Steve Carrell (Evan Almighty,Over the Hedge) is a special agent for spy organisation CONTROL. He's tried to become a field agent many times but never succeeded until today. However, he is so indispensible as an analyst that they won't promote him.

That is, until there is a break in and all the names (and appearances) of their agents have been stolen. There is only one hope, a new field agent (Carrell) and an agent who has recently had extensive plastic surgery (Anne Hathaway).

So the newly qualified and intelligent agent goes out on an all important mission to track down the names and find out who is trading in nuclear missiles. But with no real world experience he continues to make ridiculous errors of judgement, but when he gets it right, he is a force to be reckoned with - but when he is arrested as a double agent, his world falls apart. Will he get out and stop the plot to kill the President of the United States and the city of LA?

Steve Carrell is a talented actor and with the right script and direction (I believe that Robin Hood: Men in Tights director Mel Brooks was involved) he shines brilliantly.

The film was funny in all the right ways. It wasn't an edgy dirty comedy, nor a parody - more your basic slapstick comedy with a good plotline. Granted comedies based around spies are relatively numerous but this one is one of the better ones. I thought that it was going to be like a US version of Johnny English but it is actually a remake of an old film by the same name.

All the main roles were well played and crucially, not all the funny scenes were in the trailor! If you're in the mood for a laugh, then you will probably enjoy this one and it's definitely one that will be on my Christmas list.

see also:
Scott Pilgrim Vs The World, Bruce Almighty, Dinner for Shmucks, Land of the Lost

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photo © Warner Bros Pictures.