In the 19th century, there was a mad rush among the bone collecting paleontologists of the day to see who could scoop whom, who could uncover this species or prove that that one flew.

It was a bitter battle, and bitter battles often make for great, sly comedy. Madness, sheer madness.

Thus “Bone Wars,” HBO’s new film with Steve Carell and James Gandolfini as Edward Drinker Cope of the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia and Othniel Charles Marsh of Yale’s Peabody Museum of Natural History.

These chaps were serious Indiana Jones prototypes — real cowboys of the dig and dig deep set, inventing their science and its ethics (or lack of them) as they went along.

Plainly, this has limited commercial prospects, thus the trek to HBO. But I wonder what Carell’s future looks like post Burt Wonderstone. Is his quote taking a dive after that flop?