Get Smart

Plot synopsis:
Maxwell Smart (Steve Carell), the top analyst of the top secret American intelligence agency CONTROL, hopes to become a field agent like his idol, Agent 23 (Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson), but despite scoring extremely well in the acceptance tests Max is denied the promotion because the Chief of CONTROL (Alan Arkin) thinks Max is too valuable in his present assignment. This changes when CONTROL headquarters is attacked by their arch-enemy, the terrorist organization KAOS, led by a man known only as Siegfried (Terence Stamp). As a result, almost all of CONTROL's agents are exposed and killed. Max becomes Agent 86 and is partnered with Agent 99 (Anne Hathaway), whose recent plastic surgery has protected her identity, while former field operatives like 23 are demoted to desk jobs.Max and 99 travel to Russia on a mission to determine how KAOS has been getting nuclear weapons. Along the way, Max slowly proves to 99 that despite his inexperience and clumsiness he is actually a good field agent. Max also begins to show, as does 99, that he has slight feelings for her, and she for him. However, 99 does not want to have a relationship with any agent, as she previously blew a mission due to her being in a relationship with a partner (as it turns out, Agent 23). The pair try to infiltrate KAOS's Moscow nuclear weapons factory, which is disguised as a bakery, and even though Siegfried has been expecting them, Max and 99 overpower the guards and plant explosives that will bury the nuclear weapons under rubble. Max even saves both 99's life and his own by helping one of Siegfried's henchmen, a man named Dalip (Dalip Singh), with his marital problems using information gleaned from his analyst work. The Chief sends 23 to oversee clean-up of the bakery, but 23 reports that he has found no evidence of nuclear weapons, causing CONTROL (and an upset 99) to believe that Max is a double agent.Siegfried reveals that KAOS has distributed nuclear weapons to unstable dictators, and will supply them with the activation codes unless the American Government pays him $200 billion, and decides to establish the credibility of his threat by destroying Los Angeles with a nuclear bomb during the President's visit. The Vice-President doesn't believe CONTROL's claims that KAOS is a serious threat so the Chief, 99 and 23 go there to try and personally convince the President, to no avail. Dalip sends Max (who is in custody in Washington D.C.) a tip-off about the bomb via a radio call-in show, so Max escapes custody, equips himself with vintage items from the CONTROL museum (such as the shoe phone) and travels to Los Angeles himself to meet with the Chief and tell him about the bomb. Agent 23 doesn't believe Max's claims or his innocence because he has a crush on agent 99, even though the Chief and 99 do. This, plus the fact that Max detects trace radiation on 23 (who had walked through the Moscow nuclear facility), causes Max to realize that 23 is the double agent. 23 takes 99 hostage and flees with the bomb's remote detonator, and Max and the Chief give chase. 23 ties 99's hands tightly together and locks her in his car. Max and the Chief save 99, with Smart kissing Agent 23, which was a trick to distract him and kicks him into the now flaming, track-led government GMC Yukon. When Max and 99 are stuck to the car, Max saves 99 by throwing her to the ground while he tries to cut himself free. 99 looks up and sees the car destroyed by the oncoming train, believing Max and 23 to be killed. 99, extremely upset about Max's death, says out loud that she wished they had more time together too, an answer to a question Max asked her earlier. Suddenly, Max appears, shocking her, saying he "missed it by that much." 99 kisses Max. The three realize that the bomb, hidden in Walt Disney Concert Hall where the President is attending a concert, will be triggered when the orchestra plays the final notes of Beethoven's "Ode to Joy". Reaching the Hall just in time, Max tackles the conductor, stopping the orchestra and stopping the bomb. However, the orchestra is doubtful that there was a bomb and the guards ridicule Maxwell. Maxwell guesses correctly that the bomb was under the piano and shocks the guards. During Siegfried's escape, the terror mastermind insults Dalip once too often and Dalip throws him out of their car off a bridge and into a river.The heroes celebrate their success in CONTROL headquarters. The President is very impressed with the agency, especially Max's heroics. Max and 99 begin not-so-secretly dating and have bought a puppy, named Fang. Bruce and Lloyd get a little payback on a bullying field agent via the introduction of Hymie the Robot. The film ends with Max and 99 leaving CONTROL through the set of high-tech security doors; of course, Max can't leave the last door (which doesn't close) alone and repairs it with his pocket knife, causing the door to close on him and a mini harpoon to stick him in the cheek.

