Got Smart

Yep, yet another TV series remade into a movie, but everyone loved Get Smart, so this one had a lot to live up to, not to mention the inevitable "updating".

Fortunately, Steve Carell makes for an excellent Maxwell Smart. Anne Hathaway as Agent 99... eh, I'm less enamored of. And lots of other great casting, including the original Siefried, huzzah! Oh, but the fond memories all this dredges of Don Adams and Edward Platt... (are the original episodes out on DVD?)

Plot-wise, it's not that complex. Certainly, I picked the main bad guy out pretty quickly although I did occasionally lose track of why they went to certain places for their set pieces. And pretty much 'set pieces' they were. Moments of comedy abound, without much subtly, so in keeping with the original series there. Lots of references to the original, with, as they had to have, the shoe phone and several catch phrases. The new Hymie though... I'm sure they tried, but I am wondering if Patrick Warburton was quite in shape enough for it... Still, Max is not a pratt, and is actually capable, thankfully avoiding the direction they could so easily have gone in.

Great movie to catch, especially if you know the original. And, of course, it bookends with the door gags to just cap everything off.

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