Better than I expected. It is quite intelligently directed with strong supporting roles from Arkin and The Rock (I’ll never call him Dwayne Johnson), and a lovely cameo from Bill Murray. I even liked Terrence Stamp’s bitter one-liners about Hollywood actors. The moments of homage to the TV series are unobtrusive so that the younger set can enjoy the movie. There are a couple of set-piece action sequences and a handful of silly jokes, but overall it is actually quite a sweet movie, which seems an odd description for this genre of remake of old 60’s TV show. This quality comes from Carell’s portrayal of Maxwell Smart as not so much dumb, arrogant and loud, as awkward, perceptive and surprisingly skilled as an operative. Smart is the one who is right more often than more experienced agents. The central part of the movie follows Smart and Agent 99 (Anne Hathaway) on a mission to Russia. The object is to show how they grow to respect each other as agents and even fall in love. The movie doesn’t quite pull off this feat, because too often the gags get in the way, but it comes close. This is probably not the place for an examination of Carell as a comic actor, but he has carved out an interesting space between the sad sack bumbling fool and the self-assured spewer of one-liners.