Get Smart didn't.
For the first 30 minutes or so, I sat there disengaged and without a laugh, not even a chuckle.
Clearly an expensive project, with terrific actors, but somehow or other, it just didn't work.
Is it a script issue? I don't know. There were a lot of good lines that captured some of the Don Adams character, and I really like Steve Carell, but the magic was missing. If I recall the original (yup, I'm old enough to remember), it wasn't a belly-laugh comedy, but a "smart" comedy that entertained and delighted, but without huge laughs (my memory may be failing me).
I think they tried to capture that, but whatever it was they tried, I don't think it worked. Steve Carell delivered his typical role, sort of a sweet bumbler, but it lacked the Don Adams' zanniness - as I think about it, Carell's character had just too much character; he's too self-aware. Don Adams was just a simple-minded guy who thought he was brillaint; Carell's Smart is smart in a sad sort of way with some real hopes and dreams, more than meets the eye.
Other characters fall flat, too, though all of them delivered their lines well. Great music, cinematography - it was all there, but like a puzzle inadvertently mixed up with another puzzle, the pieces just didn't fit.
I think the best performance, and the one that got the most laughs from me, was Alan Arkin, playing the chief.
Too often, it felt as if the film didn't know which way to go - an action-romance, a romantic comedy with action, or just a farce. It's a rare movie that can bring off good comedy in a "serious" setting - the issue, then, becomes more a matter of irony, which this film totally lacked.
The romantic effort between Smart and Agent 99 (Anne Hathaway) waffled between serious and foolish - nonetheless, I found myself rooting for Smart, but just who is he? Don Adams' Smart was just that - shallow and silly, a buffoon with aspirations to greatness. Carell's Smart is way too complicated, too real, too human, but not enough to win the day for this film. I wish they had dumped most of the TV "get smart" tag lines and visual imagery and simply did a more Peter Seller's like comedy - who's ability to reveal pathos in the midst of idiocy was remarkable. Is Carell capable of that? I believe he is, with the right script. Though I'd like to see Carell tackle "serious" film where he plays characters who mostly lose and bear their losses with quiet dignity, experiencing an unusual grace in their struggle, with darker elements in their character - I think here of Michael Douglas' "Falling Down."
I wonder if this film will have any legs - I'd not see it again, but then maybe I should - just to see if it wears any better. I'll let you know if I do.
