I'm not sure whether to think of this as a renewing of the National Lampoon brand, or the inevitable bottom of the Farrelly brothers' career slide. Decide for yourself.

Variety says the National Lampoon Company is partnering up with Peter and Bobby Farrelly to make National Lampoon's Bag Boy. It's currently in rewrites, but it will be the story of an underdog teen who excels in competitive bagging. Serious stuff.

After a string of low budget, insignificant direct-to-DVD movies mostly acquired through licensing deals National Lampoon is pulling out all the stops. They're making it with a $12 million budget and will presumably actually release this one in theaters. Note to National Lampoon: A single screening on an obscure college campus does not count as a theatrical release.

What's unclear is how involved the Farrellys will actually be in it. I doubt they'll direct, Peter and Bobby are busy on The Heartbreak Kid and the movie starts shooting at the end of this year. Maybe in National Lampoon fashion, they're just throwing their name on it in exchange for a pile of cash.