When you see a movie made from a television show or movie it is like meeting someone from an online dating service.  You trade in a rose in your lapel for a box of extra-buttery popcorn and sit in a darkened theater instead of a well lit restaurant waiting to see if your expectations were too high and if you will need to enact your emergency exit plan.  I am going to date myself here by saying that I am member of a generation that does not have a preconceived notion of who Maxwell Smart is; in fact my parents were just barely out of braces when the original television show aired.  That being said, this was more like a blind date for me and I made off like a bandit with the laughs and plot twists in Get Smart.  

I think with parody king Mel Brooks (an original writer for the television show) consulting on the film and Steve Carell in the starring role, it would be pretty hard for Get Smart to do this.  The movie's humor ranges from absurd to the edge of crude, but would you expect less from the guy who brought us this?  Get Smart, in keeping with the television show, is a parody of serious spy thrillers from long ago - when special agents dodged lasers and bullets to get the job done, not computer hackers in remote locations.  I think staying true to the original Smart concept and keeping technology in the backseat is what made a vintage story fresh and funny for today's audience.  With Hollywood's technology obsession, the modern movie audience expects computers to do most of the work and Smart could have easily become an awkward Minority Report, but they dodged a bullet and kept it real - rotary dial shoe phone style.  

But back to my blind date with Maxwell Smart.  There was a competing love interest present in the form of Ann Hathaway; she called herself "Agent 99".  At first I was intimidated by her striking good looks, but I soon realized she was a bit awkward and unconvincing so I felt better right away.  Smart and I really hit it off.  I am not sure there will be long walks on the beach in store for us; however I would not hesitate to send my friends on a date with him.  He made me laugh out loud and he put me on the edge of my seat at times so overall I would say it was a good date.  I give this movie four of these out of five.