Post by Patcat on Jul 21, 2008 8:21:16 GMT -5
Yea, yea, it's been out a while (at the multiplex where I saw it the film was consigned to one of the smaller and shabbier theaters). And it's not the greatest or funniest film ever made. There's probably more genuine belly laughs in one episode of the TV series than there was in the entire movie. And Steve Carrell isn't Don Adams.
But Don Adams isn't Steve Carrell. For all that GET SMART isn't, it is a lot of good things. Fairly funny, reasonably clever, and very well acted, it was a good time on a hot afternoon for my friends and myself. There were at least three great laughs. (My 11-year-old friend literally fell down laughing as we talked about one of those on the way out of the theater. Now, admittedly, my friend walks with braces and crutches, but when he fell he was laughing so hard that he wasn't bothered by the fall.) Alan Arkin was terrific as control; The Rock (who has a real film presence--and I'm not talking just about his size) is very good; Anne Hathaway was beautiful and smart and funny; and Steve Carrell excellent as Maxwell Smart. I admire Carrell's work in the TV series THE OFFICE, even though I'm not fond of his character or the show, but I've really liked him in films, where he tends to play more sympathetic characters. In this film, Max is written as more naive than stupid--he's actually pretty smart in this story--and Carrell plays this combination of romantic hero and goofus very well.
This was a default movie for my friends and me. DARK KNIGHT looked too scary for the kids (and maybe the grownups), SPACE CHIMPS too dumb, and the times for the 3-D version of JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH didn't work for us. And the guys didn't want to see MAMA MIA!. GET SMART was a compromise, but we were all happy with the choice.
Patcat
But Don Adams isn't Steve Carrell. For all that GET SMART isn't, it is a lot of good things. Fairly funny, reasonably clever, and very well acted, it was a good time on a hot afternoon for my friends and myself. There were at least three great laughs. (My 11-year-old friend literally fell down laughing as we talked about one of those on the way out of the theater. Now, admittedly, my friend walks with braces and crutches, but when he fell he was laughing so hard that he wasn't bothered by the fall.) Alan Arkin was terrific as control; The Rock (who has a real film presence--and I'm not talking just about his size) is very good; Anne Hathaway was beautiful and smart and funny; and Steve Carrell excellent as Maxwell Smart. I admire Carrell's work in the TV series THE OFFICE, even though I'm not fond of his character or the show, but I've really liked him in films, where he tends to play more sympathetic characters. In this film, Max is written as more naive than stupid--he's actually pretty smart in this story--and Carrell plays this combination of romantic hero and goofus very well.
This was a default movie for my friends and me. DARK KNIGHT looked too scary for the kids (and maybe the grownups), SPACE CHIMPS too dumb, and the times for the 3-D version of JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH didn't work for us. And the guys didn't want to see MAMA MIA!. GET SMART was a compromise, but we were all happy with the choice.
Patcat
