Review: Get Smart

Regrettably, Get Smart, directed by Peter Segal merely relies on slapstick buffoonery and hi-tech razzmatazz. The sense of humour is asinine and the screenplay is unimaginative.

Get Smart
Cast : Steve Carell, Anne Hathaway
Direction : Peter Segal
Rating : **

An update of the long-running TV spy spoof series (1965-1970), Get Smart appears to be a waste of resources and top-line talent.

The original show, conceived by the funnymen Mel Brooks and Buck Henry, was a laugh-out-loud parody of Cold War politics as well as the secret agent genre.

Regrettably, the movie makeover directed by Peter Segal (Anger Management), merely relies on slapstick buffoonery and hi-tech razzmatazz. The sense of humour is asinine and the screenplay is unimaginative.

Plod along, then with a bumbling sort (Carell) who must foil the plans of an evil crime syndicate led by a suave baddy (Terence Stamp). The bumbling specialist also gets to team up with a beautiful partner (Hathaway). Predictable.

The highly-mannered Steve Carell and veteran Alan Arkin, as his supervisor, grate on the nerves. Bill Murray is reduced to a ignominious cameo, hidden inside a tree trunk, no less.

Get Smart by all means, just don’t get there.

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