Since scoring with the ice-skating buddy-comedy Blades of Glory, DreamWorks has been eager to reteam with the flick's directing duo, Josh Gordon and Will Speck. Following their pair's moderately successful—though deeply disturbing—rom-com The Switch, Gordon and Speck are returning to DreamWorks to develop a new—but surely deranged—office comedy that will center on an office party that spins out of control.
The first draft of this untitled feature was penned by The Hangover's screenwriters, Jon Lucas and Scott Moore. That version was said to be set during the holidays—meaning all this mayhem would spawn from a Christmas office party gone horribly awry. However, nothing is certain now that DreamWorks has brought on Tim Dowling to do what Variety has been told will be "a page-one rewrite." It's too soon to say whether this is a positive step in the film's development or not, since Dowling's filmography is checkered at best.
Yes, he contributed to the critically heralded buddy-comedy Role Models, but he also co-wrote the wince-inducing Adam Sandler/Jennifer Aniston rom-com Just Go With It. While it seems certain Lucas and Moore's holiday-themed script was destined to feature drunken shenanigans, laughable machismo and nudity, implied or otherwise, I personally have no clear picture what a movie from Dowling looks like. (Though either both flicks would likely have a role for Ken Jeong.) Would such a comedy display equal amounts of goofy jokes and biting wit with a well-placed peppering of poignant moments? Or will it be Just Go With It?
Still, there must be something DreamWorks knows that I don't. (It happens.) Perhaps it was Dowling's script of Will Smith's remake of Uptown Saturday Night that's spurred DreamWorks to hire him. Maybe his next effort, the spy versus spy comedy This Means War is nowhere near as insipid as its trailer makes it seem. Really, judging from his released works, it is hard to gage where Dowling's talents lie—in part because he's yet to have a solo script produced. But maybe this office comedy will be his chance to show his stuff. For better or worse.
