So close Hollywood, so close. Get Smart could have been a solid comedy at an hour and a half, but for some reason the scriptwriter/director/studio – whoever, decided the movie should be almost 2 hours long and include the most cliched end sequence.
I used to watch the original Get Smart on Nick at Nite with my aunt when I would spend summers with her in Florida. I knew the basic gags and the movie throws enough of them out to please the old fans.
Steve Carell’s impersonation of Don Adams, the original Maxwell Smart, seems to turn off and on, which was okay by me – I didn’t think it was necessary. Sometimes he sounded like Steve and other times it felt like he was trying to hard. It was probably the order that the scenes were shot, but when edited together it felt a little weird. Anne Hathaway was great as Agent 99, putting up with Max’s bumbling antics. And Alan Arkin. Just put Alan Arkin in every movie from now on. He just has too much fun. Dwayne Johnson (formerly “The Rock”) was the biggest surprise. That man has some great comic timing!
Oh but those last 30 minutes…they just ruined the movie because they were not part of this movie. They were left over from some other movie. And why WHY do they insist on inserting some sort of half-assed romantic plot? It was just frustrating. While we laughed and giggled at the first part of the movie, the last 30 minutes we kept asking “OMG is it OVER yet??? How long is this?” proving to me that they pushed was should have been a light comedy too far.
So rent it, but when you feel like it should be over (and it had an ending all ready to go, you feel everything slowing down before the biggest spy movie cliche of all kicks in) just stop it and pretend that was the end. Because then you have a solid comedy that goes well with popcorn. If you watch it all…well, you can’t say i didn’t warn you.
orangerful 