Friday, June 27, 2008

Get Smart

With both Ben's and my better halves were out of town I got to have an evening out on a man date with Ben tonight. Movie choices for the night were Incredible Hulk or Get Smart (Wanted would have been the obvious choice, but wasn't on the table as an option since Katylin wants to see that one with Ben). In a surprise unanimous decision we ended up deciding on going to see the new Get Smart movie. I was a big fan of the original show when I was growing up. Since I wasn't old enough to be aware of show when it originally aired (see, I'm not *that* old) I watched it in syndication. But I can remember watching it almost daily. And the humor in the TV show appealed to me. The new movie is obviously an update to the classic show, and they've retooled it ever so slightly. Max is slightly more competent than he was in the old TV show. Back then he would seem to be unaware and yet would somehow manage to stumble his way into success. Now he's moderately competent with less bumbling, but still manages to eek out success. If you were a fan of the old show it takes some getting used to but the good news is you can and will adjust. There are some really good one liners scattered throughout the movie. It's not a constantly funny / bombard you with laughing movie, but it manages to stay entertaining throughout and I believe near the end the visual jokes fly faster and faster. The one negative about the comedy is that a lot of the joke set is telegraphed so much that you see it coming and it's slightly less funny when it happens, sometimes though that makes it all the better. I think one are where the movie made a slight error by including some pot shots at the mannerisms of our current president. I seriously doubt those jokes will hold up well over time (I will say I long for the day when people will look back and have trouble remembering how things were during the Bush presidency). They also tried really hard to work in some of the catch phrases and items from the old show. Some of these attempts work okay, others it feel like they just should have let it go, but it does feel like they wanted to remain somewhat faithful to the original source material. Overall though the movie scores well in my opinion and may even be one I might consider purchasing on DVD (I suspect we'll rent it and if Ginger likes it also then we may get it).

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