Movie Review: ‘Get Smart’ — and get a laugh a minute

James Bond, Schmames Bond! Maxwell Smart is back and more hilarious than ever! Steve Carell plays the beloved character to silly perfection in “Get Smart.”

With a plethora of punch lines and punches, the film does the classic ‘60s television show great justice and more than fills the big screen.

When first seeing this preview one might think, oh no, not another “Bewitched” or “Honeymooners.”

On the contrary, “Get Smart” is how an adaptation should be done — true to original form with nuances where necessary. While dad is reminiscing, daughter can become a fan.

As soon as Steve Carell enters CONTROL Headquarters through those famous doors, surrounded by that zippy, familiar theme music, your movie barometer hits high.

In the film version, Smart is a deskbound analyst (who listens to ABBA’s greatest hits in his iPod) for the spy group CONTROL and has been unsuccessfully trying to become a field agent.

After failing the final test eight times, Smart is about to hang up his hopes when the evil group KAOS penetrates CONTROL HQ, steals the names of every field agent and begins taking them out. It is then that Smart is finally promoted and deemed Agent 86 to help thwart the attacks.

After screaming with utter delight in a defunct “cone of silence” Smart’s eager to find out who his counterpart will be. He hopes to be paired up with super suave Agent 23 (Dwayne used to be “The Rock” Johnson), but to his chagrin is put under the wing of Agent 99 (Anne Hathaway is strikingly sophisticated). After limited training, Smart is stocked with high-tech spy gear (don’t worry, the shoe phone shows up later) and the odd couple are ready to take on the bad guys, well kind of.

After uncovering information that KAOS has been purchasing nuclear weapon ingredients with an intent to destroy the world Agents 99 and 86 go to Moscow to track down their ominous leader Siegfried (Terence Stamp due out in “Wanted” June 27). The duo are on an airplane to Russia when 86 is accidentally fingered a terrorist and handcuffed. He goes to the bathroom and tries to use his mini crossbow to shoot arrows through the plastic cuffs and somehow manages to shoot tiny arrows into his ears, cheeks, neck — you name it. (Laugh out loud scenes run rampant throughout this film!)

After skydiving from the plane to avoid a Roger Moore-era Bond “Jaws” character, the agents attend a “Mission Impossible” like soir/e. The always sexy Agent 99 is dancing with an enemy to gain intelligence when 86 decides to pick a Rubenesque gal to dance with in a dance-off, and boy do both sides wow the crowd in their own special way. It all culminates with a “Dirty Dancing” ending that will have your sides aching.

That’s why this movie rocks. There’s a magnificent balance of comedy and action — which is extremely difficult to pull off. Director Peter Segal (“50 First Dates”, “Tommy Boy”) knew exactly what to do with this script to make it work with audiences across the board.

Whether it’s a high speed helicopter/car chase or high jinks atop some high rise — Carell and Hathaway deliver fun and excitement for almost two hours straight under Segal’s tutelage.

Be on the look out for myriad cameos/appearances. Bill Murray, James Caan, Kevin Nealon, “Heroes” Masi Oka, ex-Raider Bill Romanowski and a multitude of others pop up. There are also a few prominently placed political jabs (CIA digs; President’s pronunciation of nuclear), which give “Get Smart” an even higher IQ.

Jim Carrey was originally cast when the project was first announced in 1998. Interesting, because Carell may very well surpass the funny faced one’s popularity with this awesome effort.

There’s a review on IMDB.com that says “Mel Brooks in my audience — and loves the movie” — the critic goes on to explain that Brooks laughed a lot along with everyone else. Who knows if the person writing the synopsis actually sat in the cinema with the comedic great, but Brooks will without a doubt be proud of this wondrously zany throwback.

Adrienne Mackey is a freelance movie reviewer. Hear her talk a lot more about movies on “The KLPX WakeUp Call with Scott Barnett” weekday mornings from 5 to 10 a.m. on 96.1 KLPX.

The Details

4.5/5 Stars

Action/Comedy

Run time: 110 minutes.

Rated PG-13 for some rude humor, action violence and language.

Starring: Steve Carell, Anne Hathaway, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, Alan Arkin, Bill Murray.

Written by: Tom J. Astle, Matt Ember..

Directed by: Peter Segal.