Hysterical. I had high expectations for this film, because I really enjoyed the old TV show and I knew Steve Carell was the perfect choice for Maxwell Smart. Well, my expectations were met, if not exceeded. The movie did not try to recreate the TV show, which is good. It was a good stand alone comedy/adventure (although I could see a new movie franchise coming out of this).
Steve Carell was terrific. Actually the whole cast, including Anne Hathaway as Agent 99, Dwayne "The Rock' Johnson as Agent 23 and Alan Arkin as The Chief, were all perfectly cast. There were a lot of one line zingers that had the audience erupting in laughter. For me, it was the occasional reference to the old Maxwell Smart "Would you believe...?".
This film is great for the whole family, from very physical comedy (which Carell has perfected), to gross-out jokes, to innuendos... it has it all.
Yesterday (Sunday 6/15/08) at the CineVegas film festival, there was a special advanced screening of the film, introduced by Dwayne Johnson. It was a charity screening with all proceeds benefiting his charity "The Rock Foundation" and its special program Project Knapsack. The Rock looked great, although much thinner than I expected.
For more information on his charity, visit:
http://www.djrockfoundation.org/
