Nostalgia Done Wrong

Movie: Get Smart

My Rating: 2 stars

I was excited to see this remake of a classic TV show because I remembered watching it when I was a kid.  No, not on regular TV.  I’m not that old.  It was part of the nostalgia programming on Nick at Night.  Although, Nickelodeon actually has introduced a whole new line of nostalgia TV for my generation.  They’ve been playing all the awesome kid shows from the 90s on late night TV now—Clarissa Explains it All, Doug, Salute Your Shorts, Hey Dude.  It’s kinda awesome.  But, back to what I was talking about.  I really wanted to see what Hollywood would do with all the kooky antics from a crazy, old show like Get Smart.  And, the answer is, apparently nothing.  This new film retains almost none of the insane humor of the original show.  Sure, Steve Carell always brings his own brand if comedic ineptitude to the table.  That’s very Maxwell Smart.  And, he even has the look down pretty well.  But, it’s just not the same.  It features none of the bad puns, or the over-exaggerated, Bond-style villains.  And, the humor just isn’t absurd enough.  This was supposed to be a silly show, not just a show about a funny guy.

I think the problem here is that director, Peter Segal, just tried to play the whole concept a little too straight, for fear that no one would catch any of the references to the old show.  But, I don’t really think that’d be an issue if even I catch most references.  So, maybe what’s really going on here is that studios are just running out of ideas for new material.  The film has all the trappings of a regular spy movie—tough guys in tuxedos, sexy partners in slinky dresses, guns in garter belts, fancy surveillance gadgets.  Then it throws in a bunch of discordant, politically correct garbage, like messages about having a positive body image, and how cosmetic surgery is bad for one’s self esteem.  I generally don’t really go for sticking these heavy-handed morals and lessons into my zany humor.  Especially since this is supposed to be a nod to a TV show from one of the most notoriously un-PC eras ever.  The 1960s were kind of a joke when it coms to the topics of sexual harassment, women’s empowerment, cultural sensitivity, accepting different body images, and the like.  I think we’re at the stage in history now where we can make fun of that dynamic, rather than having to earnestly refute it with the opposite message.

So, I was disappointed with this film.  Oh, I always find Steve Carell to be just hilarious.  His antics are a bit painful to watch sometimes, but there’s a certain charm to it all.  It wasn’t the worst thing ever, but I actually find mediocre films to be much more awful to watch than actively bad ones.  I’d just throw this one into the bucket of thousands of other bland kids movies.  It’s probably not worth your time.