Saturday, April 04, 2009

I am an old Jewish man

I know, I know. You thought I was a twelve-year-old girl, right? Well, that was Tuesday. This is Saturday. You gotta keep up here, JAFO.

Last night, D and I watched the mostly atrocious Get Smart movie remake, which suffers from the same problem as so many remakes these days--it trades on the brand name and packaging of the original without really understanding the appeal or capturing the spirit. The Avengers movie (remember that?) failed even worse, and though the new Battlestar Galactica managed to make its own mark, I'm still dubious about the upcoming Star Trek reboot.

This version of Get Smart just didn't get the old-school Jewish humor that permeated the original series; it pasted punchlines from the original series into scenes that had no setup or follow-through. The retooled Maxwell Smart character simply didn't match the old jokes ("Would you believe...," "Missed it by that much," etc.), in either personality or backstory. It took its action setpieces too seriously, and its comedy not seriously enough. Which is totally missing the point of Get Smart.

~CKL

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