Dwayne Johnson's 2008 Action Comedy Was Disliked By Most Critics But Found A Fan In Roger Ebert

2008's "Get Smart" didn't exactly debut to widespread acclaim, but it was a box office success and managed to win over arguably the most important critic of the last few decades. The late great Roger Ebert — who passed away in 2013 at the age of 70 — loved this spy comedy, to the extent it almost secured the elusive perfect Ebert score.

"Get Smart" came in the wake of Steve Carell's ascendence following his role as the lovably clownish Dunder Mifflin boss Michael Scott on "The Office." The one-two punch of that now beloved sitcom and 2005's "The 40-Year-Old Virgin" turned Carell into a full-fledged star. As a result, Carell wound up fronting 2008's "Get Smart," a big screen take on Mel Brooks and Buck Henry's "Get Smart" television series, which wrapped up all the way back in 1970. It's a testament to Carell's popularity at the time that he was able to make the movie a commercial hit despite the fact nobody that had grown up with him as a comedy idol was likely aware of the decades-old IP.

Of course, Carell had some help in making "Get Smart" a hit, mostly in the form of Anne Hathaway, who played a fellow agent in the film and lent some extra star power to the proceedings. Backing up the two leads was Dwayne Johnson, who used the action-comedy movie to lean into an aspect of his personality that he had yet to fully explore onscreen — namely, his surprisingly decent comedic chops. And while Ebert didn't single out Johnson's performance in his review, the critic simply couldn't get enough of the film overall.

Directed by Peter Segal, "Get Smart" stars Steve Carell as analyst Maxwell Smart, who finds himself thrust into the field after members of crime syndicate KAOS attack the U.S. spy agency CONTROL. Luckily, he's always dreamed of being a real spy and relishes the opportunity despite his relative lack of experience. Smart is given the codename Agent 86 and paired up with Anne Hathaway's Agent 99 before the pair embark on a mission to take down the chief of KAOS, Siegfried (Terence Stamp). Dwayne Johnson plays Agent 23, who's one of CONTROL's best operatives and isn't exactly fond of the dullards with which he works, causing him to frequently clash with David Koechner's Larabee in hilarious ways.

At the time, Johnson was making a nice career for himself outside of wrestling. He had starred in several projects that did well enough, including the underrated action-comedy "The Rundown" and the "Mummy" spin-off "The Scorpion King." Johnson had also fronted the widely derided "Doom" video game movie by then, but if there's one thing we know about The Rock, it's that he never seems to stay down for long. Depending on how you feel about him, that's either a good thing or the reason he ends up starring in movies like "Black Adam."

His presence in "Get Smart" didn't seem to bother Roger Ebert, though, as he evidently felt the film was "funny, exciting, preposterous, great to look at, and made with the same level of technical expertise we'd expect from a new Bond movie itself." The esteemed critic even considered "Get Smart" to be one of the best spy genre spoofs ever created, dubbing it an "A-level production" that, again, rivaled more straight-faced spy movies.

Aside from the action sequences, what really seemed to impress Roger Ebert about "Get Smart" was the casting, which he described as "pitch perfect." All of his praise in that department was, however, reserved for Steve Carrell and Anne Hathaway. Poor old Dwayne Johnson didn't really get a mention beyond a cursory acknowledgement of his presence as Agent 23, but on the plus side, he's therefore presumably a part of that "pitch perfect" ensemble that Ebert liked so much.

Ultimately, the critic bestowed a near-perfect 3.5 stars (out of four) on the film, which is just one of many examples of Ebert breaking ranks with other reviewers — like the time he gave the Samuel L. Jackson crime thriller "Lakeview Terrace" a perfect score. Meanwhile, "Get Smart" received a devastatingly average 51% critical score on Rotten Tomatoes. 

Maxwell Smart certainly isn't one of Carell's best roles but reviewers were still mostly impressed with the star. Otherwise, however, most critics found the movie as a whole to be a bit dull. Ebert, on the other hand, wrapped up his review with a bold prediction: "In a summer with no new Bond picture, will I be considered a heretic by saying 'Get Smart' will do just about as well?" He probably was considered as such, but then "Get Smart" earned $230 million on an $80 million budget and proved him (somewhat) right. Sure, it's not exactly on the level of a hit James Bond film, but that's a solid box office success.