Max la Menace

This essentially parasitic series (Bond + Clouseau + spy series like The Man from U.N.C.L.E.) – which it mostly parodies, however – successfully creates an impression of originality thanks to the inimitable character of Agent Smart. Though he works in a serious organisation, his ineptitude causes him to inadvertently sabotage his own missions while being the primary source of humour. He thinks that he knows everything – we know, however, that he knows nothing. Laughter is mixed with pity, pure slapstick with sound gags and verbal humour. “Awkwardness” is the keyword of every episode and every task that the agent faces. Saving abducted scientists and unravelling a mystery involving Indians making threats with guided missiles require someone competent, i.e. someone quite different from Smart. His only special ability is to be conspicuous in situations that require the opposite (he could learn a lot from Agent 44, who was able to hide himself behind a desk lamp). Given the madcap-comedy genre classification, it is necessary to accept that Smart’s more capable colleagues, who at least have some idea of what’s going on around them, obviously don’t have a problem with a moron who poses a threat to humanity. For a viewer spoiled by series of cinematic quality, Get Smart has a very slow pace and predictable jokes, but in light of the time and place of its origin, Mel Brooks and Buck Henry created a rather bold satire and, in addition to that, Don Adams knows perfectly well when to employ an expression of half-understanding and when to show total incomprehension. 75% (02/08/2011)