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Maxwell Smart (Steve Carell), an analyst at top secret government agency CONTROL, desperately wants to be a field agent. When a threat arises from international villains KAOS, the Chief (Alan Arkin) grants Max's wish and pairs him with sexy operative Agent 99 (Anne Hathaway), while legendary Agent 23 (Dwayne Johnson) is relegated to office duty.

Big question: Does this adaptation of a beloved '60s TV series land closer to the classic "40-Year-Old Virgin" or the disastrous "Evan Almighty" on the Carell comedy scale?

Catch it: Carell's skill for underplaying his jokes makes him the most effortlessly likable comedian working today, and a perfect fit for the deadpan silliness of Maxwell Smart. And despite a notable age difference, he has surprisingly great chemistry with Hathaway, whose solid comic chops are much better showcased here than in her last hit "The Devil Wears Prada." Director Peter Segal is coming off three successive Adam Sandler comedies (including "The Longest Yard"), and this isn't a big leap forward but he does stage spywork sleeker than the original series ever dreamed of.

Skip it: The cast gives it their all but the script's jokes remain frustratingly uneven. That's more than you can say for the storyline—a straight-faced take on Cold War leftovers already skewered by Austin Powers.

Bottom line: Just good enough to make you wish it was a lot better, "Get Smart" shows how far a film can get on the simple charms of a game cast and a few nifty action scenes. But if quality was the goal, in the words of Smart himself, the filmmakers "missed it by that much."

Video: Watch a review and interviews for 'Get Smart'

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