Tags: murder, stupid, bleak, violence, flashback, humor, entertaining

Review:
I know sometimes a preview looks pretty good and then the movie stinks (hello, Indiana Jones IV?) but this one does not disappoint.I remember enjoying the "Get Smart" TV series when I was a kid, and like some other reviewers here, I feared the remake might screw it up (even though watching a couple of 5th-season episodes recently reminded me just how bad the show itself became late in the game.) But this movie version strikes just the right balance of action and comedy, while also balancing fresh ideas with welcome nods to the TV series.After all, it wouldn't be "Get Smart" without "Would you believe...", "Sorry about that, Chief", or "Missed it by THAT much." It was also great to see such classics as the shoe phone, the Cone of Silence, Hymie the robot, and not one but two of the cars that Don Adams would have driven.
Now this isn't Robert Ludlum material, and I doubt anyone is real surprised to see who turns out to be a bad guy, but it's a lot of fun along the way, with either a sight gag or surprisingly good action (and often both at the same time) coming down the pike every few minutes.
Neither was this one of those "Naked Gun" characters who stumbles into success despite his incompetence; Smart has some hilariously bad moments, but is never made out to be simply a lucky fool.Carrell and Anne Hathaway have surprisingly good chemistry, and Alan Arkin is perfect taking over Edward Platt's role as "the Chief." Former wrestler Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson does a good job as Agent 23, and an even larger wrestler (7-foot 2-inch, 387-pound Dalip Singh from "The Longest Yard") is well-cast as a KAOS underling, although most of the other main bad guys are rather forgettable.
Even TV-series KAOS agent Bernie Koppel shows up for a cameo, as does Patrick Warburton (who will be terrific in the inevitable sequel) and Bill Murray (almost unidentifiable hiding in a tree.) Bottom line: you won't come out of this movie feeling as if you were cheated out of your money.
I saw a preview of "Get Smart" last week at Warner Brothers, and all my worries about what they would do with the great TV series vanished in the first few moments of the movie as Steve Carell enters Control through the famous doors, and so began one of the most hilarious comedies I have seen in a long time.
The cast is absolutely stacked, Alan Arkin, the Rock, Dave Koechner all kick ass and help make 'Get Smart' an instant classic.If you were a fan of the original 'Get Smart' series, there's no question you'll love this movie.
The rest of the cast is generally well-chosen (although I didn't get the point of Bill Murray's 1-minute cameo); there is a big plot twist that allows one cast member to play against type, and even Dalip Singh (aka The Great Khali in WWE) comes off well, playing a huge indestructible henchman in the tradition of Jaws of "The Spy Who Loved Me" and "Moonraker".There are some good laughs in "Get Smart", but what pleasantly surprised me is how well-done the action is.
From an exhilarating freefall sequence that was probably designed as a homage to the opening of "Moonraker" to Carell's and Hathaway's quick, efficient fight scenes (choreoghraphed by a veteran at this sort of thing, James Lew), and from the explosions at the "bakery" factory to the incredibly kinetic final chase sequence involving various means of transportation, the action in this movie probably surpasses the recent James Bond pictures, helped by the fact that a lot of it seems to have been done by the actors themselves, willing to take some risks.
