Why We Can't Wait to See It: Because in pretty much every film he's made -- big, boring, insipid not-quite-sequels excepted -- Steve Carell brings the funny. The trailers look surprisingly solid, and the cast -- including Anne Hathaway, Dwayne Johnson, Alan Arkin and Terence Stamp -- is top-notch.

Why It Might Do Well: Because people just plain like Carell -- and the film's plot pitch where a secret agency's having their top people exposed forces them to shove unknown agents out into the field is, in fact, a solid story-driven reason for an incompetent like Max to placed in harm's way. ...

Why It Might Not Do Well: We may be a little tired of Baby Boomer-era nostalgia TV getting splashed up on the big screen; anyone else remember how well I Spy turned out?

Fun Fact: Get Smart was created by Buck Henry and Mel Brooks -- yes, the men behind The Graduate and Young Frankenstein.

Trivia:


Answer Key

Cinematical has just received these exclusive wallpapers for Get Smart, starring Steve Carell, Anne Hathaway, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and Alan Arkin. Get Smart, of course, is based on the popular '60s television series created by Mel Brooks -- and it features Carell and Hathaway as Agent 86 and Agent 99, respectively; both of whom are placed in charge of stopping those evil geniuses at KAOS from succeeding in their plan to dominate every man, woman and child on Earth. The wallpapers (there are five in total) can be found after the jump, and the dimensions below each denote the size of the wallpaper. To save as your computer's background, you want to click the appropriate size, right-click on the image that appears and click "Set as background." When it's all said and done, you'll be able to stare at Hathaway's beautiful face for as long as you please. And Carell, well, he's pretty hot too (but I didn't just say that). Get Smart arrives in theaters on June 20. Enjoy!

Head after the jump for all five exclusive Get Smart wallpapers, and check out images from the film in our gallery below.

Let me just say first that, I consider Bo Welch's The Cat in the Hat (2003) the worst movie I've seen in my more than ten years of reviewing movies, and Ron Howard's How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000) is not far behind, and would no doubt rank somewhere in the bottom fifty. Jim Carrey returns from the title role in The Grinch as the voice of the title role in Horton Hears a Who! so I was skeptical at best about the quality of the new film. Not to mention that most CGI animated films not produced by Pixar tend to range from forgettable to awful. What a happy surprise, then, to see one of those rare animated films -- and an even rarer family film -- which ventures into that elusive middle ground, providing wholesome entertainment for kids as well as a few belly laughs for adults.

Directed by Jimmy Hayward and Steve Martino, both making their feature debut, Horton begins by effortlessly rendering in 3D space that familiar 2D world of Theodor Geisel (a.k.a. Dr. Seuss), with its curvy trees and oval-shaped hills and dales. We meet our hero, Horton (voiced by Jim Carrey), a pachyderm whose personality teeters between dutiful and lazy, helpless and self-reliant, goofy and dedicated. He teaches a class of young animals about various forms of jungle life, but not without a bit of inadvertent, entertaining slapstick. One day, a speck of fluff floats past his sizable ears and he hears a voice emanating from it. He rescues the speck, deposits it on top of a clover and learns that, living upon the speck, is an entire miniature society called Whoville (not to be confused with the Whoville in The Grinch) and run, more or less, by the Mayor (voiced by Steve Carell).

I've alerted you to a few of Moviefone's Unscripted series, and this one is, by far, my favorite. Jim Carrey and Steve Carell sat down to ask each other a collection of questions in promotion of their upcoming film, Horton Hears a Who. A CG version of the old Dr. Seuss tale, Carrey voices Horton, an elephant who hears a plea for help from a speck of dust in the air. The rest of his animal kingdom thinks he's crazy, but he still tries to help his minute little friends. Carell plays the Mayor of Whoville.

If there's any critique for the above interview, it's that it's all too brief. I won't say too much about what you can see above, because it's better to watch it than read it. But here are some highlights: aspirations to entertain the clergy, insane people from Vermont, enjoying the taste of adrenaline, chastising questions, and the mean Carol Burnett.

