Get Smart (2008)

User Rating:

6.8/10   

Director:

Peter Segal

Writers (WGA):

Tom J. Astle (written by) &
Matt Ember (written by) ...

Release Date:

20 June 2008 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Comedy

Tagline:

Saving The World. And Loving It.

Plot:

Maxwell Smart, Agent 86 for CONTROL, battles the forces of KAOS with the more-competent Agent 99 at his side.

Plot Keywords:

Spy | Airplane | Sexy Agent | Leg | Air Marshal

Awards:

2 wins & 5 nominations

Cast

Steve Carell	...	Maxwell Smart / Agent 86
Anne Hathaway	...	Agent 99
Dwayne Johnson	...	Agent 23
Alan Arkin	...	The Chief
Terence Stamp	...	Siegfried
Terry Crews	...	Agent 91
David Koechner	...	Larabee
James Caan	...	The President
Bill Murray	...	Agent 13
Patrick Warburton	...	Hymie
Masi Oka	...	Bruce
Nate Torrence	...	Lloyd
Ken Davitian	...	Shtarker
David S. Lee	...	Krstic
Dalip Singh	...	Dalip

MPAA:

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

Runtime:

110 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Russian

Colour:

Colour

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

SDDS | DTS | Dolby Digital

Certification:

South Korea:12 | Finland:K-13 | Australia:PG | Ireland:12A | UK:12A | Singapore:PG | Greece:K | Philippines:PG-13 (MTRCB) | Canada:G (Québec) | Canada:PG (Alberta/British Columbia/Ontario) | Brazil:12 | Argentina:Atp | Malaysia:U | Norway:11 | USA:PG-13 (certificate #44068) | Taiwan:PG-12 | Peru:PT | Germany:12 | Germany:12 (f) | Netherlands:6 | Portugal:M/12 | New Zealand:PG | Sweden:11 | Switzerland:10 (canton of Vaud) | Switzerland:10 (canton of Geneva) | South Africa:13L | Iceland:7 (DVD rating) | Iceland:L

Filming Locations:

Gorky Street, Moscow, Russia

Company:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Trivia:

To hear the performance of Beethoven's 9th, Siegfried tunes the car radio to 91.5 FM. This is the frequency for KUSC, the Classical Music Station in Los Angeles.

Goofs:

Factual errors: The concert program says they are playing Beethoven's 9th Symphony, but the symphony plays excerpts from Mozart's 40th.

Quotes:

Maxwell Smart: On 3: 1... 2... 3.
[fake-punches Bruce, Bruce falls]
Maxwell Smart: Wrong way.

Movie Connections:

References Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980)

Soundtrack:

Ain't No Other Man

Exhilarating action, good comedy

The first 10 minutes or so of "Get Smart" are kind of disappointing, and I thought "here we go, another trailer that makes the film look better than it is". But it improves greatly after that point, mainly after the first encounter of Max with Agent 99. Anne Hathaway is in some ways the life of this movie: she is incredibly sexy, with a magnificent back and legs to die for (or by), and completely believable in all her action scenes. Steve Carell has good comic timing; he may at times remind you of Leslie Nielsen in "The Naked Gun" and "Spy Hard" mode, but beyond that he manages to make Max a genuinely likable and human character, not just a cartoon. The relationship Max and 99 have formed at the end of the movie seems to be based more on friendship than anything else. 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. So people who are more into action than into comedy should still get some satisfaction out of this.

Nothing brilliant, but a dependable crowd-pleaser nonetheless. I'd give it *** out of 4 stars.