Director Peter Segal’s back catalogue includes Naked Gun 33 1/3 and 2000’s Nutty Professor II: The Klumps, as well as the Adam Sandler-assisted Anger Management and 50 First Dates.

The mainstream Hollywood humour vibe continues with his latest effort, based on the 60s TV comedy of the same name.

Steve Carell’s stock continues to climb, starring in box office successes like The 40 Year-Old Virgin and, on the small screen, leading the US version of critically-acclaimed British comedy The Office.

Here, he plays Maxwell Smart – aka Agent 86 – who, after years of working behind a desk at spy agency control, eagerly vies for a job in the field.

After initially being told he is ‘too good’ at being an analyst to get promoted, Control HQ is attacked and the Chief (Alan Arkin) has no choice but to send him out to defeat crime nemesis KAOS.

Hapless Smart is teamed up with Anne Hathaway’s altogether more competent Agent 99, and many of the laughs which follow come from their trying to out-do each other.

The set-pieces are few, and often predictable. Projectiles from weapons are bound to deflect off a couple of surfaces.

And if you have to negotiate security laser beams, you can bet there will be a rodent nearby to climb up your trouser leg.

Of course, the pair eventually realise teamwork and co-operation will be the only way they can defeat KAOS, run by the sinister Siegfried (Terence Stamp).

Carell and Hathaway’s performances are perfectly reasonable, but the on-screen chemistry between them never really shifts itself out of second gear.

Meanwhile, back at the office, former five-star spy Agent 23 (Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson) is stuck behind the desk that frustrated Smart for so long.

His identity has been compromised, meaning he cannot help the mission from the frontline. And his difficulty adapting to a new nine-to-five arrangement could have been exploited for plenty more gags.

When someone manages to block up the photocopier, Agent 23 teaches him a well offered lesson, with the use of a stapler, of course. But Johnson’s character is then underused, and a subplot opportunity is missed.

There are some clever quips throughout, but the dialogue can never quite manage to raise the pace of the movie. For example, the Chief threatens to send someone out ‘hunting for landmines – with a hammer’ – if he does not follow orders.

And when LA is targeted by the baddies, we are left to ponder where we would be without all the movie stars’ ‘razor-sharp political advice’.

Throw in another line about Smart’s backup being ‘Chuck Norris with a BB gun’ and it is pretty clear the strength is the script – rather than the silly stunts.

But overall, the story remains pretty sluggish and no performance really stands out.

These kind of comedies come off the Hollywood conveyor belt with a fair frequency, and Carell now stands beside the likes of Adam Sandler, Will Ferrell, Ben Stiller et al, waiting to snap them up.