In 'Get Smart,' Steve Carell is a man with a mission

STEVE CARELL is sipping coffee as he waits for a director to arrive so they can discuss a possible collaboration to follow "Get Smart," his big-screen star vehicle, which opens June 20. Carell's office du jour serves hash browns and scrambled eggs, and it's even more humble, if that's possible, than the fluorescent box he inhabits as the goofy boss of the NBC hitcom "The Office." Patty's Restaurant, his Toluca Lake neighborhood's zillion-year-old coffee shop, is a suitable setting for a regular guy, albeit one who made $5 million for his starring role in last year's "Evan Almighty."

By Irene Lacher

May 4, 2008