Get Smart

Get Smart is, hands down, the best movie based on an old television show I've seen in a very long time. I find it somewhat sad that an opening sentence like that can actually hold meaning in that there have been so many of these films over the last 5-10 years. It's hard to believe that Hollywood isn't running out of ideas when movies like this keep happening.

Certainly, though, I understand some of the motivation. This type of movie both recalls better times for many, and also introduces something to a new generation that may not have had the opportunity to enjoy the series. In some cases I feel like the 'retro' films based on movies and TV shows are simply just a way to capitalize on an existing franchise that made money once, so is in some ways a guaranteed win, and then I see a movie like Get Smart, and I think that there really must have been some love that went into it.

Get Smart was a series I loved when I was a kid. I used to watch it whenever it was on Nick at Nite, which was sometimes a bit difficult because it would often air at midnight or one o'clock in the morning, when I was supposed to be in bed. I was one of those kids, that loved old TV and Movies, and even old music when I was younger. There was something about the silly ways that Maxwell Smart would always bumble his way through every mission, some how always emerging victorious in the end. It was good, clean, wholesome fun.

This film brings much of the same. I had some fear that this movie would simply be the old premise, updated with extra sexual and toilet humor. It was, but there was something more, something that rings true from the original Mel Brooks characters. Steve Carrell portrayed a perfect Maxwell Smart, and Anne Hathaway was a more than suitable Agent 99. The entire cast managed to revive the original characters they portrayed, and watching, you get a sense of something more than just a re-hashing of old jokes to make money.

As with so many other movies, I can't say there wasn't some fault, something that could have been better, but overall I have to say that it was truly fantastic. As a someone that used to enjoy the series, and for someone that has never seen it, this movies brings a lot, and does it very well.

One of things I think really helped was that they didn't try to push it over the top. Much of Max's 'slapstick' and humor, as well as the entire movie over all was subdued, as though Steve Carrell was playing his own straight man. You tend to see a lot of limits pushed in movies like this because it seems like many filmmakers think it is the only way to get laughs, so it was good to see that this movie was so balanced.

I really have only good things to say, and would encourage anyone and everyone to see this movie.