TOTO: Not quite as 'Smart'

Update of '60s sitcom never does it to the max

By Christian Toto (Contact)

Originally published 11:59 a.m., June 20, 2008, updated 12:02 p.m., June 20, 2008

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The new comedy "Get Smart" takes great pains to remind us of the 1960s sitcom that inspired it. But as TV-to-film translations go, "Get Smart" misses the mark "by that much." We get a standard action-comedy with "The Office's" Steve Carell flailing to find our funny bone.

The movie updates the setting from the Cold War to the fight against terrorism, but it's still a battle between CONTROL and KAOS, the dueling spy groups from the original show.

CONTROL analyst Maxwell Smart (Mr. Carell) yearns to be a field agent, but the Chief (Alan Arkin) thinks he's too valuable as an analyst to get a promotion. Then, when a KAOS agent infiltrates CONTROL headquarters and compromises the identities of agents already in the field, the Chief has no choice but to send Max out to find the leaker.

He's paired up with Agent 99 (Anne Hathaway), a feisty heroine who doesn't think Max is ready for life-and-death battles. She's right, but he's a fast learner. The two develop a bond that turns romantic as the action intensifies. The sexual tension between Max and 99 in the TV show proved far more intriguing.

Turns out that the leader of KAOS, the silver-haired Siegfried (Terence Stamp), plans to detonate a nuclear bomb in Los Angeles unless Max and 99 can stop him.

The original series spoofed the Cold War battleground, but this "Get Smart" doesn't even try to parody or comment on the current war on terror. It's mostly a politics-free zone, though the film does take a jab at a president (James Caan) who can't pronounce the word "nuclear" and celebrities who prattle on about their political views.

Mr. Carell's Maxwell Smart isn't a bumbler and isn't brimming with his own brilliance like Don Adams' take on the character. The reinvented Max may fare better in a fistfight, but he isn't nearly as funny as the original.

Miss Hathaway's 99 suffers from similar comparisons. She's as tough as any of today's female action heroes, but she lacks the grace that made Barbara Feldon's 99 so beguiling.

Some gags haven't survived the 40-year cryogenic freeze, such as the Cone of Silence meant to keep the agents' information away from prying KAOS ears. And when Mr. Carell parrots some of Maxwell Smart's classic lines, it sounds unnatural.

The film's bloated running time means we suffer through several dreary set pieces. Max tries to break free of handcuffs while in an airplane bathroom, but he ends up shooting himself in the face with one of his high-tech weapons. Har har. He later vomits while piloting an airplane, a gross-out gag that works about as well as when he bares his buttocks later.

Like the recent "Rush Hour 3," "Get Smart" ultimately thrives during its action sequences. Some nifty stunt work sets up the finale in which Max and 99 try to bring in a double agent to help Siegfried complete his maniacal plans. Director Peter Segal ("Anger Management") seems far more comfortable orchestrating the bullets and bomb blasts than the character exchanges.

Dwayne "Don't call me the Rock anymore" Johnson burnishes his comic bona fides as a superagent chained to his desk when his identity is breached.

The minds behind "Get Smart" clearly have a franchise - and as wide an audience as possible - in mind. The film introduces Hymie (Patrick Warburton), the robot agent from the series, near the end credits, and the inclusion of a pair of bumbling analysts (Masi Oka and Nate Torrence) clearly is an attempt to reach the younger demographic.

However, any reputable franchise must start with a bang, not a whimper like we get with "Get Smart."

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TITLE: "Get Smart"

RATING: PG-13 (Sexual innuendo, action-movie violence and mild profanity)

CREDITS: Directed by Peter Segal. Written by Tom J. Astle and Matt Ember based on characters created by Mel Brooks and Buck Henry.

RUNNING TIME: 111 minutes WEB SITE: http://getsmartmovie.warnerbros.com/

MAXIMUM RATING: FOUR STARS

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