Get Smart

As I’ve mentioned here before, during the Sixties I was a big fan of the secret agent boom in books, movies, and TV. I read all the espionage novels I could get my hands on, watched all the spy movies and TV shows. So of course, I watched GET SMART every week. I read all the tie-in novels by William Johnston. I wasn’t a huge fan of the show, mind you, but I liked it.

It took us a while to get around to it, but we finally watched the recent movie version of GET SMART, with Steve Carell and Anne Hathaway taking over the parts made famous by Don Adams and Barbara Feldon. As best I recall, most of the reviews of this movie were pretty negative, not only the ones by professional reviewers and film critics but the ones that appeared on various blogs, as well. But all four of us laughed all the way through the movie and thoroughly enjoyed it, which says something about the public’s taste . . . or ours. Anyway, even though it’s one of the dreaded “reimagings” of an old favorite (generally speaking, not a good sign where I’m concerned), I thought it worked this time. Although I don’t like and don’t watch THE OFFICE, I like Carell in the movies I’ve seen him in, and Anne Hathaway has done a fine job of going from cute to really hot. I thought the rest of the cast was pretty good, too, including a late cameo by Patrick Warburton, one of my favorite actors.

So if you thought GET SMART sucked (and chances are, you did), we’ll just have to agree to disagree on this one.