Disappointing GET SMART reviews

By Matt Holmes / June 25, 2011

Get Smart, a movie I have championed for over a year as potentially one of the most entertaining films of the summer is going to be something of a dissapointment if you are to believe the critics reviews. The spoof of the classic Mel Brooks 60's t.v. show opens in the U.S. tomorrow (August - UK) and stars the spot on casting of Steve Carell, Anne Hathaway, The Rock, Alan Arkin and more from the director of The Longest Yard... Here's what those who are paid to see movies are saying... John Anderson of Variety...

the hero was too one-dimensional, the female lead too adoring, the Cold War too over. So helmer Peter Segal's formulaic takeoff is neither fish nor fowl, not quite faithful to the show, but not quite bringing it into the 21st century either.

Kirk Honeycutt of the other big trade The Hollywood Reporter wasn't keen either...

This is a slap-dash effort whose producers threw money and stunts onscreen instead of the satirical gags and one-liners that made the old spy spoof so memorable.

Emmanuel Levy, whose extensive filmic reviews are always some of my favourites...

Despite affection for the TV show, "Get Smart" has discarded crucial elements that had defined is uniqueness, without replacing them with many new, relevant, or witty ideas.

David Ansen, Newsweek...

In this distressingly generic spy spoof, it's not Maxwell who's clueless, but the filmmakers.

And it kinda goes on and on like that. The positive reviews comes from the likes of Cinematical, Cinema Blend, Coming Soon and the like, those blogs with film geeks rather than critics who seem to be more entertained by it. Which certainly gives me hope. Rotten Tomatoes currently score the film at 54% rotten from 26 reviews counted, 14 coming back fresh however from the looks of things many of the positives are only slightly tipped to that side. The general consensus seems to be the talent have played it safe and the end result is a little stale.