Steve Carell and Anne Hathaway star in ‘Get Smart,’ a spy comedy based on a 60’s Cold War television show. Agent 23 (Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson), however, steals the limelight in this film, adding natural humor to a lacking script.
After watching “Get Smart” it becomes clear that the producers of this film didn’t understand the meaning of the title.
What this film needs to do is precisely that: Get smart.
“Get Smart” is not a complete flop but this film is missing the main element of comedy: humor.
With consistently unfunny jokes that transition with ill-planned plot devices, “Get Smart” fails to inspire and entertain even the base level audience member.
The film is inconsistently funny leaving me wondering why the filmmakers chose to edit the movie with a running theme of incoherence.
The “Get Smart” script needed more time and work but it seems as if the filmmakers wanted the movie made immediately and chose to forego logic for star appeal.
In particular, the two main characters, Max (Steve Carell) and Agent 99 (Anne Hathaway) lack real motivation for their union (other than he is a man and she is a woman which is getting old) and he has a strange and absurd past that doesn’t really enhance the plot.
On a related note, I am sick and tired of the intellectual woman who is capable and sexy and in the end chooses to be with the man whom she is out to prove her independence from men throughout the movie.
Why give her intelligence and power when it doesn’t factor into her decision making process?
In general, there are numerous ideologically confusing sections in the film.
In one particular scene, Max is dancing with an obese woman at a fancy party.
The scene proceeds to manipulate both sides of the issue: We should laugh at fat people dancing because it is inherently funny but we should also respect and appreciate fat people and not laugh at them simply because they are fat.
Those two ideals are at odds with each other but remain in the film as though they are cohesive with each other.
I have to admit there were a couple times that people in the audience were laughing when I wasn’t, but all that did was make me jealous that they were enjoying themselves more than me.
Instead of being swept away by the story and the apparent humor, I directed my focus to peripheral characters and moments that were not part of the main thread of the film.
Supporting actor Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson steals the limelight in “Get Smart.”
He provides a unique and suave character, someone the camera loves to film.
As Agent 23, Johnson offers a much-needed sense of natural comedy to the wacky and forced nonsense that fills the gaps between the unfunny scenes.
Forgetting to mention the evil mastermind of KAOS, Siegfried, who the talented Terrance Stamp played would be a crime.
Also, I bequeath the best line in “Get Smart” to the chief of CONTROL, Alan Arkin.
His line comes toward the end of the film and has the word swordfish in it.
What “Get Smart” needed was a smarter script with attention to humor that actually worked.
Comedies fail miserably when they lack jokes and physical humor with solid punch lines.
“Get Smart,” although not entirely funny, did manage to make me laugh a couple times which means it was on its way to being a solid take on the old television series but didn’t quite have enough energy to keep the film going.
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