Get Smart

Get Smart is currently streaming in Australia on Stan and 9Now, and in the UK on Amazon Prime Video and HBO Max Amazon Channel, and it delivers exactly the kind of comedy that earns a loyal following. It says what it needs to say in one sitting, no filler. A 6/10 rating says what the writing already makes obvious: this one works. Steve Carell is the obvious draw, but the whole ensemble earns its laughs. Put it on tonight on Stan and see for yourself.

Get Smart arrived without much fanfare and built its audience the hard way — through word of mouth. The jokes in Get Smart land because the characters underneath them are worth caring about. When members of the nefarious crime syndicate KAOS attack the U.S. Spy agency Control and the identities of secret agents are compromised, the Chief has to promote hapless but eager analyst Maxwell Smart to field agent. He is partnered with veteran and capable Agent 99, the only spy whose cover remains intact. Steve Carell and Anne Hathaway lead a cast that brings real weight to the material. It was released in 2008. Get Smart earns its laughs from character rather than situation, which is why it does not wear thin the way pure farce tends to. It knows exactly what it is, and does not try to be anything else.

Get Smart is the kind of thing you put on in the background and end up fully watching. It has built its own audience without needing a direct comparison. Short enough to finish in one sitting, substantial enough to feel satisfying. Steve Carell anchors an ensemble with real chemistry. Genuinely funny, consistently, across the whole run.