On the other hand, the production values were all first-rate and contemporary, including a CGI effect of an aerial fly-around and push-in to a 747 that was reminiscent of the key shot in the pilot of Star Trek.Steve Carrell makes a very reasonable Agent 86; where Don Adams played the character as a bumbling naif, Carrell makes him into a goodhearted wannabe who, despite having the kind of personality that renders him invisible in society, still has intelligence and an earnestness that can make him into hero material when he works at it.
(He also quite reasonably feels more secure in briefs than boxer shorts; I don't know what Adam's take on this issue was).On the other hand, Anne Hathaway nails Agent 99 with a performance absolutely capturing Barbara Feldon's creation, right down to the tone of voice, the raised eyebrows, and at least three different dead-on intonations of "Oh, Max!" Nevertheless, Hathaway moves the character beyond the pre-feminist liberation era and invests 99 with a believable 21st century sexuality and sense of empowerment.
It was so bad, in fact, that I found it difficult to recognize the characters I knew so well and I kept forgetting that I was watching Get Smart.I really believe that this had all of the ingredients to become a hilarious movie, but someone messed up horribly along the way.
But that's just to remind us that this is the Get Smart movie.The series was laugh-out-loud funny about a goofy, stupid agent against stupid enemies.
Anne Hathaway's gorgeous legs can only carry her so far in this movie and Steve Carrell's Don Adams impressions fall way short of any testament to a great bumbling secret agent of days gone past.Updated for today's post, post-cold war period, the story jumps around with no continuity and just doesn't fit the persona of the original story lines spoofing the CIA and the KGB.
Take out all the convoluted middle scenes, keep the beginning and end, and you would have seen the whole movie in five minutes.Oh, and I would have never lived to say this, but would you believe I recently rented "The Nude Bomb" with Adams on DVD, tried to remember this, and I liked this little-known movie much better than this recent "Get Smart?" But the TV show is the real thing..
The result is a film that lacks an identity and feels a bit half-baked and in need of a few more re-writes.Steve Carell essentially turns his Michael Scott character from TV's The Office into a comedic secret agent for this movie, and though he really isn't breaking any new comedic ground, he's still the best thing about this movie.
Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, Alan Arkin, Masi Oka and Terry Crews all have comparatively limited screen time but generally make the most of it.The film's biggest handicap is its hit-or-miss script, which quite often drags down its actors with jokes that are often eye-rollingly corny and/or unnecessarily lewd.
Also Starring The Lovely Anne Hathaway(Nicolas Nickleby) as Agent 99, the partner and love interest of Agent 86,Alan Arkin(Catch-22 ) as The Chief,Dwayne Johnson(The Scorpion King) as Agent 23, Masi Oka(Heroes) as Bruce,Terry Crews(The Benchwarmers) as Agent 91 ,James Caan(Brazil) as The President of The United States also Starring Terrence Stamp(Superman II) as Siegfried A Nuclear Arms Dealer The Films Main Villain ,The Film was Dramatic,Thrilling and absolutely Funny An Amazing performance from Steve Carrell as the Dry Humor Maxwell Smart also the film was Funny at Spoofing The Typical Spy Genre and surprisingly Dramatic had an awesome summer Comedy vibe.
Now it's up to Max to find out for sure what is being done and to stop them.And that's a very loose description of the premise to Get Smart, a movie updating and re-imagining of the classic comedy TV series from the 1960s......
Even when this is relying on some of the old chestnuts from the original series (with one notable exception), this just fails.And the reason for that failure is on two counts- it's ill-conceived as a movie, and the character of Maxwell Smart has been seriously compromised.Now, y'see, back when the show was on, it was genuinely funny and being the brainchild of comedy legends Mel Brooks and Buck Henry, you'd expect it to be.
The TV series was a spoof of spy movies, it was a low budget and very small show, and yet it was loaded with big, but two-dimensional characters, and the biggest of them all was Maxwell Smart.
First, this is trying to be an action movie with lots of comedic overtones, and it's also very big, especially in consideration of it's source, and the biggest thing that they do wrong in the midst of all of that is that they try to make you think it's real, and that was never the spirit of the original show by any means.The second thing that they get wrong is in the character of Maxwell Smart.
