Adams hated it, I thought it was passable.

Wow, it was way better than 'passable,' IMHO. I thought it was hilarious, and very well done. Apropos this film, Adams had nothing to hate nor be ashamed of. This film was classic "Get Smart," even without some of the beloved supporting characters that we all knew and loved from the original TV series (like Agent 99, and the "old" Chief played by Edward Platt as opposed to the "new" Chief in this film, played by Dana Elcar...).

This movie included a full plate of all of the dorky, sappy and snappy dialogue and klutzy physical humor that was standard fare in any of the original "Get Smart" TV episodes. Plus, it seemed more cutting edge as it pushed the envelope with a bit more cheek in the "sexual innuendo" department. Heck, it even employed Sylvia Kristel (of "Emmanuelle" fame) as a no-nonsense CONTROL agent!

I grew up on the original "Get Smart" TV series, and though this movie deviated somewhat from the original series in that it didn't have Barbara Feldon (agent 99) or Edward Platt (the Chief) et al, it was still a nicely done venture into the sappy and benignly clumsy world of Maxwell Smart. It was easy enough for me to assume that Agent 99, the Chief, and other regular cast members from the original series who weren't seen in this movie, just might have been reassigned due to changing government personnel requirements. So, their absence didn't disappoint me.

I urge people to watch this movie and study the physical antics as well as the dialogue, sentence for sentence and word for word. It is really a wonderful script, and really deserves far more credit than the critics - or Don Adams - are giving it. Don Adams can rest in peace, at least as far as I'm concerned. This movie is classic "Get Smart," and can be enjoyed both by fans of the original series as well as newcomers to the whacky world of Don Adams/Maxwell Smart.

*BTW, looks great on the recent DVD release. Image is as sharp as yesterday's evening news.

I saw it in theaters when I was 8, and as a huge fan of the series I hated this movie. I thought it was a complete catastrophe.

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It's not a "reboot" but an "updating".

The premise is the same, only aspects are altered. (A reboot also changes the core premise.) CONTROL is now PITS, despite nobody putting out the joke about "going to work is the pits" - which was the obvious implication...

Max is now swearing at times, which I didn't care for.

Lingerie jokes are funny, apparently.

As were other dirty jokes, but I did like the new take on "missed it by that much"...

For being in his mid-50s, it's almost as if Don Adams hadn't aged since the show was axed in 1970...

The desk car joke was good, though...

I heard or read something years ago that they didn't even try to get original actors back because it was an attempt to reinvent get smart as a series of James Bond comedies... (Even tho get smart was originally a parody of spy films including bond,) but this was supposed to re invent max as the hero and ladies man and go in that direction hoping it would reinvent get smart for the 80s and have whatever amount of love interests in every hopeful sequel... However the writers stupidly underestimated peoples love of the series and refused to believe max was no longer with 99.