For us, the only time the movie worked was when they stuck (not very often, unfortunately) to the original 60′s series shtick – ie Smart got things done by sheer luck and happenstance, inspite of being, well, an idiot. By imparting intelligence to Carell’s Smart, they ruined everything that was funny about the series.

That said, my 15yo kid loved the movie.

If you went into this one expecting Don Adams and Barbara Feldon, of course you’d be disappointed.

But then, answer this: how well did the “Get Smart” followup series do? (The one where he’s head of CONTROL.)

This was another in a long line of “based on…” movies. That Buck Henry and Mel Brooks were behind this one ought to tell you something. It’s a funny, well-paced movie.

Alan Arkin as the Chief should have been an inspired choice, but the director evidently told him to walk through his lines. He wasn’t nearly as good as Stamp’s Siegfried. Now that is the very model of a modern-day villian. And he only used the “… we do not …. here” line once.

“… so we have to re-tell it in simple language for them …” Do you mean like Siegfried’s line in the last third, where his henchman complains about the loss of Hollywood celebrities, and he replies sarcastically, “Yes, we’ll really miss their political acumen” (or words to that effect)?

“The Addams Family – em, no.” A resounding Yes. You must surely be thinking of that awful “Munsters”.

The less said of the movie “Mission Impossible” the better. For one thing, the director proudly admitted that he never saw the TV series.

Another thing about remakes: that seems to be the only thing Hollywood can do any more. Remakes of old TV shows, remakes of old movies (why not just re-release the old ones?), and remakes of comic books. A few of them aren’t that bad, so long as you’re not expecting “Dr Zhivago”.

Another thing about this remake: the original series was meant for the small screen, so the locations and plots were fairly small and localized. The big screen needs a big arena, worldwide locations, trains, planes and Segways. The movie gave us that bigger arena.

Anybody know if the original “Get Smart” is available?

Many years ago at an Air Force base in Thailand, I saw “What’s Up Doc?” It was a painful experience of the side-splitting nature. The entire audience was caught up in the movie.

Years later, I watched the film again in a more sedate environment, swearing to my wife that this was absolutely the funniest movie ever. Everything about it seemed flat, and it left my wife wondering what was in the water in Thailand. I suspect the missing component was an audience infected with laughter; that is, once some threshold was crossed, the movie’s humor level didn’t matter as much, we just laughed (and laughed and laughed) until it hurt.

Fugitive – eh, not too bad, I guess.

Star Trek – well, I liked ST:TOS, but lately the franchise has been growing thin.

The Addams Family – em, no.

Mission: Impossible – are you trolling me? They destroyed my memories of the series. Jim Phelps, the villian? Come on!

Maverick – meh, not too bad.

Brady Bunch – I’d a lot more fun watching “NOT the Brady’s XXX” or whatever the porn knockoff’s called, is what I’m thinking.

All in all, yeah, not much in the way of 60s (or in fact, any other decade’s) series being properly made into a movie. Only MASH managed it, and that’s because the series was based on the movie, and not the other way around, so, not really.

Cheers

The rumor a few years back was that Julia Robert’s popularity was due to a large lesbian fanbase. Something about her being the lesbian equivalent to Brad Pitt. Not being a lesbian, I can’t speak on that. But as a man, I never understood Robert’s appeal. Not a good actress, bad roles, odd looks, not really very pretty.

Yet they always called her “America’s Sweetheart”. Who’s sweetheart? None of my male friends ever found her that appealing either. It kind of made sense about the lesbian appeal.

Now we have Carrell and Ferrell. Not great actors. Not that good looking. Bad movies. Yet, somehow their popularity remains high. It just reminds me of the Roberts thing in reverse. When things don’t add up there are often strange reasons. Do you really think it so outlandish that the gay community might have it’s own set of movie idols? Just food for thought.

I don’t even know what the Gay Mafia is, but if you don’t think there is such a thing as group mindset, then you are too PC.