Anne Hathaway plays Smart's partner, Agent 99, and first off, she just looks fantastic and also looks like she would have a real affinity with being in a legitimate action film, it's just too bad that she's in this one.
And her character has been changed as well, in particularly to be a little more shrewish than anything else.Get Smart is as ill-conceived as a TV-to-movie adaptation/remake/re-imagining can get and even though it tries to have some echoes of the original series, those echoes fall flat due to a poor conception of the film and a dramatically ill-conceived new interpretation of it's lead character.
It's not similar in story to either of those movies, but it does manage to blend action and comedy together in a comparable way.The casting is perfect, and really what makes Get Smart so likable.
Such is the case with 'Get Smart', where Steve Carell's excellent comic timing, and his chemistry with Anne Hathaway make for a very entertaining film, despite the at times clichéd script.
The only positives of this movie are the performances of Alan Arkin (who has THE funniest line in the movie), Dwayne Johnson (who had his funny line deleted in favor of an unfunny line from Terry Crews) and Anne Hathaway, who proves to be ten times funnier and more enjoyable than Steve Carell thinks he is.
While I was seeing Get Smart,I could not stop thinking how much better it could have been with a better creative team.I think Get Smart is a mediocre movie but the worst aspect from this movie is that it represents wasted potential.I laughed on some occasions,but most of the gags fatally fail because they result totally unfunny and,on the worst of the cases,irritating.Steve Carell is an excellent comedian but he is lost on this movie.I think it was not his fault...I think the fault was of director Peter Segal,who could not recognize Carell's talent,not to mention the potential from this movie.But,thinking it well,it's a mistake to expect too much from the director of The Nutty Professor:The Klumps and Anger Management.Anne Hathaway,Dwayne Johnson and Alan Arkin are wasted in here.One of the few elements I enjoyed from this movie,was the brief moment in which Bill Murray appeared...one of the few occasions I laughed was on that moment.Get Smart is a weak movie which commits a fatal mistake:staying in the mediocrity because of its lack of ambition.My recommendation is:skip this movie..
Get Smart not only features some of the dumbest lines in the history of comedy, but, on top of that, has a totally incoherent "story." Not a single cast member gave a good performance, even though Steve Carrell is a comic genius and Hathaway is an underrated actress.
In recent years most movies based on TV series have used high-tech special effects and extravagant action sequences, thinking that it would be better than the series and in the process they forget to focus on the story and characters.While 'Get Smart' has the cool special effects and action scenes, its essence remains similar to that of the series and the story is funny while the characters are fun (just like Mel Brooks would have wanted).
The series recounted, in high style and with great good humor, the goofy misadventures of one Maxwell Smart, aka Agent 86, of the spy agency CONTROL who, in his own endearingly inept way, waged weekly battle against the comically evil organization known as KAOS.
In short, for long stretches of time, Maxwell Smart has been reduced to playing straight man in his own movie.Anne Hathaway conveys a certain style and panache as Agent 99, but Alan Arkin as the Chief and Dwayne Johnson as Agent 23, though both very good, aren't accorded sufficient screen time to register much of an impact.
I kept watching hoping and waiting for it to deliver some of the classic lines in the classic fashion of Don Adams who played the original Maxwell Smart.The story is weak, the humour is lame, in fact I didn't laugh at any point or even get close.
It gets a turkey.40-Year-Old Virgin star Steve Carrel steps into the telephonic shoes of television's most beloved bumbling detective in this big-screen adaptation of the hit 1960s-era comedy series created by Mel Brooks.
Last year I saw the teaser trailer for Get Smart, Steve Carell throws a phone at the guy from Borat and it's on a wire and stops before it can hit him, I nearly died laughing and new I had to see this film.
