Get Smart (film)

Get Smart
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Peter Segal
Produced by	Alex Gartner Charles Roven Andrew Lazar Michael Ewing
Written by	Tom J. Astle Matt Ember Characters: Mel Brooks Buck Henry
Starring	Steve Carell Anne Hathaway Dwayne Johnson Alan Arkin Terence Stamp James Caan Ken Davitian
Music by	Score: Trevor Rabin Themes Irving Szathmary
Cinematography	Dean Semler
Editing by	Rick Pearson
Studio	Village Roadshow Pictures Mosaic Media Group
Distributed by	Warner Bros. Pictures
Release date(s)	June 20, 2008 (2008-06-20)
Running time	110 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$80 million
Box office	$230,685,453

Get Smart is a 2008 American spy-fi comedy film based on Mel Brooks and Buck Henry's 1960s spy parody television series of the same name. The film stars Steve Carell as Maxwell Smart and Anne Hathaway as Agent 99. Alan Arkin, who also worked with Carell in Little Miss Sunshine, plays the Chief.

The film co-stars Dwayne Johnson, Terence Stamp, Terry Crews, David Koechner, Masi Oka, David S. Lee, Ken Davitian, Larry Miller, James Caan, Kevin Nealon, Patrick Warburton and Dalip Singh. Bernie Kopell, who played Siegfried in the original series, Leonard Stern, the original series' producer, and Bill Murray make cameo appearances.

Plot

Maxwell "Max" Smart (Steve Carell), an analyst for the top secret American intelligence agency CONTROL, yearns to become a field agent like his friend Agent 23 (Dwayne Johnson) whom he idolizes. Despite scoring extremely well in the acceptance tests, Max is denied the promotion as the Chief (Alan Arkin) of CONTROL feels that Max’s analytical skills are best used for his present assignment. When CONTROL headquarters is attacked by its arch-enemy, the terrorist organization KAOS, (led by Siegfried (Terence Stamp) in retaliation for CONTROL's infiltration of KAOS.) almost all of CONTROL's agents' identities are exposed, leaving only Max and Agent 99 (Anne Hathaway), whose recent plastic surgery has protected her identity, to pursue the culprits whilst former field operatives such as 23 are demoted to desk jobs. Max is promoted to field agent as Agent 86, but the experienced 99, who views the bumbling but enthusiastic Max as an irritating encumbrance, is reluctant to partner him. Before he leaves HQ, two of Max's friends and lab men give him an unusual Swiss Army Knife which not only has the standard equipment, it also comes with a flamethrower and a crossbow that fires harpoons.

After a series of mishaps while traveling on a commercial airliner, Max and 99 enter Russia by parachute (albeit with a slice of difficulty), hoping to trace KAOS’ recent acquisition of nuclear materials through its chief bomb maker, Krstic. Along the way, they are attacked by Dalip (The Great Khali), a formidable henchman of Siegfried’s. By infiltrating a luxurious party hosted by Krstic, they trace the nuclear material (specifically yellowcake uranium) to a KAOS nuclear weapons factory disguised as a Moscow bakery, but Max is forced to shoot Krstic when he and his men corner them. In the bakery, Max meets with Siegfried and his second-in-command, Shtarker, only to learn that Siegfried was expecting him; a double agent has compromised his and 99's identities. Max manages to escape capture and bombs the weapons factory. During their escape, Max and 99 are confronted by Dalip; realizing that he knows Dalip through hours of listening to him on spy ‘chatter’, Max manages to persuade Dalip to spare their lives by giving him advice on how to repair his failing marriage. The Chief sends 23 to observe the clean-up of the factory, but KAOS manages to sneak the weapons out through the Moskva River, leaving 23 to report that only a bakery has been destroyed. Realizing that Max was alone during his key discoveries, CONTROL believe Max to be the double-agent; 99, who has been gradually falling in love with Max through their shared experiences, is heartbroken but takes Max into custody.

