Get Smart B-

In Theatres, PG-13, 110 minutes

We’ll start with the good news. If you’re a Steve Carell fan, you’ll dig this movie. Even when the plot bogs down, he stays funny. If you’re an Anne Hathaway fan, you’ll like this movie as well. She’s plays a straight “man” better than I would have imagined and is way more in appealing in this movie than anything I’ve ever seen her in. And she's game for a funny little spoof on the only memorable scene from the otherwise forgettable spy flick Entrapment. The bad news, the movie feels like a rollercoaster—in a bad way. It starts off slow, fires up nicely for about forty minutes, slows to a not-even-a-chuckle crawl, then ends with a bang.

Get Smart is based on a classic 60’s Mel Brooks TV show that parodied Cold War spy films (think Bond). While the original show was an over-the-top, no-holds-barred spoof, Mike Myers already mined that territory clean with the Austin Powers franchise, leaving this film with a bit of an identity issue. This time around Smart (Carell) is an analyst who dreams of being an agent, and then is given his chance in the field. While the previews concentrate on his foul-ups, the actual character contributes as much right as he does wrong. Agent 99 (Hathaway) is the seasoned veteran he’s coupled with on his first assignment. The action moves back and forth from realistic to cartoonish. Likewise, the camera work alternates, with some stunt sequences shot traditionally and others with a hand-held a la Michael Mann. The tone also swings dramatically from section to section and scene to scene.

What the movie lacks in consistency it makes up for with bursts of laughs. Carell is seriously funny, as is Alan Arkin as The Chief and a couple of junior analysts played by Masi Oka (Hiro in TV show Heroes) and Nate Torrence (he’s in lots of stuff, but you’ll remember him as the pudgy David Spade in the Capital One commercials). The cast is superb throughout with Terrance Stamp (The Limey), David Koechner (Anchor Man), James Caan, Bill Murray, Dwayne Johnson (The Rock), and Ken Davitian (Borat) enlivening even throw away rolls. While this is not destined to be on anyone’s “New Classics” list, it’ll help ease the pain of a particular tough summer movie season until The Dark Knight’s release. B-