S teve Carell has it all. He has the comedic timing. He has the smart delivery. He has great on screen presence. He has great writers. Um… okay, scratch that. In Get Smart, Steve Carell nearly has it all except the writers. For a film named Get Smart, it provides little in the way of intelligence.

Maxwell Smart (Steve Carell) is an over-achieving analyst for the secret government agency, CONTROL, who dreams of becoming an agent. After CONTROL is attacked and the identities of all their agents have been compromised, Max is promoted to Agent 86 and paired with the reluctant Agent 99 (Anne Hathaway). Together they head to Russia and confront the enigmatic Siegfried (Terence Stamp) who is plotting a nuclear attack on Los Angeles where the President is viewing a concert.

While this movie has a lot going for it there is so much that I wish was handled differently. My first gripe is that it is just absolutely way too predictable. After the first 20 minutes I had identified the double agent, noted all the foreshadowing (taking all the fun and surprises out of the film) and had a good idea of how this movie would play out… which it did without missing a beat. Having such a clear idea of the story tends to kill any suspense at the conclusion of the film.

The other thing that was handled poorly was the stereotypical characters. I thought Terence Stamp was a great villain but can you expect anything less from the actor who brought General Zod to such powerful life in Superman I and II? What got under my skin is the typical, emotional muscle-headed bad guy that’s not all that bad. Really? Hasn’t that been done to death yet? And the pesky, overbearing sidekick to the main nemesis was yet another character that brings nothing new to the movie screen. Where have all the good villains gone? Guess I need to revisit No Country for Old Men.

The last major complaint is the dialog. It was written to the simplest degree possible. While there was the occasional clever moment written for Agent 23 (Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson), the majority of witty delivery between characters was the sole responsibility of Steve Carell. As great as he can be some assistance would have made his job easier.

Now that I’m finished dragging it through the coals, I have to admit that this was a fun movie to watch. The supporting cast of techies and slightly bumbling, yet tough, agents is one of the brighter points in this film and the only part where the writers actually excelled. This is perhaps due to the short scenes needing little substance to carry the characters. There were a few repeated jokes but they weren’t driven into the earth and had their own twist each time so they avoided feeling stale.

While I did enjoy this film I can’t justify suggesting spending nine bucks to go see it in the theater so I’ve come up with a variation to the normal rating of WATCH IT or NOT. Get Smart gets a WATCH IT (on DVD). It’s good enough to see but wait for it to come out on DVD first. 

Verdict | Watch It (DVD)