The pinnacle, arguably*, of YA mysteries is the Hardy Boys series, written by a number of different authors under the pen name Franklin W. Dixon. Spanning hundreds of novels, teenage brothers Frank and Joe Hardy have solved mysteries over the past eighty years to the delight of millions of adolescents.
So, naturally, Ben Stiller is aiming to produce and co-star in an updated comic adaptation, entitled “The Hardy Men.” Tom Cruise is slated to round out the duo, and Shawn Levy (director of “The Pink Panther” and “Night at the Museum”) will helm the film and co-produce. Variety is also reporting that Ed Solomon (“Men in Black”) is now on board to write the script, which has been attempted by numerous writers with no reported success to date.
Which isn’t too surprising, since, you know, the project sounds pretty much absolutely nothing like any of the Hardy Boys incarnations. And it is pretty difficult to imagine a scenario where Cruise and Stiller could be funny in those roles. Nancy Drew, the female counterpart to the Hardy Boys, of course, landed on the silver screen in 2007 in “Nancy Drew,” but nobody seemed to notice. Solomon co-wrote “Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure” and Levy has directed a number of YA-type shows (including a few episodes of “The Secret World of Alex Mack”) so maybe all hope isn’t lost. But perhaps this movie is one of those best left in development purgatory.
* – We’d accept arguments for Einstein Anderson, Encyclopedia Brown, and of course The Three Investigators.
