DVD review: Get Smart

Steve Carell steps into the shoe-phone of Don Adams as agent Maxwell Smart in this film update of the classic TV series.

In the new “Get Smart,” Max is an analyst with the spy organization CONTROL. While he’s dedicated to his job, he dreams of being a field agent. Previously too heavy to qualify, he’s trained and gotten himself into shape. But the Chief (Alan Arkin) needs Max where he is. So, he’s stuck behind a desk until an attack from KAOS reveals all of CONTROL’s agents. Only Max and Agent 99 (Anne Hathaway), safe because of recent surgery to change her looks, are available to thwart KAOS’s plans for world domination.

Carell on paper seems to be the perfect actor to revive Maxwell Smart, but his character was changed for the movie. Rather than a pompous fool who succeeds nearly by accident, this Maxwell Smart has trained and worked for his opportunities. This makes Agent 99, who doesn’t like Max for much of the film, come off as snobbish rather than competent.

There are a few laughs to be had in “Get Smart,” but it tries harder to be an action film than an action-comedy. Extras on the DVD include a “vomit reel,” if that’s likely to appeal to you.

— Matthew Price
From Friday’s The Oklahoman