CINEMA: Get Smart

Or how to dumb down in one easy lesson. Believe me, there is nothing smart about this movie and although it stars the ever-dependable Steve Carell, it is nowhere near as impressive as The 40 Year Old Virgin. Here he’s playing mumbling, bumbling would-be special agent Maxwell Smart, who keeps flunking his special agent exams. When the chance finally comes to show his boss (Alan Arkin) and best mate Agent 23 (Dwayne Johnson) what he’s really made of Smart is partnered with experienced Agent 99 (Anne Hathaway) and nearly blows the mission before it’s even begun.

As you’d expect from a spoof on Bond and every other secret agent movie ever, there are plenty of gadgets and gizmos and a really bad arch-villain (here played by Terence Stamp) working for an evil crime syndicate named KAOS (what else). The problem is the jokes are so obvious and signposted, and the comic timing so appalling, you’ll be way ahead of the movie. Carell really is smarter than this material, which is passable but just not special enough – a bit like Smart.     Dee Pilgrim