The movie hits theaters this week, and also features the voice talents Dane Cook, Isla Fisher, Dan Fogler, Jonah Hill, Amy Poehler, Jaime Pressly, Charles Osgood, and Seth Rogen.

I never saw the recent movie versions of The Cat in the Hat and How the Grinch Stole Christmas. I mean, I'm sure they were funny and all, but Dr. Seuss' books, as well as the cartoon versions of his books (The Grinch, The Lorax), were just such the gospel to me when I was a kid -- still are, as a matter of fact -- that to interpret any of his work in live-action form seemed the height of sacrilege. (Except for the time Jesse Jackson read Green Eggs in Ham on Saturday Night Live. Whoever thought of that for a skit was either high, or a genius, or both.)

Well, it sounds like somebody's been listening to my inner nagging old lady, because Fox is remaking another Dr. Seuss book -- Horton Hears a Who! -- and this time, they're doing it ANIMATED. Hurrah! And, duh! Granted, they probably couldn't figure out a way to make the elephant look real, but I'll take my triumphs any way I can get 'em.

Teaming up for the second time (the first was Evan Bruce Almighty) are the comic dream team of Jim Carrey and Steve Carell: Carrey as Horton the elephant, who discovers an entire tiny city that exists on a speck of dust, and Carell as the Mayor of Whoville, the tiny said city that exists on said speck of dust. Oh, and a whole bunch of other people lend their voices to the movie, too ... like Carol Burnett, Will Arnett, Isla Fisher, Seth Rogen, and Amy Poehler, to name a few.

Now, a person's a person, no matter how small, but Carrey and Carell happen to be huge. And awesome. And side-splittingly funny. And it's not just because their last names are practically identical. We're delighted that they've agreed to sit for one of Moviefone's Unscripted interviews, in which they'll be interviewing each other using audience-submitted questions.

We need your questions to make it happen, though, and fast, because the interview's taping this Sunday (March 2). So submit a question by Friday for either Carrey or Carell below, and please be sure to include your name and the city where you live -- then check back here on March 10 to see if your question made it to air. Extra points if you write your question in anapestic tetrameter. Good luck!

Edited because Bruce Almighty was the one with Steve Carell in it; Evan Almighty was the one with the ark in it. D'oh!

So it's no secret that Steve Carell hasn't always made the best choices when it comes to movie roles. The same could probably be said of some of Jim Carrey's choices as well, so there could be a lot riding on both their reputations for the big-screen adaptation of the classic Dr. Seuss story, Horton Hears a Who!. Erik had brought us the first teaser back in July and now a full feature trailer has been released.

Horton is based on the 1954 children's story about a microscopic world that gains an elephant as their protector. Over the years the story's moral of "a person's a person no matter how small" has been interpreted as a response to the McCarthy anti-communist era and the importance of treating the "least of us" with a little care and respect -- pretty heavy for a kid's book, I know, but it does make me long for the days when children's entertainment had more going for it than tie-in deals. The film stars Carell as the feisty mayor of Whoville and Jim Carrey as their elephant advocate. The film has a solid supporting cast that includes some truly hilarious people; namely Will Arnett, Seth Rogen, Jonah Hill, Amy Poehler, and Carol Burnett.

So even if you are not the biggest fan of kid's movies, after watching this trailer, you can't deny this is one snazzy looking movie with some big-name comedic talent. But I guess everyone said the same thing about Bee Movie, and we all know how that turned out. Horton Hears a Who! arrives in theaters on March 14th, 2008.

The way I see it, we should enjoy Steve Carell for as long as we can. Considering some of his more recent fare, it's obvious that not every project he jumps into will be even half as good as his stint in The 40-Year-Old Virgin, or his starring role in The Office. At some point, he'll be that guy we watch on retro television, wondering what happened to him as we check out his great, old-school work. That being said, I'd be more than happy for the future to disprove me.

