Get Smart was one of those movies for me that you’re just not quite sure whether it will be brilliant or a remarkable failure. Typically, with a television into film “remake” the primary concern is whether the filmmakers “get it” or not. If they do get it, the question then is will they try to emulate the essence of the show or will they try to replicate the show?

Anne Hathaway and Steve Carrell in Get Smart.

Replication is usually the shortest road to failure. First of all, the cast that all of the viewers fell in love with is not usually involved in the remake, save for recent examples such as Sex and the City, Firefly, or, if God loves us, Arrested Development. Secondly, particularly with as smartly a written series as Get Smart, or any Mel Brooks venture, there’s a question of whether the new writers will be able to measure up to the old standard.

When considering Get Smart, there are more problems still. There’s the question of relevance. Usually, when considering relevance, the answer for recent television remakes is to simply belittle the source material and cash in on the absurdity of the original series because it merely occurred in a different time-period than the movie. Starsky and Hutch is good example of this (incidentally, I liked it) as well as Charlie’s Angels. Of course, in those two cases, the source material wasn’t deserving of much more respect than it got. Get Smart, on the other hand, does deserve respect.

Get Smart’s brilliance was due in part to its timing. At the height of James Bond’s popularity, there was this anti-Bond parody that worked well on its own merits. Now, however, the Cold War is over, the sixties are over, Austin Powers has even been exhausted, and there has been a slew of awful, and I mean really awful, parodies of just about everything under the sun. My intuition told me that a Get Smart movie would be no more successful today than a M*A*S*H* movie would (note to movie producers: please don’t get any ideas).

But I was wrong. Steve Carrell as Maxwell Smart was the first piece to the complicated puzzle. He is a fad actor now, but with lots of potential for longevity. He’s very Don Adams-esque, but still creates an authentic character. And it’s his authenticity that wins us over. His timing is impeccable and his ability to deepen a seemingly shallow role is quite amazing. Carrell effectively pulled off the delicate balance of bumbling competence that the character indulges us with, and he was able to make it his own.

The second piece was the sharp writing. The dialogue was concise and 100% dedicated to the world of the story. I know that this seems elementary to movie-writing, but could have easily fallen into that category of “we know we are making a not-serious remake,” and it didn’t. Moreover, it handles exposition extremely well. There is limited time to work within in a movie and trying to fill in the backstory without just “telling” us (a contrived and in-workable method) is a difficult task. Get Smart does not fall into the expositionary trap that would have nearly been acceptable in a movie of this kind. It rises above and strives for quality.

Now, the direction is average, as well as the cinematography, sound, and the other technical aspects of the movie. However, none of it is in the way of the story, and you really can’t ask for much more than that. Anne Hathaway is a pleasant surprise as Agent 99, Alan Arkin is always worth his wage, and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson likewise does what he is supposed to do, namely look good, be comedically smug, and engage in awesome action sequences.

All in all, the movie won’t win any awards, nor should it, but it is one that I anticipate catching on TV in the future and watching it everytime. That’s gotta say something.