CONTROL becomes a laughing stock in the intelligence community. Their warning is disregarded when Siegfried threatens to release nuclear weapon detonator codes to rogue states unless the United States government pays him $200 billion. While Max is in a CONTROL holding cell, Dalip sends him a coded message via the radio show American Top 40 revealing Siegfried’s plan; as a ‘demonstration’ he intends to detonate a nuclear device during the President’s visit to a concert performed at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles. Max escapes from CONTROL, takes items from the original 1960s television series (such as the Shoe Phone, cars, suit and Colt Detective Special) and flies to Los Angeles to unite with the Chief, 99, and 23, who have flown out to persuade the President to take the KAOS threat seriously. Although 23 is skeptical, Max manages to convince 99 and the Chief that he is not the double agent. As KAOS plants the nuclear bomb in the concert hall, Max's Geiger counter-equipped watch beeps when he is near 23, picking up trace elements of radiation. Max questions him as to why he had have radiation on him if he said the bakery was clean. 23 tries to cover up by saying that half of Russia is radioactive. Max also points out that 23's knife wound is seeping blood which 23 had previously said happens when his blood pressure rises, concluding that 23 is the double agent and is nervous about having been found out. 23 then pulls out a gun and takes 99 hostage. He tells Max and Chief that if he is followed, she will die. He flees, forcing Max and the Chief to give pursuit, despite 23's threat to kill 99. They give chase in a limo, but soon hop onto a plane. Max reaches 23's car by jumping out of a plane and rescues 99, but in the struggle the car is set on fire (due to Max's Swiss Army Knife) and forced onto railroad tracks. 23 is distracted when Max follows 99's example during the skydive and kissed 23 to distract him.

After the kiss, the car collides with a freight train and 23 is killed. After analyzing 23's nuclear football, Max realizes that the bomb will be triggered by the final note of Beethoven's "Ode to Joy". Max, 99, and the Chief manage to reach the concert hall, and Max tackles the conductor just before the final note. Max is applauded for rescuing the president by every one inside the concert hall. Meanwhile, Siegfried finds that his plan has failed. Siegfried tells Dalip that he will not kill his wife for his failure, though he comments that he would be doing "the sighted world a favor" if he did. In response, Dalip throws him out the car window. Max is given honors and gets his dream of becoming a real spy with agent 99 as his girlfriend. The movie ends as Max and 99 exit CONTROL headquarters through a walkway. While the doors of the walkway close, the two notice that one of the doors did not close. Max attempts to fix it, but it unexpectedly closes on him. His Swiss Army Knife falls to the floor out of his pocket, and the crossbow fires a harpoon at Max's face. In the final scene, he yells "You've gotta be kidding me!".

Cast

• Steve Carell as Maxwell "Max" Smart / Agent 86
• Anne Hathaway as Agent 99
• Dwayne Johnson as Agent 23
• Alan Arkin as The Chief
• Terence Stamp as Siegfried
• Masi Oka as Bruce
• Nate Torrence as Lloyd
• Ken Davitian as Shtarker
• Terry Crews as Agent 91
• David Koechner as Larabee
• James Caan as the President of the United States
• David S. Lee as Ladislas Krstic
• Dalip Singh as Dalip
• Lindsay Hollister as Max's dance partner
• Bill Murray as Agent 13
• Patrick Warburton as Hymie
• Kevin Nealon as CIA Agent
• Blake Clark as General
• Geoff Pierson as Vice President
• Kelly Karbacz as Judy
• Bill Romanowski as Air Marshall
• John Farley as Agent 50
• Bonnie Hellman as Karen
• Jonathan Loughran as Orange Team Guy
• Cedric Yarbrough as Tate
• Tim DeKay as Secret Service Agent
• Todd Sherry as KAOS Office Worker
• Stephen Dunham as Secret Service Commander
• William Charlton as German Spy (uncredited)
• Doby Daenger as Airplane Passenger (uncredited)
• Joshua Harrison as Agent 74 (uncredited)
• Vinicius Machado as Valet (uncredited)
• Chris Reid as Musician (uncredited)
• Julian Scott Urena as Drug Lord (uncredited)
• Ryan Seacrest as Host (Host of American Top 40)
• Bernie Kopell as Opel driver. In the Latin America Version, when Bernie was hit with the car, Max says "Creo que esa cara la he visto antes" (I think I've seen that face before)" making reference to the actor being in the original TV series.
• Leonard Stern as Cessna pilot

Marketing

A corresponding film, Get Smart's Bruce and Lloyd: Out of Control (featuring Oka, Torrence, Miller, Warburton, Terry Crews and a cameo by Hathaway), was released on DVD on July 1, 2008, eleven days after the feature film's theatrical release. The film tells a standalone story that takes place concurrently with the events of the film (including a scene in which Agent 99 calls Lloyd to berate him for the poor quality of her gadgets compared to that of Max; that scene takes place immediately after Max accidentally renders himself unconscious with a blowgun in this film).

