Get Smart

Considering I just can’t stand Carell, I liked this rather a lot. I really thought he was right for the role of Smart. Anne Hathaway has become a real fox and she’s a delight to behold. Also James Caan was great as the president and The Rock hasn’t been that cool in a long time. The jokes are funny, the action brisk (Peter Segal really had fun here) and everything is exactly as it should be. Actually, I don’t know why, but I have a pleasant feeling from this movie. (14.10.2008)

Maxwell Smart joins the elite club of cinematic secret agents with a license to kill, but unlike the familiar professionals, you never know if Smart will be his own next victim. In other words, he’s just as much a dangerous moron as Frank Drebin and Inspector Clouseau, and he is just as entertaining to watch (of course, there is also the more charitable interpretation that, as an analyst, Smart is not well suited to working in the field). Among other things, Get Smart is a parody in which, among other things, Bill Murray plays a tree and James Caan plays an idiot (the code name of the then president of the United States). Truly a lot was packed into the film, so it is far from being in any way consistent. It defines itself against other spy movies and against the actual political situation at the time, though it refers to both. Allusions to Hitchcock films and Bond movies easily rub shoulders with political satire and numerous physical gags. It didn’t bother me at all that it doesn’t hold together very well and that the last third of the film is desperate fumbling around, which is a sensible way to end such a plotless film. Of all possible adjectives, “silly” applies least to Get Smart (that is, to the film; in the case of the character Smart, it’s relative), as the film’s absurd humour has its own logic and I was surprised a few times by how clever the one-liners were and how reasonable the protagonists’ behaviour was. The entertainingly incompatible duo of Steve Carell and Anne Hathaway complete the largely positive impression of this return to the series, whose ignorance isn’t too detrimental to the humour. 80% (30.08.2011)

Anne Hathaway is great, but she really doesn't fit into an action movie for me at all. The plot wasn't too bad, the payoff was pretty okay. Just the main two, a jerk and an insightful woman, didn't work for me. Hathaway didn't make it because she's not cut out for it and I don't recognize Carell as an actor. Maybe they should have called it Get Hathaway and Carell. A very weak 3 stars. (12.02.2011)

After Evan Almighty, I wasn’t in the mood for Steve Carell, but I thought I’d survive it for Anne Hathaway. I chose a good film because Carell showed that he can deliver comedy. His comedic style is, on one hand, reminiscent of Jim Carrey, but on the other hand, he has a deadpan expression as if he studied the acting of Buster Keaton. He doesn’t come close to either of them in the film, but he tries. His goofy character, Smart, a bit like Clouseau, isn’t new, the story isn’t anything exceptional, and it simply copies Johnny English, but there are still moments where you'll find yourself laughing. (15.02.2013)