Since Hollywood has exhausted the stable of classic TV shows that can be turned into disastrous big screen features, it looks like Get Smart! might be added to the list. The film stars Steve Carell as Maxwell Smart and Anne Hathaway as Agent 99. Fine actors, to be sure, but some roles seem uniquely imbedded in the talents of the actors who created them and both Carell and Hathaway will have a Herculean task to rid themselves from the long shadows of Don Adams and Barbara Feldon. The Get Smart! TV show tribute site www.wouldyoubelieve.com has seen the script for the feature film version and their verdict is a mixed bag at best. There are some promising aspects to the script and web site founder Carl Birkmeyer thinks the casting will not be the problem. He is especially confident that Carell and Alan Arkin, who plays Chief, will generate plenty of chemistry. However, his concerns are the ones we've all dreaded: the script lacks any sophistication and relies on juvenile sight gags- and worse coarse language in a desperate attempt to make the characters look hip. It never seems to occur to producers that the TV series we most cherished were made in an age where the writers and actors worked clean. After many decades, series such as The Honeymooners, The Andy Griffith Show and Get Smart! seem as fresh and funny as ever - and they never had to resort to toilet humor. Worse, Birkmeyer reports that the script relegates the Max/99 relationship to stereotypical bickering and one-upmanship. This was never the case in the series. The pair had mutual respect for each other and a romantic relationship eventually developed that led to marriage. Birkmeyer also expresses concerns that the big screen version's director Peter Segal seems to have no understanding the 99 character. He's made derogatory comments that Barbara Feldon's interpretation was as a "stand by your man" woman who wouldn't hold up in the feminist age. In fact, Feldon's 99 had no such idiosyncracies. She was tough, competent and independent and Max relied on her to get him out of countless fixes. Birkmeyer warns that the script may present her as Bruce Willis' Die Hard character John McClane with breasts! Click on above link for Birkmeyer's insightful and very readable analysis of the script.
Meanwhile, a teaser trailer for the new film has been released. It's too brief to form much of an opinion, but if you can judge a book by its cover, the end result is not promising. For one thing, the reliance on the phone booth gag seems lame and pretentious in an age where there are virtually no phone booths left in existence. Consider that the funniest gags would be used in the teaser trailer and you'll see why we share Carl Birkmeyer's concerns. To view the trailer click here.
The verdict will not be known until the film is released next year. We hope for the best but fear for the worst. Sorry about that, Chief!- Lee Pfeiffer