STORY STUDY - MEDIUM: FILM “Get Smart's Bruce and Lloyd: Out of Control”

When the world is in danger, who do you send? How about some R&D scientists? That would still work, right?

Directed by Gil Junger, written by Tom J. Astle & Matt Ember, and based on the TV show, Get Smart by Mel Brooks with Buck Henry, Get Smart's Bruce and Lloyd: Out of Control involves two minor characters from the 2008 film Get Smart (also written by Astle & Ember) going on their own adventure.

In the film, Bruce and Lloyd have developed an invisibility cloak that gets stolen during a party that they’re hosting. Since every agent at their organization has been compromised (the plot to the 2008 film) and the only non-compromised agents are out doing their own mission (again, the plot to the 2008 film), it’s up to them to get it back.

Being a direct-to-DVD spin-off, you wouldn’t think that there would be much to the film. However, I think the film does an okay job of still being as funny, even if the scope isn’t as grand as the theatrical film, or any theatrical released film.

Part of that is the characters, both intelligent and nerdy, and have their own kind of trouble with women; Bruce trying to maintain a relationship with a co-worker, a coroner who always smells bad because of the dead bodies, and Lloyd trying to romance the woman who stole the cloak.

The hijinks they get into are a double-edged sword. Yes, they are funny, but a lot of it is filler. They’re mostly failed attempts to get the cloak back from the place it’s hidden. Speaking of the cloak, I find it hilarious that’s it’s just a green blanket (thanks to green-screen technology), and the way to physically see it is even equally ridiculous.

I came across the film through the 2008 film, which I also saw because I thought it looked funny (it is), but another major reason was because of Bruce’s actor, Masi Oka. During 2008, he was the stand-out character in the TV show Heroes and seeing him in a film, especially one where’s the co-lead, was exciting to me.

Get Smart's Bruce and Lloyd: Out of Control was an unexpected film. The same screenwriters from the original film clearly love the world and characters they created. It’s cute and endearing, and it has more effort than what you might expect from a direct-to-DVD film.