Opening Films

by INLANDER STAFF & r & & r & GET SMART & r & & r & Steve Carell pulls it off -- he's just about perfect as bumbling, over-enthusiastic Control spy Maxwell Smart (aka Agent 86), and he does it without impersonating the character's originator, Don Adams. Partnered with Agent 99 (Anne Hathaway), they must do battle against villainous Kaos agent Siegfried (Terence Stamp), who's going for, you know, world domination, or at least detonating a bomb in L.A. The film has plenty of laughs, but a bit too much action, and an oddly high body count for a comedy. Not to worry, though: There's a shoe phone, a Cone of Silence and Max apologizing to his boss (Alan Arkin) with, "Sorry about that, Chief." (ES) Rated PG-13





THE LOVE GURU


YouTube "Love Guru" and a half-dozen or so videos pop up. One's the trailer. The rest are promotional "mini sutras" from the title character. The mini sutras are seriously hilarious, Mike Myers creating an unusually nuanced character (for him). The promise of the mini sutras is totally destroyed, though, by the film's actual trailer: all dumb puns and nut taps. If not for the title card, I'd have just assumed Austin Powers had grown a beard and come back for another sequel. Vern Troyer's even back to serve as the butt of midget jokes. I'm giving 5 to 1 odds that Justin Timberlake gives us something to watch. Course, his dialogue's written by Myers, so make that 8 to 1. (LB) Rated PG-13