But anyway, at least Carell has been around for a while, and before he was suffering the turmoil of virginity, he spent some time in Second City, Chicago. In this clip, he is a lawyer who meets up with Ron West -- "an unparalelled paragon of paralegality," who has been sent over by personnel to help with the "Turner Case." Unfortunately, he takes common phrases a little too seriously, and turns out to be the embodiment of all things "para." It's funny, and besides, how many times does Carell play the normal, non-kooky one?

Seriously, is there anyone else around today other than Steve Carell who could walk around with a shoe to their head, holding it like a phone, and look both utterly ridiculous and staunchly professional at the same time? Part of me is happy to see great, funny pictures and trailers (the phone booth) for Get Smart popping up, but part of me worries that it's skyrocketing my expectations. That's the problem with movie marketing -- if it's too crappy, people will chastise it and ignore the film. But if it's too good, it better live up to expectations.

Anyhow, I'll keep hoping. The above picture comes from Empire, and is the best of the pair, with Maxwell Smart talking to his shoe. However, the other picture isn't bad either -- it's got Smart and Agent 99 running down the street -- she's looking like your normal, distressed runner, but once again, Carell pulls off that look of utter seriousness, and I can't help but wonder how difficult it was to run so very stiffly.

Unfortunately, the pay-off for these images is still months away. The film opens on June 20, 2008.

Cinematical has just received this exclusive poster for Get Smart (click on the image for a larger version), the highly-anticipated big-screen adaptation of the popular 60s television show. This time around, Steve Carell (Maxwell Smart) and Anne Hathaway (Agent 99) take over the roles originally played by Don Adams and Barbara Feldon, and they'll be joined by a cast that includes Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson (as Agent 23), Alan Arkin (as The Chief) and Terrence Stamp (as Siegfried, whose vile sidekick followed Borat across the country last year). Like the television show, Get Smart (the movie) will follow the agents of CONTROL as they battle KAOS, an evil organization hell-bent on world domination. This poster looks to be a throwback of sorts to those old posters featuring Adams and Feldon, one of which had them standing back-to-back -- she in a stylish trenchcoat and he in a dark suit. The fashion has been updated, but that wacky "Odd Couple" pairing definitely still exists. As you can see, Get Smart shall arrive in theaters on June 20; check out the film's trailer over on Moviefone.

Well, it's official. The Writers Guild of America is going on strike tomorrow. Here's hoping the strike ends quickly and that all parties come away happy. And writers? Use this time off to study my choices for the seven best screenplays of the 2000's:

The 40 Year Old Virgin by Judd Apatow & Steve Carell

The blending of improvisation and the written word gives Apatow's two classic comedies -- Knocked Up would be the other -- a feeling of authenticity that is all too rare in today's film world. Apatow takes the strategy of writing for specific performers and their strengths, and it really pays off. Scoff if you want at a sex comedy making the list, but for a movie to be this incredibly funny -- while keeping an oddly touching romance and a spot-on character study afloat -- the screenwriters deserve high praise.

About Schmidt by Alexander Payne & Jim Taylor

One of the saddest comedies ever made, and one of the most truthful and painful portraits of old age. Payne and Taylor specialize in scripts about people on the verge of cracking, depressed souls who tend to find the smallest redemption possible. Payne/Taylor characters never go from Point A to Point B over the course of the screenplay, they go from Point A to Point A.1. The small, gradual changes in their characters are reflective of the way actual humans (as opposed to movie humans) work. Warren Schmidt's personal growth is so minor that it is confined to the last thirty seconds of the film, but when it comes it's an emotional punch in the gut.

As the end credits roll on Dan in Real Life, I imagine most people will have roughly the same reaction -- a smile and a shrug. You won't be angry at yourself for watching it, but you'll be hard pressed to remember the thing in two weeks. It's a relentlessly average movie, packed full of "nice" moments but lacking a single great one.

