So despite all logic and good common sense, apparently Will Smith is planning to play a mentally handicapped janitor in Flowers for Algernon.

He’ll be both producing and starring in the film, a remake of the old novel in which the janitor in question, Charly, gets a surgical procedure done that augments his mind, making him a genius…but only for a while.

The end result is actually a pretty good story, so I look for this one to actually come off pretty well.  In all honesty, Will Smith is actually a really good actor, so he should be able to put the necessary dramatic force and the endless duality into the role (he’s got to play a handicapped guy and a genius and then go back to handicapped while KNOWING he’s going back all at once).

He should be able to handle it, but I’ll reserve just a bit of skepticism as I’ve seen this kind of thing go wrong before.