Get Smart Gets A Review

Last weekend, The Blot and my buddy Goetz went and checked out the latest television remake, the Steve Carell comedy Get Smart. I had some serious reservations considering Carell’s last two live action movies, Evan Almighty and Dan in Real Life, were complete bombs. Once again low expectations saved the day and the movie ended up not being all that bad. But, had I really expected anything from the movie I probably would have left the theater disappointed.


The main reason I wanted to see the film was because of Dwayne “Don’t call me The Rock” Johnson. Obviously The Artist Formerly Known as The Rock has more than a few underperforming movies under his belt as well, but I typically enjoy his roles regardless. Thankfully Johnson came through with a solid performance as Agent 23. But it was Masi Oka and Nate Torrence as techies Bruce and Lloyd who really stole the film. Their scenes were the most consistently funny part of the movie and were the best parts of an otherwise unmemorable movie.


Honestly though, I really can’t understand why the movie wasn’t funnier. On paper the cast was a strong comedic ensemble and surprise appearances by Bill Murray and Patrick Warburton were stellar. But in the end, the movie was just OK and the best line wasn’t even uttered by Carell or co-star Anne Hathaway. Instead it was by Alan Arkin’s The Chief before he was almost accidentally killed by Carell’s Maxwell Smart. Don’t worry, I won’t ruin the movie for those of you who still haven’t seen the film and still eventually plan to.


While I didn’t leave the theater disappointed, I definitely recommend waiting for the movie to come out on DVD. What’s really scary to me, is that if Get Smart was the best comedy to open last weekend, how horrible must The Love Guru be!?! I really expected more from the two most talked about comedies of the summer.

Oh yeah, be on the look out for Get Smart’s Bruce and Lloyd Out Of Control, the straight to DVD Get Smart sequel starring Oka and Torrence, in stores on July 1st. Bruce and Lloyd were such great characters that there’s a reasonable chance this movie is at least as good as, if not better, than Get Smart.

George Carlin Remembered

I know I should have written about the legendary comic’s passing on Monday, but there was so much media coverage on George Carlin’s death that I wasn’t sure I had anything to add. It’s weird, while I wasn’t the biggest Carlin fan, you can definitely see his influence everywhere. I can still remember as a little boy watching his stand-up comedy specials on HBO. It feels like he’s been around the landscape of pop culture forever.

There are very few comics that have had as big of an impact on our culture as Carlin, and it wasn’t just in the comedy world. While there have definitely been bigger comics, like Richard Pryor or Bob Hope, it is hard to argue with Carlin’s significance and his impact on the nation. Without his comedy shtick the “Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television,” we would have never had the 7 words you really can’t say over the air. Who else has sparked an issue so big that it went to the Supreme Court, where the nation’s high court ruled that the government did have the power to ban broadcast material it deemed indecent. Without Carlin’s comedy who knows what we might have been watching/listening to for the past 30 years.

What I didn’t realize about Carlin was that besides being a comic genius, he was also the very first host of one of my favorite TV shows, Saturday Night Live, back in 1975. To honor the comedian’s passing, NBC and Saturday Night Live have decided to re-air the show’s premiere episode this Saturday, June 28th, at 11:30/10:30C. (link)


I’m pretty excited to watch the hopefully unedited episode to see Carlin work with the also now legendary original cast of SNL, the Not Ready For Prime-Time Players (Dan Aykroyd, John Belushi, Chevy Chase, Jane Curtin Garrett Morris, Larraine Newman and Gilda Radner). The first episode of Saturday Night Live “also features musical guests Janis Ian and Billy Preston as well as a landmark performance from comedian Andy Kaufman.” (link) If you, like me, are interested in reliving some classic Carlin, then definitely tune in Saturday night for Saturday Night Live’s inaugural episode.