By veering away from the tone and style of the Mel Brooks / Buck Henry original series, Peter Segal 's "Get Smart” deprives its audience and its usually hilarious star, Steve Carell , of any real fun. Like Nora Ephron 's revision of "Bewitched,” this is a classic case of filmmakers not trusting good source material.

Carell plays Maxwell Smart as a meek and mildly klutzy intelligence analyst for CONTROL, the ...