GET SMART (DVD/S) [2008]

Get Smart is based on the Sixties television spy spoof series created by Mel Brooks and Buck Henry. Steve Carrell is excellent as Maxwell Smart an analyst for the top secret American intelligence agency CONTROL. His ambition to become a field agent is fulfilled when CONTROL HQ is attacked by terrorist organisation KAOS and nearly all of CONTROL's agents identities are compromised. Under his new identity as Agent 86 Maxwell and with the assistance of the beautiful Agent 99 (Anne Hathaway) he sets out to destroy KAOS and their plans for nuclear global domination.Steve Carrell and Anne Hathaway are perfect and in fine comic form as the mismatched pair Agent 86 and Agent 99. There are great performances too from Alan Arkin as CONTROL boss, The Chief, Dwayne 'The Rock,' Johnson as Agent 23 whom Agent 86 idolises and British iconic legend Terence Stamp as Siegfried, the evil and domineering head of KAOS.Get Smart is a wonderful, whimsical, entertaining and comical look at the spy world. See it you certainly won't forget it.

Maxwell Smart works for a Government spy agency in an administrative capacity. When the agency's head office is attacked, the Chief decides to assign Maxwell as a spy and partners him with Agent 99, much to her chagrin.The pair set off to combat their attackers by first parachuting off an aeroplane and landing in Russian territory - followed closely by a seven foot tall, 400 pound, known simply as Dalip.The duo, handicapped by Maxwell's antics, will eventually have their identities compromised, and may be chalked up as casualties while back in America their attackers have already planted a bomb that is set-up to explode in a concert....What should have been a complete failure is one of the surprises of 2008, thanks to Carrell and a simply brilliant performance by Hathaway. The chemistry between the couple is brilliant, and Carrell never really goes over the top in the way Ferrall may have in this role.Some of the jokes do fall flat and linger for far too long, but this is just a minor niggle for a film that is very funny and has a very good story too.The support is fantastic, especially from Johnson and Stamp, and the whole thing looks really slick, almost too slick at times.It goes to show that you don't have to be over the top to be funny, and the two leads prove that.A lot of fun.

Most reviews here seemed to be pointlessly based in assumption circling around the attributes of the original series.Not this one, I never knew a series existed.I bought this on a whim, It looked funny, the cast looked good, the story sounded amusing as a spy spoof.And I was most pleased with my purchase!It's essentially Johnny English by the Americans, and they did it very well in my opinion. I won't run the storyline down as you can all read that above. What this film sets out to do it does very well indeed, it's a spy spoof. It's full of slapstick humour, prat-falls, and some pretty good action, stunts, and special effects.It's not a serious film so there are incongruities in direction, character building, and continuity. But that's not why you buy a comedy, you buy a comedy to laugh at it. And this supplies the laughs, some subtle, some more extrovert. Steve Carell delivers and oddly amusing dead-pan style of comedy which seems to suit well. I'm usually not a fan of this type of humour but he made me laugh out loud. The supporting cast are good, not all that well defined as characters, but pretty well delivered. But again this isn't a period drama so you can look past it. The action is also very good for a comedy, better than I expected. Sometimes the pace can get bogged down, but it picks up nicely generally in the tail of a subtle joke.If you are looking for a no-brained comedy spoof for a light evening in this is as good a buy as any. What it delivers it delivers well, it doesn't redefine or try to be anything it's not, it's silly, it's slapstick, it's worth watching.

Get Smart UK DVD release------------------------Audio : English 5.1 + Italian 5.1Descriptive track : 2.0 SurroundCROPPED image : Wrong aspect ratio 1.78 because the movie was shot in 1.85. It's the same thing for 'Get Smart Bruce & Lloyd' UK releaseSubtitles : English + Italian + Arabic + Ducth + Hebrew + Icelandic + Eng HOH + Italian HOHSpecial features : alternate scenes, outtakes + gag reel + Language Lessons with Steve CarellRegion 2, Dolby> Warner Bros Entertainment UK is getting into the bad habit of cropping its movies !!!

ok

The film had a couple of very funny scenes but generally it wasn't a great film. There could have been so much more to make it a real comical film.

This film is a masterpiece. Not only does it feature Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson, it has explosions and big surprises (which is what I like in an action film).Get Smart takes you on a journey from the beginning to the end. It is also has a middle, which is good in an action film.I would recommend this film to anyone who likes getting smarter.

Loved this film, great laugh