One scene between Steve Carell and Dwayne Johnson near the end of the movie has the comic brilliance and timing of the classic pie in the face that you knew was coming but laughed at anyway.
It's got some good stunts.**** Get Smart (6/19/08) Peter Segal ~ Steve Carell, Anne Hathaway, Alan Arkin, Dwayne Johnson.
Alan Arkin is tremendous as the chief, Dwayne Johnson is funny and lovable as the famous Agent 23 whom Max wants to live up to, Terence Stamp is given yet another generic bad guy to play and does so with flair and excellence.
There's also a great supporting cast that includes Bill Murray, Terry Crews, David Koechner, Ken Davitian, and a hilarious bit part with James Caan as the president of the United States.Never devoid of laugh, charms, and competently directed by Peter Segal, "Get Smart" is one of the most delightfully funny movies of the past ten years.
To be honest i never saw any episode of the late series Get smart, but if it's anything like the movie it must be full with laughs and spy action.
These shows were great then, because the way they were and made us laugh and they did-not need changed at all.This movie was kinda funny, the cameos of some of the original cast that were still alive was nice but this movie was nothing like the original get smart the TV show that I remember Steve Carell is nothing like Don Adams and Anne Hathaway playing agent99 was boring and not very sexy and well rest of the cast was a who's who of todays so called stars.
just like most movies these days a lot of money and effects on the screen, no substance!If you want to see a really great performance by Steve Carell, see "Dan in Real Life".
I'm not knocking the actors playing the roles, but Agent 23, Siegfried, the Chief, Larabee, Bruce, Lloyd, Dalip, etc, were just simply annoying characters.The final appearance of Patrick Warburton's 'Hymie' was the only saving grace character and he was only on-screen for less than a minute.I couldn't wait for this film to end, especially after seeing what was a brilliant concept of "Get Smart" re-written so badly in the 'updated' version.
This movie is hilarious, nonstop laughs, over-the-top humor, goofy, endearing, laughable, a good time movie, a wonderful cinematic experience, upbeat, silly but in a good way, farcical but not dumb, great comedic acting, excellent script, comic acting at its best, one of the few movies that makes you want to say "I wish the movie was not over", Steve Carell is great, Ann Hathaway is outstanding, Alan Arkin is at his funniest and the entire cast is like a well oiled laughter machine.
Seldom has a movie had so many good things going for it and failed so miserably, yet such is the case with Get Smart, the latest in a long line of television chestnuts finding a home on the big screen thanks to the utter dearth of imagination in Hollywood these days.Its problem lies with not knowing what it wants to be  family comedy or action flick, with the end result being a weak-kneed attempt at both (although to be fair, the action comes off better than the laughs).
His goofy but innocent antics are perfect for this film, and his on-screen chemistry with co-star Anne Hathaway is realistic and incredibly entertaining.Dwayne Johnson, Masi Oka, Alan Arkin, Nate Torrence and Ken Davitian are all just as funny and lively as the stars they support, creating a terrifically performing cast that makes you want to see them again and again.Get Smart was certainly worth the wait, and I recommend it to anybody who even remotely thinks they may enjoy it..
The title did it justice: the film lacked any of the original characters or the actors who played them except Adams as Maxwell Smart.
The twist is so painfully obvious you could see it a mile away.Hathaway doesn't have the requisite chemistry with Carell for their relationship to ignite sparks and the supporting cast comprised of Alan Arkin as the CONTROL head, Terence Stamp as the KAOS head, and Dwayne Johnson as Agent 23 are wasted with hit-or-miss dialogs."Get Smart" doesn't end up as being a horrible movie as surely, there are some moments worthy of a matinée.
But the film stars the perfect actor for the Maxwell Smart (Agent 86) role--Steve Carrell.
The trademark characters (Maxwell Smart, 99, Siegfried, Larrabee, etc.) as portrayed in the film were nothing like their counterparts from the original series.
I love the films of Mel Brooks, the man who's behind the original TV series for this movie.