The iconic 60’s show of the same name is given its contemporary reinvention in Peter Segal’s “Get Smart,” but the resultant action-comedy proves to neither pay homage to the touchstones of the series nor is it a very successful modernisation of them. For a show that thrived during its run, there is very little inspiration evident in this modern-day incarnation, a formulaic misbalance between a weak action film and a weak comedy film, there is almost no reasoning as to why the film would work, but it does, even if barely.

Maxwell Smart (Steve Carell) is an overly eager analyst for the secret spy agency “CONTROL,” and his job mostly entails him deciphering the seemingly trivial dialogue transactions between members of the Russian crime syndicate, “KAOS.” He dreams of proving himself in the field alongside idols of his, such as Agent 23 (Dwayne Johnson), where the action is. Max knows that his high score on the agent exam and his voluminous reports aren’t going to get him anywhere – the Chief (Alan Arkin) knows his value, and believes that Smart would be better off with a desk job at the headquarters of the agency. This all changes when “CONTROL” is attacked and the identities of its agents and operations are compromised by “KAOS” and its operative Siegfried (Terrance Stamp), the Chief has no choice but to promote Smart and throw him into the deep end alongside his lovely-but-lethal veteran Agent 99 (Anne Hathaway). Smart has no choice but to hit the ground running, and swaps experience for enthusiasm, and it is up to him to thwart “KAOS’s” plot for world domination. But can he handle the pressure?

There is nothing in the plot that could not have been written by any old loafer with time on their hands. Irreverent it is not, and the comedy that was present in the television show is almost completely lost. It has been traded for a linkage of clichéd plateaus and comic devices that may acquire a smirk or two, but laugh out loud humour is nowhere to be seen. As the shrewd comedians in the film prove, the flimsy screenplay is definitely elevated when in the right hands, and the incorrigible cast really do put their best feet forward. Special mention must be made of the incredibly benevolent performances of Carell and Arkin, and when they are not onscreen, the humour meter most definitely takes a nosedive. That is when the film is padded with time-consuming action sequences, some of which are impressive and physically witty and hilarious, but the majority of them are standard fare – well-choreographed and photographed, but relying heavily on sucker punches to the gonads, people walking into doors and bashing into walls, none of which are funny to anyone blessed with the mentality higher than a retard. In a way, most of the performances do come across as improvised work, ad-libbed and unrehearsed, and this works well when contrasting the rhythm of the precision clear in the execution of the action sequences. Blending of action and comedy is difficult if a level of intelligence is on the agenda, but it must have been written off at the last minute. At least the casting directors, and most of the technical crew, did their jobs, if only the same could be said for the screenwriters and director…

The memorable humour that made the brainchild of Mel Brooks and Buck Henry work is missing, and the political satire is far less astutely displayed. James Caan’s amiable Bush-like character gets his slapdash pronunciation skills dead on, and he is the only member of the cast who can boast of having once guest starred on the show way back when. But Caan, like many actors in the film, such as Masi Oka and Nate Torrence for example, offer comical portrayals that feel more like place holders than anything else.

In an attempt to please both fans of the show as well as new viewers, the blending of the old catchphrases, in jokes, unusual gadgetry and so on, were used to moderate effect, but the history of the story is not integral to ones enjoyment of the film. But the energy and enthusiasm that fans of the 60’s classic celebrate, still going strong today, stemmed from the history of the television series and how it managed to embed itself into the culture of that time. Taking the plot of the film back a step or two, by showing the origin of Max Smart and how he became an agent, how he met Agent 99, how he handled his encounter with the villainous Siegfried and so on, the film introduces us to Max in a way that we can understand him a little better, instead of the television show’s approach where all these elements had already been set up when it aired. The introduction is just about the only thing that the film got right, in terms of its deviation from the magnitude of the show anyway.

In a society where many, but never enough, people are politically conscious, the unintelligent take on the droll headlines making their rounds on a daily basis may prove to be too bland to make much of an impact. “Get Smart” doesn’t merely miss the mark by that much, it misses it by a mile, and where enough potential is clearly evident in the modernising the old classic into a story that people today can both relate to and enjoy, but the approach that the less than capable hands of the untalented and uninspired filmmakers took was most definitely the wrong one. In addition, if they couldn’t get it right, and knew it would be an immensely difficult task to give a fresh perspective on, why bother at all.

Fatac Rating: **½

Get Smart. Directed by Peter Segal. Written by Tom J. Astle and Matt Ember based on the characters by Mel Brooks and Buck Henry. Music by Trevor Rabin. Cinematography by Dean Semler. Costumes by Deborah Lynn Scott. Starring: Steve Carell, Anne Hathaway, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Alan Arkin, Terrence Stamp, Terry Crews, David Koechner, and James Caan. Running Time: 110 minutes. Age Restriction: TBC. Year: 2008. Rating out of five stars.

“Get Smart” opens in the United States on the 20th of June, and in South Africa on the 2nd of July.