It’s beginning to sound like The Goods: The Don Ready Story, a Used Cars-ish romp being produced by Will Ferrell and Adam McKay for Paramount Vantage, is essentially a reworking of August Blowout, a long-dead script that was partially cannibalized for Anchorman. Fine by me. Though the current version of the script is credited to Rick Stempson and Andy Stock (who wrote Gary the Tennis Coach for Danny Leiner), the very notion of Ferrell and McKay applying their whacked-out sensibility to the ass end of capitalism can be nothing but a good thing. I think.
And while I’m not sold on Jeremy Piven taking over the lead role, Chappelle’s Show co-creator Neal Brennan should improve as a director with McKay’s guidance (hard to get worse than Totally Awesome). It’s also heartening that they’ve just brought on David Koechner and Ving Rhames – if only because I see them as perfect counterparts to Used Cars‘ Gerrit Graham and Frank McRae. Is there a touch of "B-Team Syndrome" pervading this project? Sure. But you could’ve said the same thing about Pootie Tang back in 2000, and look how that turned out!
I’m going to make it my mission tomorrow to track down the screenplay for a Crop Report, but I’m pretty confident my muted enthusiasm for The Goods isn’t misguided. The film will begin shooting this December.