![_The Preservation, The Dalles and SuperLiteBike at Beauty Ballroom [Show Preview]](http://austinist.com/assets_c/2012/05/the preservation-thumb-250x250-716401.jpg)
New Movie Releases! Get Smart, The Love Guru and More
We’re not ashamed to admit that we caught Evan Almighty on HBO just to see if Steve Carell was slightly funny. (No, he was not.) And maybe The Office is not quite as hil-ar-i-ous as it used to be. And so what if Dan in Real Life flat-out sucked nuts? We really want to give Carell the benefit of the doubt here, and we’re guessing so will thousands of movie-goers this weekend.
Get Smart revamps the 1960s TV show with the modern tale of Maxwell Smart (Carell), a bumbling analyst for secret agency, CONTROL, who dreams of becoming a field agent. Smart gets his chance to become a super spy when the despicable KAOS starts uncovering the identities of CONTROL agents. He teams up with Agent 23 (Dwayne Johnson aka the Rock) and Agent 99 (Anne Hathaway) who supposedly had extensive plastic surgery to alter her appearance, thus making her older than she looks. It will still creep us out if a (most likely) romance ensues.
While it doesn’t look like it will be Carell’s funniest role yet (“I love lamp,” anyone?) Get Smart looks like the most fun, and let’s face it, the best movie to check out this weekend as we wait for Wall-E and Hancock to explode our faces off. --Darcie Duttweiler
[Trailer] [Showtimes]
The new Mike Myers flick though…? Looks like complete and utter schlock. And we heart Justin Timberlake, well, us ladies anyhow. And has Jessica Alba ever gotten more press for her (abominable) films than her pre-baby-making booty? Didn’t think so.
The Love Guru tells the tale of Maurice Pitka (Myers), an American who was left at the gates of an ashram in India as a child. He moves back to the U.S. to seek fame and fortune in the world of self-help and spirituality, and his unorthodox methods are put to the test when he must settle a rift between hockey player Darren Roanoke (Romany Malco of Weeds fame) and his estranged wife. The faux love guru must return the couple to marital nirvana and get Roanoke back on his game so that his team, the Toronto Maple Leafs, can break a 40-year-old curse and win the Stanley Cup. Wait, don’t just ugly, white, Canadian dudes play hockey?
Somehow Alba, Timberlake, Mini-Me, and (WTF?) Sir Ben Kingsley are thrown in the mix. Our advice to Myers: stop using the same three accents in your films. Your Scottish accent was cute in So I Married an Axe Murderer not so much as Fat Bastard. Please stop. For Austinites wanting to see a funny movie? We’re guessing this ain’t it.--Darcie Duttweiler
[Trailer] [Showtimes]
ALSO OPENING IN AUSTIN THIS WEEK:
The Duchess of Langeais
In our opinion, IFC should have kept the original French title for their stateside release of Ne touchez pas la hache (Don't touch the axe), a tale of yearning, seduction and extravagant balls. They also should have avoided using the phrase "extravagant balls" in the plot summary.
In any case, this foreign language period piece got some solid reviews at Toronto and Berlin last year, so if you're into unrequited love and stuff (or if you're a fan of Director Jacques Rivette, a key figure of the French New Wave movement), you'll do well with this one. --Matt Smith
[Trailer] [Showtimes]
