Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly Leave Boats ‘n Hoes Behind to Play ‘Border Guards’
Columbia Pictures
When Anchorman 2 was announced, the Adam McKay and Will Ferrell collaboration was a blessing for fans of the original film. Sure, another Anchorman movie meant that Ron Burgundy, Champ, Brian and the whole gang would be back for a new adventure after years of anticipation, but it also meant something truly terrible: a sequel to Step Brothers would never happen. The Ferrell and John C. Reilly film, in which two 40-something screw-ups are forced to move in together after their parents get married and then subsequently become best friends, is one of the finest comedies of our times – I’ve waxed poetic about its greatness before – and after the lackluster continuation of Ron Burgundy’s story, the fact that we wouldn’t be able to hear another refrain of “Boats ‘n Hoes” only hit harder.
But today’s news is sweetening that bitterness just a little bit with word that Ferrell and Reilly are teaming up again for a different kind of story, and McKay is set to direct this one, too. According to Deadline, the duo will reunite for Border Guards, the tale of two All-American citizens who take it upon themselves to patrol our border with Mexico for illegal immigrants. Naturally, they’re both well-meaning idiots who can’t do their job properly, meaning they somehow wind up on the other side of the border without their passports or a way to get back home. It’s now up to them to figure out how to sneak back into the United States.
The film is obviously being produced under McKay and Ferrell’s Gary Sanchez banner, and it will be penned by Jesse Armstrong, the writer of Four Lions, The Thick Of It and In The Loop, for which he earned an Adapted Screenplay Oscar nomination in 2010. While Step Brothers and Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (the other film starring Ferrell and Reilly as hapless but heartfelt pals) were both penned by McKay and Ferrell, their lack of involvement with the script shouldn’t be anything to worry about. Say what you will about Tim and Eric’s Billion Dollar Movie, but the two meshed beautifully together as a maniacal uncle (Ferrell) and a perpetually sick nephew with a pechant for uncooked taquitos (Reilly), in a film that wasn’t written by McKay or Ferrell.
Armstrong is clearly a gifted screenwriter, as displayed by the masterful writing of In The Loop. With Gary Sanchez at least administering some input on the production front, there’s no reason to believe this won’t be another gem for the “brothers.”
Now, when can we hear another rap en español?
