2008 Blockbuster 6 "Get Smart"

I've seen plenty of episodes of the original TV show in reruns, and I found it diverting, but nothing really special. When I saw the cast they put together for this movie, my interest level increased significantly.

Steve Carell has made a career for himself playing the extremely dim bulb of Michael Scott on "The Office", so I was a little worried that he'd be playing that kind of a role in this as Maxwell Smart, as Don Addams did back in the 60's. I was pleasantly surprised that his character was far from stupid. In fact, the guy's frickin' brilliant as an analyst. It's just that when he's finally given his dream of being an Agent (you can practically hear the capital "A"), he's somewhat out of his element.

Enter 99, played by Anne Hathaway, who becomes his partner/mentor. This was also smart casting, or at least it was strange casting that they pulled off. Ideally, you'd want an older actress in the role to make her experience seem believable. Hathaway has enough of a mature presence that she gets you to believe she's an older woman who's had some work done. And her prickliness is kind of fun to watch.

The cast rounds out with the always enjoyable Alan Arkin as Chief, and Dwayne "Not The Rock This Time" Johnson as Agent 23.

Overall, they did a nice job of balancing a relatively somber subject (terrorism) with some funny action sequences (the parachute drop was my favorite). I also like the fact that the movie posits that KAOS and CONTROL (the funny versions of the KGB and the CIA) were well known during the Cold War, but now they're officially disbanded... even though they aren't. It makes the ridiculousness of their gadgetry seem slightly more believable, since this is a world where the CIA and the NSA are more public than CONTROL.

This thing won't win any awards (except maybe for Best Kiss at the MTV Movie Awards) but it was enjoyable.