Review: Get Smart Film
Classic Television Character Makes His Way to the Big Screen
Get Smart manages to be the perfect combination of paradoxes: dumb yet smart; funny yet thrilling; goofy yet exciting; action-packed yet silly.
There’s a scene where Maxwell Smart and Agent 99 traipse through a sewer, excrement and all, in order to secretly infiltrate the home of a villain, and Smart muses that he bets James Bond never needed to deal with poop and rats.
Working Within the Spy Genre
That’s the beauty of Get Smart: against all odds, around every corner, even though constantly threatening to, it never reduces itself to a parody of the spy genre, but somehow manages to exist in the same authentic spy world as Bond himself.
That’s why it’s so funny: audiences are so used to seeing secret agents perform stunts with such immaculate ease that it’s nice to see a hero who isn’t above wading knee deep in last night’s supper.
And even when it goes for cheap laughs, like the passengers of an entire airplane hearing Smart moaning in the bathroom, when really the viewer knows it is out of pain not relief, the film is so well acted, so well timed, so exciting, and the comedy so well thought out, that it actually gets away with it.
Thanks to Mel Brooks and Buck Henry
Maybe, that’s due, in no small part, to Buck Henry and that mad comedic genius Mel Brooks who created the original TV show the film is based on, and are named as contributors (whatever that means) during the end credits.
Alas, Get Smart succeeds at that twisted Brooks sense of humor better than any Brooks inspired film since 2005’s musical remake of The Producers.
Everyone knows the kind: big, broad, twisted, dirty, basically everything but the kitchen sink, and of course, those clever little asides that clutter the backgrounds of already rambunctious frames. Brooks never wanted to waste a comic opportunity, no matter the size or detail.
Surely enough, here there’s a scene during the climax where Smart, while chasing a villain, must dangle from a banner that is flying behind an airplane. What’s the ad for? A suicide hotline. Brooks would have loved that.
But, Get Smart is too clever to be petty. A lesser film would have made the joke the focus, and it would have fallen flat because, as the focal point of the scene, it’s not that funny, but as the background prop of a truly outstanding action sequence, one can appreciate the small brilliance at work. As a spoof Get Smart would have been a mess, but as a spy film comedy, it’s nearly a masterstroke.
Big Laughs
Of course not all the laughs are small ones or all the gags background fixtures. No, here is a film that works hard for its laughs, and gets them by brilliantly allowing the gags to unfold one step at a time, building one on top of the other.
Like a scene where Smart, preparing to be the hero and save the day, drives a classic car out of a showroom and down a flight of stairs. It’s an exciting scene, but Plan A hilariously fails in a way that a dramatic spy film would dare not show, but is probably closer to what would really happen in such a scenario.
So then, when Plan B fails as well the laugh is even bigger. When Smart finally reaches his destination, a flashback to Plan C gets a giggle, and then the response to it gets another. Stupid but smart; funny yet thrilling: Oh boy is this is a good film.
Plot
There hasn't been much talk about the plot because; well there isn’t much of one. Smart works as an analyst for an American spy branch called CONTROL, run by chief (the very funny Alan Arkin). His job is to spy on the activities of CHAOS, the Russian equivalent, and report his findings to the field agents 23 (Dwayne Johnson) and 99 (Anne Hathaway) who then go out and take care of the baddies.
There is reason to believe that CHAOS, headed by Siegfried (Terence Stamp), is planning a nuclear terrorist attack against America. That’s about it really. After their cover is blown, the brilliant but bumbling Smart’s dreams come true as he is paired up as a field agent with the unimpressed Agent 99 who will not be detected because of her recent plastic surgery.
Fear of Writing a Comedy Review
Of course, the fear of writing a review for a film such as this is that of it becoming no more than a description of the best gags. One could talk about what was actually going on in that airplane bathroom, or the glee of the surprise from an unexpected cameo by an actor playing a lonely agent hiding inside a fake tree, or how a kiss between two unlikely characters saves the day.
And let’s not forget the brilliant way in which the film finally deals with the villain (Brooks probably loved that too). Yes, and who would dare tell about the swordfish that, with the help of Arkin, steals the films biggest laugh.
The Talent of Steve Carell
Maybe what Is left to say is that all of this works because of the talent and charisma of its star Steve Carell as Smart. Carell is a master at playing the straight man, and he has an endearing screen presence.
Just like Steve Martin in his best work, one can’t help but love the guy. See Adam Sandler all but begging for laughs in the similar recent (but still very funny) summer comedy Don’t Mess with the Zohan, and you see how easily Get Smart could have come apart at the seams.
But Carell and his fellow cast really act like they are actually making a truly good, honest-to-God spy film. Smart is right, James Bond has never dealt with any poop, but hey, you’ve got to start somewhere.
Rating: 4.5 out of 5
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