Get Smart is based on the cult-classic television series of the early 1960s starring Don Adams as the antithesis of everything international spies are supposed to be. The lead character created by Mel Brooks and Buck Henry was a clumsy, ambitious, and self-centered functionary who constantly created more problems than he solved while working for CONTROL, a U.S. agency, battling KAOS. He was assisted in his crusading efforts by Agent 99 (Barbara Feldon), whose talents in the field of espionage superceded his by a long shot.

In this spunky screen adaptation of the 60s spy spoof, Steve Carell plays Maxwell Smart as an ambitious CONTROL agent whose specialty is gathering and analyzing information on members of the evil crime syndicate known as KAOS. Although he dreams of glory in the field like Agent 23 (Dwayne Johnson), the Chief (Alan Arkin) tells him that he is needed in the office because of his skills as a wonk. But when the headquarters of the U.S. agency is broken into, the identities of its field agents are compromised. The Chief has no choice except to send Smart on a dangerous mission to halt the efforts of KAOS operative Siegfried (Terence Stamp) and his partner Shtarker (Ken Davitian) to supply terrorists around the world with nuclear warheads. Smart is joined on his mission by Agent 99 (Anne Hathaway), whose true identity has recently been hidden by plastic surgery to her face. She constantly shows him up in her survival skills and tricks of the trade.

Peter Segal directs this delightful comedy making the most out of Smart's silliness, which stems from his excessive enthusiasm and need to prove himself to other. We found two other qualities appealing in this diligent agent's modus operandi: his reliance upon hunches and his belief in the value of empathizing with the enemy's pain. Get Smart must be the one and only movie about the war on terrorism where an agent reaches out to a dangerous opponent and cuts him some slack in the name of — dare we mention the word? — compassion!

Get Smart is silly from start to finish — and that is a good thing. As Paul Pearsall observed in The Heart's Code: "The word 'silly' derives from the Greek 'selig' meaning 'blessed.' There is something sacred in being able to be silly."