In addition to traditional television advertisement and movie trailers, Warner Bros. commissioned Pepsi to produce a flavor of Sierra Mist soft drink dubbed "Undercover Orange" to help promote the film. Warner Bros has also funded an online community called "CONTROL Vs. KAOS" where visitors can participate in contests and "missions".

A 7:45 minute promotional clip, featuring an action sequence of Max and 99 parachuting from an airplane, was released on iTunes as a free download.^{[citation needed]}

The Subway restaurant chain held a contest where the winner would receive a 1965 Sunbeam Tiger.^{[citation needed]}

Reception

Critical response

The film received mixed reviews from critics. As of January 8, 2012, the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported that 50% of critics gave the film positive reviews, based on 208 reviews — with the consensus that the film "Rides Steve Carell's considerable charm for a few laughs, but in the end is a rather ordinary summer comedy." Metacritic gave the film an average score of 54%, based on 34 reviews.

The film received positive reviews from Roger Ebert and Lisa Schwarzbaum from Entertainment Weekly. Richard Roeper of the Chicago Sun-Times also gave the film a thumbs up, saying that it was "one of the year's more pleasant surprises". Famed online critic James Berardinelli also gave it a positive review.

Negative responses came from Glenn Whipp of LA Daily News calling it "staggeringly bad" and Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle stating that "it couldn't buy a laugh in a nitrous oxide factory with a fistful of clown noses." Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times said "It neglects the laughs and amps up the action, resulting in a not very funny comedy joined at the hip to a not very exciting spy movie." It also received negative reviews from Richard Schickel from Time and David Ansen from Newsweek, with the latter stating, "it's not Maxwell who's clueless, but the filmmakers. Director (Pete) Segal is a comedy specialist lacking any apparent sense of humor."

Box office

In its opening weekend, the film grossed $38,683,480 in 3,911 theaters in the United States and Canada, ranking #1 at the box office and averaging $9,891 per venue.

As of November 26, 2011, Get Smart has grossed $130,319,208 domestically and $100,336,000 internationally, bringing its worldwide total to $230,685,208. In the United States it is the highest grossing live-action movie for both Carell and Hathaway as lead actors. The successful box office performance of the film adaptation of the Get Smart series was absolutely the opposite of its previous film adaptation, The Nude Bomb, which was a box office failure.

Home media

Get Smart was released on DVD and Blu-ray on November 4, 2008. Two versions of the film were released: the theatrical version and an enhanced version that allows viewers to view alternate takes and deleted scenes placed within the context of the film. The film was released on DVD in the UK on February 23, 2009.

Approximately 2,088,163 DVD units were sold, translating to revenue of $34,652,714 (Blu-ray sales/rentals not included).

Sequel

On October 7, 2008, it was reported that Warner Bros. and Village Roadshow Pictures are producing a sequel. Carell, Hathaway, and Arkin are set to return, but the status of other cast members has not yet been announced.

In late July 2010, Steve Carell stated that he had recently been given a potential script for the sequel to Get Smart, but had passed on it. He said that he is still very interested in eventually making a Get Smart sequel, but is willing to wait until a decent script is developed.

Also, on July 8, 2010, Carell said this during an online interview. "I took a pass at Get Smart 2, write a completely new story and we’ll see what happens with that somewhere down the line perhaps… Anne Hathaway is definitely in and Alan Arkin, so at some point… we don’t have any projected date and the script still needs some tweaking and some rewriting."

External links

• Official website
• Get Smart at the Internet Movie Database
• Get Smart at AllRovi
• Get Smart at Rotten Tomatoes
• Get Smart at Metacritic
• Get Smart at Box Office Mojo