Steve Carell stars as Dan, a widowed advice columnist trying to be a good father to his three daughters, well played by Alison Pill, Marlene Lawston, and a very funny Brittany Robertson. A widowed man raising his three daughters is also the premise of the old sitcom Full House, and the comparison isn't far off. These daughters are fleshed out a bit more than the Olsen twins, but the relationship beats feel the same -- forced, cutesy, a little tired.

Dan and the girls go to visit their extended family in a lakeside Rhode Island cottage. Dan takes a trip to the local bookstore, and in a very Woody Allen-esque scene, he meets and develops a crush on a woman named Marie (Juliette Binoche). There's a "falling-for-each-other" montage that doesn't really convince, Dan gets her number, and heads home to brag about his new "hottie" and meet the girlfriend of his brother (Dane Cook). Surprise surprise -- his hottie and the girlfriend are one and the same -- Marie. Cue the laugh track.

Before production even began on Dan in Real Life -- the funny, heartfelt and sometimes heartbreaking tale of a lonely widower named Dan (Steve Carell) who falls in love with his brother's girlfriend Marie (Juliette Binoche) -- writer-director Peter Hedges set an ambitious goal: to have Dan's soundtrack do for the film what Cat Stevens' music did for Harold and Maude and Simon & Garfunkel's classic tuneage did for The Graduate. In other words, Hedges wanted to find one artist to lend a unique musical voice to Dan; he wanted the songs to be unforgettable and inextricably linked to the heartbeat of the film; AND he wanted the soundtrack to be mentioned in the same breath as some of the most revered soundtracks of all time. Sounds like a job for a seasoned, world-wise-yet-hopeful music legend -- perhaps a Springsteen or a Bono ... or a 25-year-old Norwegian singer-songwriter named Sondre Lerche. Though Lerche's brand of whimsical, romantic indie-rock has been quietly dazzling music diehards for years, he has yet to hit the mainstream -- but that could all change with this film. We talked with Lerche about playing guitar with Steve Carell, soothing Hedges on the film's set and making his big Hollywood debut.

Cinematical: How did you get involved with Dan in Real Life?

Sondre Lerche: Well, Peter [Hedges] had heard a couple of my songs and thought that my music had the right kind of sound and feel for the movie, and so he came to my apartment in New York and we talked about what he was trying to do. He wanted one musician to do all the music, and he wanted it to have a unique feel, like Harold and Maude. Then I played him a song that I had written a couple days before, and he loved it. So I read the script that Peter was in the process of rewriting and started attending auditions and rehearsals for the movie so I could get the mood right.

Cinematical: You were also on the set of the movie during filming. How was that? Care to share any anecdotes?

SL: Oh yeah, I was there as much as I could be -- whenever I was in town. I was there for the scene where the whole family puts on a talent show, and Steve Carell plays the guitar and sings 'Let My Love Open the Door.' I gave him some tips, showed him the best way to hold the guitar and stuff. That was very cool. And Peter also wanted me on the set in case things started going badly so that I could play some songs and calm him down [laughs].

Cinematical: Ha. And did you write the songs as the different scenes were being filmed, or did you wait until the end so you could see a finished product?

SL: I started working on them immediately. I actually wrote the first song a couple of days after I met with Peter. That was about a year and a half ago now.

Welcome back to The Write Stuff! I'm thrilled that there is such a strong interest in screenwriting out there. Thank you all so much for your comments last week, both here and on my site. All of your questions and comments will be addressed in the coming weeks, so stay tuned and keep them coming!

The first interview for the column is with red-hot screenwriter Adam F. Goldberg. Adam is living the dream. He writes for both television and film, and his upcoming movie projects include Fanboys, the live-action Jetsons movie, and They Came from Upstairs. Cinematical spoke with the incredibly busy Goldberg about his scripts, his process, and Goonies: The Musical.

