Movie #32: Get Smart

Steve Carell is one of those comic actors who, for me, walks a very fine line between hilarious and irritating. His shtick is heavy on physical humor and funny sounds, not unlike a Jim Carrey. But, unlike Carrey, Carell has thus far in his career managed to mostly dance on the funny side of that thin line...usually because he has both better material to work with, and because he seems to sense when too much is too much. In Get Smart, while he sometimes peers over the line and threatens to venture into Ace Ventura territory, Carell makes the most of a standard-fare script and produces enough laughs to make it enjoyable.

Perhaps the most pleasant surprise in Get Smart is the decision to not make Maxwell Smart an incompetent narcissist. Sure, there's a few (hilarious) scenes where Smart makes stupid mistakes, but this isn't Ernest Goes To Secret Agent Camp, and it's a lot better the movie for it. Carell also manages to infuse the role of Smart with genuine vulnerability, something which makes it hard to not like him. While I was a "fan" of the original television show, I'd be the first to admit that the Don Adams's version of Smart was not nearly as sympathetic or likable as Carell's.

The film bogs down in an action-heavy final act which is neither funny enough nor exciting enough, but there's enough worthy moments preceding it to recommend it.

Grade: 6/10