By Andy Hunsaker
Fancast Movies
Action-comedies are hard to pull off, as the two concepts often work at cross-purposes. One is about building tension, the other is about releasing it. If it's too funny, there's no weight to the action. If it's action-packed, the comedy is usually nothing more than a few pithy one-liners before the next thing blows up. Trying to balance the two is generally a losing proposition, and most of the time, they just go with an action movie with some wisecracking, or they do Rush Hour movies.
One might also consider that Get Smart, the classic Don Adams Bond-spoof TV series created by Mel Brooks and Buck Henry back in the 60s, might be redundant in the age of Austin Powers and Casino Royale. Not to mention the challenge of stretching a half-hour comedy show about a complete idiot into a two-hour movie that will hold an audience's interest is a daunting one if you actively try not to just churn out another nostalgic clunker.
With those thoughts in mind, the fact that Get Smart is actually a pretty fun movie comes as a bit of a surprise, although the central figure to making it work is the uncanny resemblance in both appearance and demeanor that Steve Carell has to Don Adams. Carell has said many times that he steered away from doing a straight Don Adams impression, but the fact is that he didn't have to do one. His stuffed-suit style, honed well during his tenure on The Daily Show, fit this role so perfectly that you didn't miss the nasal pinch that Adams had when delivering his goofy one-liners.
The film strikes about as good a balance as you could reasonably expect. It's a comedy with chunks of action movie tucked in, but the fact that there's even mildly exciting action in a Steve Carell movie is something new and different. Helping to strengthen that is the fact that Carell's Maxwell Smart isn't the complete comedy idiot that Adams' Maxwell Smart was. Carell's character's mistakes and confusion stem from the fact that he's a rookie field agent, not just chronically incompetent. He's actually an overachieving lingustic analyst with a lot of book-smart knowledge, but he's failed the field agent test many times, giving him a new layer of depth that helps sustain him for two hours.
Anne Hathaway's Agent 99, by contrast, is more the stealthy-competent action hero badass type, as is Dwayne Johnson's Agent 23, considered the uber-superstar agent in the offices of CONTROL. When Terence Stamp's KAOS organization makes a sneak attack on KONTROL and knocks out most of their agents, the Chief (Alan Arkin) has no choice but to let Max on as Agent 86, partnering him with 99, and the wacky mismatch hijinks ensue.
With a cast this likable, one is inclined to give everybody the benefit of the doubt. As in "maybe that joke wasn't great, but I like the guy saying it, so it's all good." Carell makes things that could have been groaners work with just style, delivery and always saying something perfect yet different. Hathaway's beginning in The Princess Diaries is strangely apropos, because she has the strange ability to look absolutely stunning one moment, and odd and otherworldly the next. A little like the two-faced girl from Seinfeld. She's convincing here in her first action role, when she not only has to play a lethal weapon, but an older, experienced woman, too. It's good that they actually took the time to explain that they were not doing the standard Hollywood schtick of older guy/younger woman/no problem, at least as far as the story goes. The Rock should hopefully remind some people why he was the most entertaining pro wrestler there ever was - it's because the man has a legit sense of humor, as evidenced by his top five movie recommendations. Arkin, of course, is always comedy gold. If you don't believe it, Carell thinks you should see The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming for proof of his comic genius.
It's fun. It's not a total blast, it's not a total yukfest and it's not a pulse-pounder, but it's completely enjoyable. As a bonus, Masi Oka and Nate Torrence play the tech guys, whom they jokingly called "R" and "S" behind the scenes, going one step beyond James Bond's "Q." They end of the film really brings forth some sequel anticipation, thanks to them, and you'll get to see their own companion adventures within ten days, when Get Smarter: Bruce and Lloyd Out of Control comes out on DVD. That should be fun - you'll get to see them build a Robot Patrick Warburton. That's gotta be worth the price.
Comments (1)
I saw the movie, it was funny. I like it.
Posted by Hazel James | June 22, 2008 11:37 AM
Posted on June 22, 2008 11:37