Cinematical: You said you were being "enslaved by a director," what are you working on? And should I call the authorities?

Adam F. Goldberg: Perhaps call them for my hacky writing! It's called They Came From Upstairs for Fox. It's a family movie, kinda like Gremlins -- but with aliens. The spec was written by Mark Burton and was sold for like $1.7 mil. I believe I am making about .0001212 of that. It's been a really cool project. The movie was in pre-production and the studio realized the script wasn't ready and shut it down pretty late in the game. I came aboard to get the train back on the tracks which is always high pressure and very difficult to do. I handed in 40 pages and they re-greenlit the movie and we're casting and location scouting now. I'm on draft two currently, working next to the director and bringing his vision into it.

Cinematical: Is that an awkward process at all -- being brought in to re-write a fellow writer? Do you ever run into hurt feelings or bruised egos? I guess the $1.7 million makes the pill easier to swallow.

AFG: Well, I come from the TV world, writing on sitcoms and that's very collaborative. You have to sit in the room and watch 10 other writers tear apart your script right in front of you. That bruises your ego. As for movies, more often than not a writer can only go so far and it's your job to bat clean up. It's never a great feeling to have your screenplay rewritten, but hopefully you've moved onto your next project, so it doesn't sting so much. And believe me, that $1.7 payday is like winning the lottery. I hope I can sell a spec one day. I've had little luck in that department.

Summer's nearly over, school is about to begin and Hollywood is counting its money. Looking back, we could assume the studios made bundles this season; almost every weekend seemed to deliver a new record-breaking blockbuster. In order of enormity, there was Spider-Man 3, Shrek 3, Pirates of the Caribbean 3, Transformers 1 (it will have sequels), Harry Potter 5, 300, Ratatouille and finally another threequel, Bourne 3 (which should gain on at least that numberless Pixar movie). According to Box Office Mojo, the grosses for 2007 are up 7.2% over last year, and 13.7% over 2005 (aka the year of the slump).

Now, normally about this time of year, we can also look back and see a number of disappointments, bombs and otherwise failed releases. In fact, Entertainment Weekly should be giving us its annual rundown (my favorite) any week now. But Business Week has already announced the biggest losers of the season: Evan Almighty and Stardust. And as dishonorable mentions, it points to The Invasion, Grindhouse, The Reaping and The Number 23. Of course, the latter three were released much earlier in the year, and shouldn't be counted -- they seem to be thrown in as other mistakes of the year in general.

Based only on the trailer for Steve Carell's next movie -- I think I'm already willing to forgive the guy for his participation in the amazing wretchedness that was Evan Almighty. Plus I'm of the opinion that there are very few comedic actors who are as funny as they are likable, and Steve Carell is an amazingly likable performer. Whether he's going extra-silly (Bruce Almighty), ultra-obtuse (The Office), or sweet-yet-fractured (Little Miss Sunshine), Carell's just an actor I love to root for. Plus he should have been nominated for The 40-Year-Old Virgin.

So when I sat down to check out the brand-new trailer for Touchstone's Disney's Dan in Real Life, I got a little excited. I know it's only a promotional clip, but this flick looks all sorts of fantastic. It's about a widower who makes a living as an advice columnist, but who falls in love with his brother's girlfriend after taking his three daughters to a family retreat in the Rhode Island woods. (At least that's what I got from the trailer!) Backing Carell up in this ensemble piece are Dane Cook, Juliette Binoche, Dianne Wiest, Emily Blunt and the always-awesome John Mahoney.

Plus the flick comes packing a rather solid pedigree: The director/co-writer is Peter Hedges, who directed Pieces of April, co-wrote About a Boy and penned the novel that became What's Eating Gilbert Grape. The film opens in limited release on October 12 and will expand to more theaters a week later. Between this flick, a new season of The Office and next year's Get Smart -- I'm sure that Evan Almighty will soon become little more than a distant (albeit very painful) memory.