Carell gets Smart

In theaters Friday: Finding Amanda, Wall-E, Wanted

New on DVD: 10,000 B.C., Charlie Bartlett, In Bruges, Persepolis

What is admirable about Get Smart is it has the confidence to be slapstick without trying too hard. Some critics have misinterpreted this as a failure on the comedy front. But too many spoofy jokes or half-cocked references to the original would have choked the life out of this movie. Referential comedy is dead (see: the Juno backlash). Perhaps the kudos for that goes to the masterminds of the 1960s television series, the great Mel Brooks and Buck Henry, who are credited as “consultants” here. But it also has to go to stars Steve Carell and Anne Hathaway, too polar opposite actors who nevertheless share one thing in common: Neither is a compulsive over actor.

So Carell plays Maxwell Smart less as a Dunder-Mifflin-headed buffoon and more like a live action Charlie Brown. Requesting the “cone of silence” after being promoted to a field agent, Carell’s public exultations are not braggadocios or cloying, just the pure, unabashed joy of a nice guy — a bookish analyst no less — finally winning one. That the “cone of silence” fails to shield his words from his colleagues only adds to his character as a loveable but total geek. And Hathaway is almost believable as a cold, calculating, grade-A butt-kicker. She never pulls one of those wink-wink moments Angelina Jolie craves that say, “Look at me, everyone. I’m a chick, and I just clothes-lined a guy, then whacked him in the privates.”

Of course nothing in the script will surprise you. This is your standard spy comedy plot by numbers, but Carell’s performance and some of the added details really make it all fun. Bill Murray is hilarious early on in a brief cameo as the ostracized Agent 13, and I wanted to see more of him. But then, who doesn’t want more of Murray? And the ever-stern Terrence Stamp was the perfect foil for Carell. The grooves on Stamp’s face alone are deeper than anything this Maxwell Smart has faced in his career. So while Get Smart won’t be the funniest comedy of the year, it is a good film and probably the best cinematic version of the series that could have been made.

Man there is a lot of chatter about Ridley Scott’s upcoming Robin Hood adventure called Nottingham. The twist is that gladiator Russell Crowe will play the titular sheriff as a sympathetic lawman tortured by Robin’s thieving scoundrel. Sienna Miller is aboard as Maid Marian, and word now is that Christian Bale will not be playing Robin. But word is that Sam Riley, who just played Ian Curtis in Control, could be playing him instead. Personally, I’d like to see Jonathan Rhys Meyers of Match Point and The Tudors get the nod. I think I’m ready for another Robin Hood movie; I just hope no one calls Costner.

Finally, the trailer for a little-known film that actually looks like a decent thriller with good cinematography and a great cast is now online. Woody Harrelson, Emily Mortimer and Ben Kingsly star in Transsiberian. Check it out here. The film is in theaters July 18.