by Lisa Hemsley

Created on: July 02, 2010   Last Updated: July 03, 2010

Maxwell Smart has been dreaming of passing his exams at work so he can get promoted to s special agent. Unfortunately for him he does pass his exams but his boss tells him that the work he does on the floor is too valuable so he cannot be made an agent. Maxwell is not happy about it but carry’s on with his work for the special government agency regardless.

The head office where the special agency works from gets attacked and soon they are having to find new premises and a new agent to try and take down the Russian based weapons gang. Maxwell finally gets his dream and becomes Agent 86 and is teamed up with sexy Agent 99.

Will 86 and 99 be able to find the home of the weapons gang and will they ultimately be able to take them down and stop a world wide attack?

I had really wanted to see this film for quite some time as the trailers for it made it look very funny and I have enjoyed all of the others films which Steve Carell has stared in, I have to say that this one did not disappoint. The storyline was good if not a little weak but the way it was put across did make it so much more watch able and funny.

Steve Carell took the lead role of Maxwell Smart / Agent 86 and he did an excellent job. I loved how out of place he looked for a special agent and I think this added to the funny side of his character. He seemed a clever man who was not afraid to use this to his advantage. He worked very well with Anne Hathaway who played the sexy agent 99 and they had a very funny on screen chemistry. At first they hated each other and 99 resented having to work with the new guy but soon they are working well together and the chemistry is really good.

The supporting actors and actresses in this film all gave good performance and as there was so many of them it would be too much for me to name them all but the ones which really stood out for me were, Dwayne Johnson who played injured Agent 23, Terence Stamp who played Siegfriend and Dalip Singh who played the role of Dalip. They each bought something different to the storyline and a whole lot of fun.

This is a comedy and at time I was laughing out loud at some of the daft things which the characters would do, the jokes are mainly visual but there is also a lot of humour with Agents 86 and 99 and the nit picking they costly have with each other and the way they always try to get one better than the other one. I did find that at times it was verging on becoming a Mr Bean type of movie as the characters became a little too daft, but they soon managed to pull it away from this and back to the storyline which it started with.

The special effects throughout were very good and all fitted in with the storyline very well. I was not able to clearly spot any added back drops or bad effects which was a bonus. The music was also good if not very memorable, the only tunes which I can slightly remember are those of the classical one which the baddy would listen to. There is some action in this film but the majority of it has the humour added so I would not say it is an action film so don’t be disappointed by this. There are some explosions and gun fights but not many.

As this is a film only review, there are no bonus features to talk of. The running time of the film is 110 minutes and it has been rated a 12A. I do agree with this rate as there are some scenes which are not suitable for younger children, but I feel that teenagers would find this film hysterical and want to watch it over again.

The DVD is price. Overall I am definitely going to recommend this film as it has a good storyline, great acting and it is very funny.

Learn more about this author, Lisa Hemsley.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.