In ‘Get Smart’ Lifeless Retread, Steve Carell Can’t Fill Don Adams’ Shoe

HollywoodChicago.com — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 10:23:43 -0700

Rating: 2.0/5.0

CHICAGO – Observing the new “Get Smart” film, which is based on the 1960s TV sitcom of the same name, is to note how much has changed since the Cold War ended.

KAOS and CONTROL – the U.S. and Russian spy agencies that square off in the movie – seem like relics of another era. In this age of homeland security and unlimited government wiretapping, it’s difficult to create fictional comedy that can compete with real-life absurdity.

Anne Hathaway (left) stars as Agent 99 and Steve Carell stars as Maxwell Smart in “Get Smart”.
Photo credit: Tracy Bennett

The film version of “Get Smart” lives up to that truth. Combining dull action-movie elements, badly cast movie stars and an uncomfortable romance, the film has forgotten all about its TV roots and most of the humor.

Played by Steve Carell, Maxwell Smart is a Russian interpreter and communications administrator in the secret government spy agency CONTROL.

The chief (Alan Arkin) wants Smart to stay in the administration even though he longs to join spies like Agent 23 (Dwayne Johnson) and work in the field.

After KAOS – a rival Russian agency – infiltrates and wrecks the CONTROL offices, Smart is promoted to field agent and partnered with super-spy Agent 99 (Anne Hathaway). Their mission is to find out who’s behind KAOS and identify their evil plans.

Steve Carell stars as Maxwell Smart (left) and Anne Hathaway stars as Agent 99 in “Get Smart”.
Photo credit: Warner Bros.

This takes them to the heart of Moscow. Thinking a Russian bakery is a KAOS front for nuclear weapons, Smart and 99 plant explosives and barely escape.

Steve Carell stars as Maxwell Smart in “Get Smart”.
Photo credit: Tracy Bennett

When the wrecked building turns up nothing, the wily Russians then travel to Los Angeles. Following them there, Smart and 99 must confront their rivals one last time and save the world.

Steve Carell is clearly not up to the challenge of filling Don Adams’ phone shoe as Maxwell Smart. The comedy he delivers is mostly cruel and has none of the snap or silliness of Adams’ razor-sharp interpretation.

Hathaway – who was cooler and more subtly amusing in “The Devil Wears Prada” – is completely out of her element when handling weaponry and practicing martial arts. She and Carell have less chemistry than a baking-soda volcano and their age difference is awkwardly apparent when they attempt romance.

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It seemed the filmmakers never saw one episode of the TV series when formulating the plot.

The film version tries to shoehorn reminders of several action movies – the James Bond series, “Mission Impossible,” “True Lies,” “Silver Streak” and even “The Man Who Knew Too Much” (among others) – but oddly distances itself from its primary and funnier television source.

This film is just another based-on-a-TV-show miscue that wastes a decent comic opportunity on let’s-blow-things-up trivialities. The legacy of “Get Smart,” audiences everywhere and ultimately the great Don Adams all deserve better.

“Get Smart,” which stars Steve Carell, Anne Hathaway, Dwayne Johnson, Alan Arkin, Terence Stamp, Bill Murray and Ryan Seacrest, opened everywhere on June 20, 2008.

By PATRICK McDONALD
Staff Writer
HollywoodChicago.com
pat@hollywoodchicago.com

‘Southland Tales’ Starts With Bang, Ends With Sensory-Overloading Whimper

HollywoodChicago.com — Sat, 17 Nov 2007 15:50:16 -0700

CHICAGO – Unlike the world, “Southland Tales” starts with a bang but ends with a whimper. Richard Kelly’s opus of a film is little more than sensory overload meant to look like a political statement on the state of privacy, the war, news, entertainment and celebrities.

Sarah Michelle Gellar in “Southland Tales”.
Photo credit: IMDb
The story is set in the near future after two Texas towns fall victim to nuclear attacks and throw the country into a new world war. The world is falling apart all around the citizens as the government sets up even more agencies to spy on the populace.

Kelly has stated that he was inspired by “Pulp Fiction” and “Dr. Strangelove” when he made this film. His choices and storylines prove it with its characters and arcs weave in and out of one other with reckless abandon.

Sarah Michelle Gellar and Dwayne Johnson in “Southland Tales”.
Photo credit: IMDb
The main character – if there is one – is Boxer Santaros (Dwayne Johnson). He’s an amnesia-stricken movie star who falls in with an ex-recovering porn star – Krysta Now – played by Sarah Michelle Geller.

The two get mixed up with twin brothers Roland and Ronald Taverner (both played by Seann William Scott). The ensemble cast is rounded out with Justin Timberlake, Miranda Richardson, Mandy Moore, John Larroquette, Jon Lovitz and Cheri Oteri.

At this point, I wish I could tell you more about the plot itself. In reality, it was just vignettes thrown together to make a film that tried to be a whole lot hipper and cooler than it actually turned out to be.

Mandy Moore in “Southland Tales”.
Photo credit: IMDb
While Kelly tried to do away with the traditional formula of telling a story, all that happened was storylines got lost and forced moviegoers to say to themselves: “Wait. What?”

However, the big surprise of the film was the performances by Dwayne Johnson and Scott. Both have shown they are now real players and have transcended the characters they portrayed at the start of their careers (The Rock and Stiffler, respectively).

Even though the narrative left something to be desired, the writing of “Southland Tales” was incredibly funny and dark.

The dialogue was sometimes so over the top and monumental that you have no other choice but to let out a little chuckle while hoping the people around you understood the joke as well.

Ling Bai in “Southland Tales”.
Photo credit: IMDb
The film did succeed in making a funny and poignant commentary on celebrities, news and commercialism. Even though it didn’t quite work the way it should have, it proved itself as a mirror reflecting our society to the nth degree.

Even though the movie did end with a whimper – and a confusing one at that – the stylized nature of the film can be appreciated at the price of a DVD rental.

“Southland Tales” opened on Nov. 16, 2007.
By Evan O’Donnell
Staff Writer
HollywoodChicago.com