Get Smart

"Get Smart" is a mildly amusing movie that tries hard to be laugh-out-loud funny. Instead, they miss the mark by just that much.

Based on the 1960s TV show, Steve Carell stars as Maxwell Smart, an eager analyst for the top secret agency Control. His dream of being an agent in the field comes true when Control is attacked by KAOS, the bad guys who are threatening nuclear devastation if they don't get billions of dollars from the US government. Max, now known as Agent 86, along with attractive Agent 99 (Anne Hathaway), must unravel KAOS' plan before thousands of people are killed.

The movie does a nice tip-of-the-hat to Don Adams and the original Get Smart crew. Carell and the supporting cast keep the movie entertaining, and the action scenes are impressive as well. Still, the dialog falls just short of hilarious, especially in the final 20 minutes that lack any comedy at all. If you're going to the theater, get smart and see one of the other movies. This one's rentable. I give it a B-.

"Get Smart" is rated PG-13 with a running time of 110 minutes.