Get Smart, the spy spoof starring Steve Carell, led the weekend U.S. box office by a good measure.

Despite lukewarm reviews, the new spy spoof Get Smart, based on the 1960s comedy TV series, brouight in an impressive $39.2 million in U.S box office receipts during its first weekend. That’s nearly $5-$10 million more than its studio, Warner Bros, had dared to hope for. This must be seen as a thorough triumph for the film’s star, Steve Carell.

Another comedy film opening last Friday, The Love Guru, received bad reviews and took in only $14 million, coming in fourth in U.S. weekend receipts. That’s $6 million less than the studio expected, and suggests that writer-performer Mike Meyers’ relentlessly cheeky comedy style emphasizing adolescent vulgarity and sexual content has worn out its welcome with movie audiences. (Good riddance, I say.)

Carell’s warmer, more likeable persona almost certainly drove much of the appeal of Get Smart, which, as noted, critics found rather ordinary (garnering a decidedy lukewarm 53 percent approval rating on the Rotten Tomatoes critical survey). Clearly, however, audiences were eager to spend a couple of hours with the appealingly ordinary Mr. Carell as he played another good-hearted character bumbling his way through difficult situations.

In second place for the weekend was another comedy about a bumbling but well-meaning hero, Kung Fu Panda, with a take of $21.7 million for the three-day period.

Right behind and coming in third was last weekend’s box office champ, The Incredible Hulk, holding strong with a solid $21.6 million, not too bad a dropoff from the previous weekend’s performance. That bodes well for the film’s ultimate success.