Dinner for Schmucks: According to Variety, TV scribe Jon Vitti has been hired to write Dinner for Schmucks, DreamWorks' remake of Francis Veber's French comic hit "Le Diner de cons" ("The Dinner Game") starring Sacha Baron Cohen, aka Ali G.

In the Gallic pic, a Paris publisher holds a weekly dinner party and challenges his friends to bring along the most pathetic guest possible. In the new version, Cohen will play a character said to possess such "extraordinary schmuckiness" that he's capable of ruining the life of anyone who spends more than a few minutes in his orbit.

Vitti's television comedy credits include more than a decade of writing on Fox's "The Simpsons" and "King of the Hill." He was also a story consultant on Fox animated feature Ice Age. He's been tapped as a writer on Ice Age 2 and "The Simpsons" feature.