the Mind’s Chew Toy

As we headed into this weekend of our Summer At The Movies -2008 Edition, we knew we were going to see a comedy - but which one? With Michael Myers’ The Love Guru (2008) and Steve Carrell’s Get Smart both hitting theaters this weekend, we had a choice to make.

While we were unsure about both, The Love Guru (2008) looked like it had the biggest chance of failing. With ex-boy bander Justin Timberlake in the mix, and Jessica Alba coming off of the idiotic Good Luck Chuck (2007), not to mention Michael Myers trying to make self-help and meditation funny, it seemed like Get Smart had a better chance of succeeding than Pitka.

Funnyman Steve Carrell, who first garnered attention in the hilarious Bruce Almighty (2003) and The 40-Year-Old Virgin (2005) seemed like a smart choice to play the updated Maxwell Smart. Since he’s done a good job of playing a minor bumbler in the past, he didn’t really need to step it up much to fit into the shoe-phone steps of Maxwell Smart.

While his antics garner the most attention in the film, Anne Hathaway, as the seasoned agent of the pair, manages to pull off the “straight man” routine with a flair that viewers may find surprising - especially since she seemed to be a sucker for the comedic spotlight in The Princess Diary. She turns out to be much better at playing the down-to-earth partner, and, thankfully, leaves the silly antics to her comedic partner.

The Rock (sorry, Dwayne Johnson), on the other hand, has shown he’s good at playing the funny man and the action star - and he combines both to basically steal each brief scene he’s in the beginning of Get Smart. He loses a lot of his appeal later in the film, but those first moments really let him shine.

Surprisingly, WWE’s The Great Khali puts in a much bigger performance than expected, and comes off actually a lot better than he does in the WWE. He does a good job of playing the hulking brute (an easy one for the big guy) - it’s only when he opens his mouth that the effect becomes somewhat diminished. But, as the big tough, he seems more in his element than ever - he even manages to eke out an expression or two! Let’s just hope he can bring a little bit of that attitude back with him to the WWE.

The plot of Get Smart is, predicatably, rather thin. A surprise attack - which is never fully explained - exposes all of the active agents’ identities, and analyst Maxwell Smart has to step up and take charge of the investigation - which suddenly revolves around a mass amount of nuclear weapons that the bad guys have gotten their hands on.

This sets up Carrell and Hathaway to explore their differences and travel around a bit - even getting into a pretty funny dance competition at one point. Since most of the movie from then on revolves around Carrell and Hathaway working well together on screen, it’s a good thing the two seem to mesh so well. Sure, Carrell’s a bumbler, but his honesty starts breaking down the shell of the hardened agent.

And just when the movie looks like it’s winding down, the script abruptly changes and the two are suddenly in a high-speed explosive chase while tracking down one of the nuclear weapons. It’s a bit offputting, and the movie probably would have been better if they had just cut out that entire piece.

Despite a ridiculous ending that will leave the viewers feeling a bit dismayed, Steve Carrell, Dwayne Johnson and Anne Hathaway make most of Get Smart worth watching. Without the ending, this film would have been a really pleasant surprise - as is, however, it’s no big deal.

Decent, funnier than expected - but not great.