This looks to be Warner's big release for the summer of 2007. Unfortunately, it looks like it's being made by people who have no understanding (or desire to understand) what made the 1965-70 series great. More from Carl's great Get Smart site, wouldyoubelieve.com, here.
Nitpicking myself - I should have said Summer 2008 as the release date.
I really like the lead casting. What precisely are the aspects that you object to, Adam?
Max was always a great agent on the show. He was a bit of a buffoon and a bumbler, but he was CONTROL's top agent. He was the second-in-command of the agency, in fact! In this new movie, he's a wannabe. An analyst, not an agent. It changes the whole concept.
Isn't it a prequel?
It keeps cutting off right after the line "There has always been a delicate balance between chaos......" and than goes into a preview for "The Boourne Ultimatum"
Hmph. That didn't happen with me.
What precisely are the aspects that you object to, Adam?
I like the casting of Steve Carrell; if anyone today can play Max, he can. But - Read the page I've linked to. Carl's criticisms of the upcoming movie seem to be dead on.
Plus, read this review. The Nude Bomb was probably better.
New trailer. It may not be one for American audiences, since it has subtitles, but hey, it's a trailer.
The latest trailer ran on Entertainment Tonight last night. Does this movie look awful or what? If you read Carl's page I've linked to above, I think he's being too kind. The film looks just plain dumb. Which can't be said about even the weakest episode of the series. Then again, he's seen the film (or at least an early version, that may or may not be the final cut) and I haven't.
Actually, I just saw it, and it looks funny.
The second poster is now up, and Steve Carell is out front this time.
Plus, more legal troubles are in store for this movie. See the link to Carl's site in the first post above for more. I don't know if its legal woes will delay the film's release.
Carl also noted that the DVD release of this film is planned for December 2008; use the link in the first post for more info.
I'm a huge fan of the Get Smart TV series & I think this movie is a bad idea.Don Adams was absolutely iconic in the role of Maxwell Smart & I don't think anyone recreating that role,no matter how talented they are,is going to be able to pull it off well.
mike me too...I didn't like Get Smart Again much
Click on the link in the first post. When an actor who's in the film blasts it, that's a sign of trouble.
Another review. This critic has praise for the cast, but overall, he says the pic is just another generic unmemorable summer movie.
This movie opened at number one at the box office its first weekend with $39 million. Solid, but unspectacular performance. Sex and the City, which supposedly had more limited appeal (but is probably a far better movie, as I haven't seen Get Smart) did $56 million its opening weekend.
And, SATC had a higher per-screen average ($17,000) its opening weekend) than Get Smart ($10,000) had.
Why did you single out Sex and the City in particular? Get Smart is the lowest #1 of the summer season thus far (beginning with Iron Man). Did you bring up SATC for its perceived limited appeal?
Actually, that's interesting. That means SATC beat out The Incredible Hulk, too. To be fair, though, I believe SATC's huge success was something of a surprise. I think they were projecting somewhere in the 30s.
I think that was the point. You know, everyone in that biz expects a $100 million picture to open huge. On the other hand an R-rated comedy/drama based on a premium cable TV show about a quartet of middle aged tramps trying to get laid would be seen by the industry as a smaller potential market.
BTW I don't want to offend any "Sex in the City" fans with my above comments. I like the show, actually. My characterizing the characters as 'tramps' was simple meant as descriptive not pejorative. As I recently told a female co-worker who tried to call me out for referring to another person as a 'slut' (given that plenty of my own behavior shows me to be that way as well) I'm fine with being a male slut and I'll admit to it. There's nothing wrong with being a slut or a tramp, but at least have the decency to own up to who and what you are.
Why did you single out "Sex and the City" in particular?
Beacuse it's the only one of this year's summer movies that I've seen in a theater. We (my girlfriend and I) enjoyed it immensely. The reviews were almost universally positive. And, it will probably be the only summer movie I see. Neither Get Smart nor Indiana Jones nor Iron Man nor anything else has made me want to get off my duff and spend $11 to see it. The mostly negative reviews for Smart means that will be one to see on HBO.
75% of the first weekend audience for Sex and the City was female, by the way. I don't know the breakdown for Get Smart, but I suspect it was mostly male.
Both Indy and SATC are now starting to disappear from theaters.
This film now has a DVD release date of November 4. More here. Note that the packaging says "62% more laughs" as a result of the "never-before-seen jokes." Well, from what I reckon, 162% of nothing is still nothing.
But Adam, they added new scenes to the extras that were not in the theatrical release!
When Anne Hathaway uncovers the mastermind behind Max's framing, it turns out to be Raffaello Follieri, her real-life ex-boyfriend, instead of the Rock.
I think I saw Mr.Spock in an old get Smart?, he played a hitman?
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kinda off topic, but-
also in Amc's Delta Force I thought I saw him (Mr.Nimoy) as a priest?
The DTV "sequel" to this pic, Bruce and Lloyd Out Of CONTROL, will be run on TBS Oct. 23 at 10 p.m. (ET). Guess the DVD sold very poorly, as I don't recall a DTV movie coming to TV so soon after its release.
He's_dead_jim,
Yes, Leonard Nimoy played an assassin named Stryker on Get Smart in the episode with the pool shark, "The Dead Spy Scrawls".
However, while Nimoy played an assassin, Mr. Spock never played any characters on Get Smart!
Hey I dreamt I was Mr. Dumby (smart) and I got Kaos on my back, and 99 joined the evil ones...
(I am in China, and survived a train trip to my wife's relative's freind's house)
i am on her computer
This is playing on the HBO channels ad nauseum for probably the next month or so. IMHO, there's no real plot, just a collection of set pieces (the airplane gag, the dance with the fat lady, yada yada.) Carell tries hard to evoke the spirit of Don Adams, but fails. I miss Don. Anne Hathaway acts like she doesn't want to be there. Plus, the film is not funny, perhaps the worst sin a comedy could have. Patrick Warburton has a walk-on as Hymie; he could just as easily been called David Puddy. Alan Arkin's perf as the flustered Chief is probably the best reason to sit through this.
I miss Don.
Did you miss him "by THAT much?"
Would you believe.... so do the rest of us?
The very last scene of the movie is so lame. It's a take-off of the ending of the closing credits of every episode, trying to one-up it. And, failing miserably.
The film could have been worse, though. Madonna sings the closing song, titled "4 Minutes". That's bad enough, but she could have been given a role in the movie. Perish the thought.
There are nice nods to all the cars driven by Max in the series - a Sunbeam, a VW Karmann Ghia, and an Opel Manta are seen in the film. But, did they have to do to the Sunbeam what they did - namely, drive it down a staircase, which would probably wreck the car? A classic car is a terrible thing to waste.
The DVD, like the one for Enough, is available in the five dollar bin at Wal-Mart. Which, IMHO, is too much for this less-than-stellar "comedy." (I'm not knocking the $5 bin, though. Sometimes, you can get a good buy; I picked up Young Frankenstein, Deep Impact and Airplane there.)