Quick Visit: “Get Smart”
Quick Visits are brief capsules on current movies, TV shows, travel tips, and travel news.
From “The Office” to “The 40-Year-Old Virgin” to “Dan in Real Life” to this weekend’s “Get Smart,” we’re beginning to think that Steve Carell can do no wrong. Although the TV series came long before our time - our parents hadn’t even met when “Get Smart” first aired on NBC and CBS - we found this 21st-century adaptation fun and, well, smart. Carell and the gorgeous Anne Hathaway lead an excellent cast, which includes some unexpected but friendly faces (including Masi Oka, best known as Hiro on NBC’s “Heroes,” and David Koechner, who you’ll recognize as sportscaster Champ from “Anchorman”).
Now let’s live. While “Get” goes overseas, we’re going to stay stateside. Carell’s character, Maxwell Smart, hits both coasts.
Washington, D.C.: A Trip to the National Mall
In Washington, D.C., Smart takes a foray to the National Mall and onto the Lincoln Memorial’s reflecting pool (you’ll see). Visiting the memorial is simple enough, and you’ll particularly enjoy a night visit. The National World War II Memorial is seen behind Smart as he speaks to Agent 13, played by Bill Murray. This beautiful structure, which was built a just a few years ago, will help our generation - and generations to come - understand the totality of sacrifice made in that conflict. Don’t miss it.
While it’s not featured in the film, fans of “Smart” might enjoy a visit to the International Spy Museum. The museum’s $18 entrance fee seems high when you’ve been spending a few days seeing all of D.C.’s other museums for free, but as fans of action movies and everything covert, we enjoyed our visit.
One more D.C. note: Smart’s organization, CONTROL, is headquartered at the Smithsonian Institution (which actually consists of many buildings). The film briefly shows the interior rotunda of the National Museum of Natural History. The museum supposedly holds a historical exhibit about CONTROL, which simply doesn’t make any sense - that kind of American history would be held at the National Museum of American History (which, by the way, is closed for renovation until fall). Anachronism? You decide.
Los Angeles: The Walt Disney Concert Hall
The movie later moves to Los Angeles, with a presidential crisis at the Walt Disney Concert Hall, which is home to the Los Angeles Philharmonic. (This isn’t a case of blatant product placement - “Get” is a Warner Bros. film.) The film does the concert hall justice, with stunning shots of the interior and exterior. Tickets for this fall’s performances go on sale in August. If you can’t catch a performance but still want to take a peek inside, you can eat at the hall and take a tour. According to the Los Angeles Times, the hall has fast become the city’s No. 1 icon. We can see why.
-Bobby Guerette, executive editor








Get Smart looks okay over all, though Steve Carell seems to be veering more and more toward not so funny slapstick humor