Even as I type this story out, I keep going back to the trade source to make sure it isn’t a joke. A wonderful, bizarre and lovely little joke.
According to Variety, Sacha Baron Cohen and Will Ferrell will star as Sherlock Holmes and Watson in an as-yet untitled film written by Etan Cohen (Idiocracy, Tropic Thunder). Two weeks ago I would have cringed at the notion of Ferrell even walking near the craft service table for something like this, but Step Brothers has me feeling positive. Sacha Baron Cohen, meanwhile, strikes me as absolutely perfect for a less than straight take on Holmes.
Cohen and Ferrell aren’t quite a comedy duo to rival Landham and Black, much less Caine and Kingsley, but that’s fine. Let Without a Clue stand as the landmark comedy Holmes and give me something a little more in the vein of The Seven Per Cent Solution, thank you very much. I know Cohen is good for it. With Judd Apatow and Jimmy Miller producing I think my hopes for something other than a pure comedy take are ill-founded, but I’ll keep them anyway. After all, Guy Ritchie’s got the wholesale goofball Holmes angle covered.