Get Smart's Bruce & Lloyd Out of Control (2008)

Naturally, watch the much funnier Get Smart before you make the optional choice to view Bruce & Lloyd Out of Control, since the former sets the stage for the latter. Bruce & Lloyd is Get Smart's, in a word, sidekick. It's a simultaneous-story spin-off starring the two hapless techies who work under Maxwell Smart (when he's not Agent 86 on a mission with Agent 99). Now don't be cynical or harsh on Bruce & Lloyd; they're just doing their job. In a word, they're nerds (engineers). They love technology. They would fit right in on Dilbert. They're not field agents doing "wet work"; to them, "wetware" is the corpus callosum. So they get to go out in the field, take risks, and face danger (then pick themselves up from a dead faint). Yes, it's sophomoric humor -- but nerds are not prima donnas that way. Let them have their fun -- and if you laugh too, well then it's all good. As it is, we see less than two minutes each of several other Get Smart characters (Alan Arkin as Chief, Patrick Warburton as Hymie, Kelly Karbacz as Judy the receptionist, and Anne Hathaway as Agent 99) but way too much of Staplehead (Larry Miller as Underchief), though he's essential to the plot. We even get some eye candy (Jayma Mays as Nina in forensics and Marika Dominczyk as Isabelle from Maraguay). My youngest son and I came across Bruce & Lloyd on cable and enjoyed it. No, it's not as funny as Get Smart -- but it's better than a bite from a mechanical horsefly. If you're a techie-type person at all, you've gotta love these guys -- esp. their juvenile insecurities about finding a girlfriend (not that they'd know what to do with one if they did). IW. 3.5 stars. (2-1-09)