![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Film Review - Get Smart
Nov. 22nd, 2008 11:08 pmStill wide awake, because I waited too long to eat - ate after 8:30, which is bad. As any good gastrointestonologist will tell you, one should never eat after 8pm, actually they say 6pm, but let's be realistic.
Just watched the flick Get Smart - which surprised me by how incredibly funny it was. I was expecting it to be mildly humorous in places but not laugh out loud and until you're coughing and wheezing...funny. I'd liked the original television series in which it was based. Yes, I'm old enough to remember the 1970s and young enough to remember them fondly.
Only small children enjoyed that decade, we were too young to notice the bad fashion, inflation, high gas prices, and cheesy hair styles. Get Smart was on either in reruns or in the evenings, not sure which, when I was a small child. It was our baby-sitter's favorite series - so we watched it, along with Happy Days. (Really hope no one tries to make a film version of Happy Days. That would just be sad.) The film is oddly close to the original - same deadpan humor, ironic wit, and sly pratfalls - this is subtle physical comedy, before John Ritter found a way to exaggerate it in Three's Company. Although will give Ritter credit - he's the only guy I know who can make a fall down the steps hilarious.
Steve Carroll - is charming. And sort of grows on you. Before you know it, you find yourself enamored. It's a gift. Not everyone can do that. I also found Ann Hathway likeable in the film and rather close match to the original actress who played the part. Well worth a rental, particularly if you need a good laugh.
As for plot - it's an origin tale. Maxwell Smart is an analyst with Control - a covert intelligence agency. He dreams of becoming an agent. Has worked hard to become one. A traitor is in the midst of Control and blows the place up, including everyone's covers. As a result, Maxwell Smart is upgraded to agent status and is assigned to the reluctant Agent 99, who would rather not work with Smart (because of his lack of field experience). They embark on a mission - which subtly pokes fun at spy movies. It's not broad parody like Austin Powers, Get Smart is more satirical, and dryer. Maxwell Smart is actually quite intelligent, but lacks a certain level of common sense and is a bit of a clutz. He is however somewhat self-aware of this fact and doesn't let it get to him. Example - they are swinging from one building to the next, intending on going through the window, instead they hit the wall. Smart to 99: "Missed it by thismuch."
Just watched the flick Get Smart - which surprised me by how incredibly funny it was. I was expecting it to be mildly humorous in places but not laugh out loud and until you're coughing and wheezing...funny. I'd liked the original television series in which it was based. Yes, I'm old enough to remember the 1970s and young enough to remember them fondly.
Only small children enjoyed that decade, we were too young to notice the bad fashion, inflation, high gas prices, and cheesy hair styles. Get Smart was on either in reruns or in the evenings, not sure which, when I was a small child. It was our baby-sitter's favorite series - so we watched it, along with Happy Days. (Really hope no one tries to make a film version of Happy Days. That would just be sad.) The film is oddly close to the original - same deadpan humor, ironic wit, and sly pratfalls - this is subtle physical comedy, before John Ritter found a way to exaggerate it in Three's Company. Although will give Ritter credit - he's the only guy I know who can make a fall down the steps hilarious.
Steve Carroll - is charming. And sort of grows on you. Before you know it, you find yourself enamored. It's a gift. Not everyone can do that. I also found Ann Hathway likeable in the film and rather close match to the original actress who played the part. Well worth a rental, particularly if you need a good laugh.
As for plot - it's an origin tale. Maxwell Smart is an analyst with Control - a covert intelligence agency. He dreams of becoming an agent. Has worked hard to become one. A traitor is in the midst of Control and blows the place up, including everyone's covers. As a result, Maxwell Smart is upgraded to agent status and is assigned to the reluctant Agent 99, who would rather not work with Smart (because of his lack of field experience). They embark on a mission - which subtly pokes fun at spy movies. It's not broad parody like Austin Powers, Get Smart is more satirical, and dryer. Maxwell Smart is actually quite intelligent, but lacks a certain level of common sense and is a bit of a clutz. He is however somewhat self-aware of this fact and doesn't let it get to him. Example - they are swinging from one building to the next, intending on going through the window, instead they hit the wall. Smart to 99: "Missed it by thismuch."
