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. Can they work together to thwart the evil world-domination plans of KAOS and its crafty operative?
Acting
Carell's deadpan commitment to absolute buffoonery.
Practical Effects
Shoe phone and cone of silence: practical effects still slap.
Stunts
Hathaway actually doing her own fight choreography.
Director
Peter Segal
Steve Carell
Maxwell Smart
Anne Hathaway
Agent 99
Dwayne Johnson
Agent 23
Alan Arkin
The Chief
Terence Stamp
Siegfried
James Caan
The President
Bill Murray
Agent 13
Patrick Warburton
Hymie
Terry Crews
Agent 91
David Koechner
Larabee
Masi Oka
Bruce
Nate Torrence
Lloyd
Ken Davitian
Shtarker
David S. Lee
Ladislas Krstic
Dalip Singh
Dalip
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Don Adams' original 1960s shoe phone was a size 10.5; Carell's was custom-fitted. The cone of silence gag cost more to build than the entire original series pilot.
This dropped in 2008 when spy parodies felt quaint—Austin Powers had already killed and resurrected the genre twice. The film's earnestness now reads almost accidentally nostalgic for Bush-era incompetence.
US
