Movie Log: Get Smart

My sister-in-law took the two boys for a sleepover on Wednesday night -- mostly because The Wife is in a stretch of about two weeks where she has to be at the store nearly every minute it's open (while the owner is doing various other things). Since kid-free nights are rare, we jumped on the opportunity to go see a movie and have dinner (at Thatcher McGee's, probably the best restaurant in my home town of Pompton Lakes).

The movie was Get Smart, since the reviews said, essentially, that it was a good spy movie with a lot of funny stuff, too. (As opposed to being a parody or spoof of a spy movie.)

They were right. What they didn't mention, or maybe I just missed, was precisely how gorgeous Anne Hathaway is these days, particularly in the evening gown she wears about halfway through the movie. (In that outfit, she also wears a very Barbara Feldon-esque wig, which was a nice touch.)

To give the other side equal credit, Steve Carell is one of the few modern actors who looks completely at home in a suit, and he's not unattractive himself. (Now if I could only remember his follow-up line when he was talking about the "hot guy in the bathroom.")

Get Smart is very nearly as good as it could be: Carrell and Hathaway are both perfect in their roles, and Alan Arkin is a Chief just as grumpy (but slightly more active) than Edward Platt's. Most of the rest of the cast is good as well, though Terence Stamp seems to be trying too hard now and then as Siegfried and the two gadget guys are clearly only in this movie to tie in to their own direct-to-video spin-off.

The script gets all of the old catchphrases in just enough -- nothing is beaten over the head, and it all comes up perfectly in context. Carrell isn't trying a Don Adams impression, but he falls into a similar cadence much of the time -- he's playing the same character, not miming.

(And it was great seeing Bernie Koppell briefly, but I did wonder why Barbara Feldon didn't cameo. Everyone else from the old show is dead at this point, though it also would have been nice to have Mel Brooks and Buck Henry show up in one or two shots.)

Now, pardon me, I'm off to see what Anne Hathaway movies I might have missed...