to this.

The movie is about Maxwell Smart (Steve Carell of The Office fame) who has long enough wanted to become a field agent for CONTROL (honestly, I have no idea what does it really mean). He got his chance when KAOS (the bad guys) made a ruckus on wanting to blow up places and placing heavy interest with nuclear bombs. So Agent 86 (that's Max over there) along with Agent 99 (Anne Hathaway), Agent 23 (Dwayne Johnson) and the Chief (Alan Arkin) set out on a mission to stop KAOS from wrecking...erh... chaos...

Looking at the people who acted here, some hit the spot, while some don't. Dwayne was good as Agent 23, charming, good, witty and his acting really shows what tough guy really says. Alan did great as an old man wanting to kick young butt. Anne was basically doing an ok job if you asked, a bit pale in comparison with her previous performance in The Devil Wears Prada. While Steve, knowing how annoying and how mad he is, give a bit of a good job and sometimes not too good there. So, hits and misses.

The comedy is awesome. the jokes are really spot on. I'm a sucker for action, and also for comedy. But this movie doesn't really fuse the two well enough to make it a great treat. There are some parts that you wish the laughter should go on and not the action instead, but not vice versa. The plot is good at the start, but doesn't finish up too well in the end. The story does feel a bit loose at the last part, but still ok and perhaps forgettable in the end. Some camera takes could've really been improved, but overall its still an ok thing.

I see a good amount of reference to the old series, especially that shoe phone. Of course, the idea of a cell phone wasn't really accepted in the past, but it was a great tribute to see that shoe phone. haha. I was really hoping to use the posters of the faces being covered (perhaps except Steve's) for this post, but well that one should do. Ken Davitian, The Great Khali, Terry Crews, Masi Oka all made their appearances here and they look great as a supporting cast.

If you tell yourself that you want to knock yourself out watching a comedy with a little hint of action, here is that movie for you. But don't bank on having the loose ends tied, which actually did frustrate me a bit. But if you've enjoyed the trailers, I don't think you have much more to anticipate unless if you want to really see how foolish can a parody to James Bond be. So knock yourself out. :D