Starring Steve Carell, Anne Hathaway. Written by Tom J Astle, Matt Ember. Directed by Peter Segal. (PG) 109 min. Opens June 20.
It’d be cute enough to say that Get Smart misses its mark by that much, but in truth, Peter Segal’s update of the boomer-beloved television show comes up lame about halfway through its bloated running time. The fault lies not with stars Steve Carell and Anne Hathaway, who do just fine as amorously sniping CONTROL agents 86 and 99. Carell, whose Office shtick has worn thin, makes for a surprisingly dashing dim-bulb, while Hathaway proves herself an adept physical comedienne and even pulls off a sexy Barbara Feldon bob in one sequence.
Instead, blame a screenplay content to traffic in stale summer-movie-isms. Check ’em off, one by one: a half-hearted where’s-the-nuke plot; a pitifully obvious “twist” involving a major character’s allegiances; unnecessarily cruel slapstick violence (Carell’s extended self-mutilation in an airplane washroom crosses the line by about a half-dozen mini-harpoons); a frenetic final chase in which body doubles hang off a careening SUV (with a biplane and a freight train thrown in for good measure).
Such laziness is disappointing considering that the original Get Smart delighted in nimbly (and gently) skewering spy-genre clichés. Segal’s film is self-aware but rarely affectionate, and its limp stabs at political satire — James Caan as a faintly Dubya-ish president who nods off at a classical-music recital — smack of undeserved self-congratulation. And the movie wastes its performers: as the head of CONTROL, that deft under-player Alan Arkin is defeated by the antic irritability of his role, while Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson — fresh from his jittery tour-de-force in the otherwise awful Southland Tales — finds his amusing alpha male character abandoned after the first act.