I just got back from watching [amazonify]B001GMAVGE::text::::Get Smart[/amazonify], the latest movie based on a former television show. Going into the movie, I was quite excited for it because I love Steve Carell and I also loved the old television program as well. Yet I didn’t really know how this one would turn out. The commercials seemed like it would work well, but I also feared that the commercials, like usual, showed all the funny parts. I’d also say that the track record for shows turned into movies has not been good. I can think of very few TV Shows that worked well as movies in the last ten years.
Surprisingly, this was on the case with Get Smart. They kept true to the original television show fairly head on and I think largely because of this we ended up with a movie that really appeased many aspects that we look for when seeing a movie. It had action and comedy with a touch of charm that you rarely find. There were times in the movie where I was on the edge of my seat, times when I was laughing so hard I was nearly crying, and times where I was endeared by Max Smart in the same way as the original.
As expected, Steve Carrell turned out to be a perfect Max Smart. His natural ability to be super serious while at the same time making the viewer laugh is uncanny in this day and age and was exactly the type of humor needed for this character. I was not surprised at all to find that he did a superb job at the character. Anne Hathaway actually turned out to be a rather good choice for Agent 99 as well. Though much younger than the original, she was that perfect amount of cutneness without being too hot. She also was able to be that straight man that every good comic needs in order to showcase the just how good it is.
I also appreciated the cameo of Bill Murray who played the part of Agent 13 that i actually wish popped up in more places like the original. I thought it too was brilliant and hope that if they do a sequel that they somehow get him to pop back in for it because he too was perfect. I don’t like The Rock personally but for the role he played, it was fine. Every other actor in the movie was sufficient though not necessarily good or great like the main stars.
This movie did such a good job at staying true to the original show that it made me wonder if this is how they need to choose the remakes in the future. Modern remakes tend to make fun of the thing they are remaking just as much as they are trying to be it which often ruins the concept entirely (ie Bewitched, Starsky & Hutch, Dukes of Hazzard, Brady Bunch, etc.). In this particular concept, the show constantly was making fun of itself because in essence it was mocking James Bond which is still relevant today because of the seemingly unending supply of Bond movies. So they could poke fun at the show because the show poked fun at itself. However other movies doing this tend to fall away from the show entirely by doing this and thus turn out to be not that great. I think future shows need to heed this example and either stay true to the original concept, or find shows that poke fun at themselves, otherwise just stay away from doing it.
My grade: A. Worth watching in the theater, worth buying.