Steve Carrell plus James Bond results in Get Smart
The first ten minutes or so of Get Smart are sort of unsatisfying, and I figured “here we go, another preview that makes the dvd seems better than it is”. But it improves greatly from that point, mainly after the foremost encounter of Max with Agent 99
I’ve forever found Anne Hathaway to be one of the lovelist Hollywood actresses and she didn’t neglect me here either. Steve Carell has good comic timing, he may from time to time remind people of Leslie Nielsen in The Naked Gun and Spy Hard style, but outside of that he manages to make Max a authentically sympathetic and human persona, not just an animated cartoon.
The kinship Max and 99 have moulded at the end of the dvd video seems to be established to a greater extent on a friendly relationship than anything else.
Max and Agent 99 have some profound fight scenes, choreographed by fight scene genius James Lew. For a finale of action they let in a stunning and wild chase sequence as well. By an action standpoint I could say it easily surpasses that of recent Bond films, though the comedy doesn’t make it quite as serious
You truly have a simple Bond style plot. You have the good guys who are after the bad guys for doing negative things…such as killing the President.
Even after passing the field agent exam Max is not allowed to go out in the field of battle as his superior (Arkin) tells him that he is the strongest psychoanalyst they have and that he needs him to stay put. Notwithstanding Max is promoted to a field agent when the bad guys find out all of the names and addresses of the live agents and start to kill them, with the aid of agent 99 (Hathaway) and agent 23 (The Rock/Dwayne Johnson) Smart is sent to take out the bad guys.
In honesty I did not guess the film would be as serious as it was. Carell has tremendous comedic timing, but supplying some very cool Bond Q-gadgets and a bunch of action, it really does feel like a good action film. Also, the chemistry with Hathaway and Carell was a complete match.
I really give this movie a thumbs up. Superb action, great acting, and a wonderful girl (Hathaway), Get Smart is a winner. It takes a different twist to comedies that represent more serious dvd movies and did it better.