For as much as Jack Black and Will Ferrell have been seen in some of the same movies, they've never really shared anything other than a short moment in any of their films. Well that all looked like it was about to change in 2013 when Tag Brothers was first announced over at New Line. Two years later, it looks like the stars are finally aligning for the two comedy titans to face off with two other adversaries in the still active project, as a scribe has been hired! So who's ready for a game of Tag at the film's writer's desk? None other than Waiting's Rob McKittrick!
Variety broke the news that the man who started his career ripping on the service industry has turned his focus on this comedy concept that sprang forth from a Wall Street Journal article. The piece detailed a group of friends that have been keeping the same game of Tag going for over two decades, and the stakes are so high that tales of home invasion, injury, and beefing up office security have become a part of the game's storied history. With the right approach, this could be the perfect starring vehicle for Black and Ferrell's comedic chops to fly free.
Of course, the downside to Tag moving forward is that, for the most part, it has PG-13 written all over it. While Jack Black and Will Ferrell both have excelled at turning out quality PG-13 films, there's always a fear that a dream team like this will fail when the boundaries of four quadrant filmmaking box in a film that could really take advantage of an R rating. Of course, the odds could shift towards or against the favor of the film, depending on the director and co-stars that decide to sign on to bring this project into the production phase.
If we're speculating here, the first names that come to mind are Wedding Crashers director David Dobkin for the helmer's chair, with Bradley Cooper and either Vince Vaughn or Owen Wilson filling in the rest of the four spots in the Tag acting team. With Dobkin needing an easy win after the kinda well received The Judge, and the reunion of Cooper and Vaughn alongside Ferrell and Black, it's the type of line up that practically creates the character posters on its own. However, if Cooper is too busy earning a fourth Oscar nomination this year, you could always add Ryan Reynolds, who's worked with Dobkin on The Change Up and starred in McKittrick's Waiting, thus making him the perfect bridge between the two talents.
Like any project promising to team up two of its genre's greats, Tag has a lot to love and a lot to fear about its very existence. Will it go down the path that Michael Mann's Heat did when it teamed Robert DeNiro and Al Pacino in the diner scene? Or will this film turn into the comedy genre's equivalent of Righteous Kill? We'll have to wait to find out, as there's no clear production schedule laid out for Tag just yet. In the meantime, you can see Will Ferrell in Get Hard, which is due in theaters next Friday. Jack Black can be seen in Goosebumps, which will hit theaters on October 16th.
