Jim Field Smith to Direct 'The Inbetweeners' Remake

It's become commonplace for Britain's biggest comedies to get the remake treatment here in America, mostly with disastrous results. For every The Office, there are a handful of flops like Coupling, Spaced, and No Heroics. Now another remake is on the way, and it's for the smash U.K. hit The Inbetweeners, which was already brought to the big screen as an equally successful feature film across the pond. While there may be some skepticism that a Hollywood redo of it could be any good, fans can be happy that a competent director will be behind it.

Jim Field Smith, the guy behind She's Out of My League and Butter, has been set to direct The Inbetweeners remake, which is being titled Virgins America. Why the title change? Well, some may have already forgotten that MTV ran a terrible, failed TV version of the series for one season, so Paramount wants to get as much distance from that as possible. The core concept will remain the same, with four socially awkward buddies chasing girls while on the precipice of adulthood.The original U.K. 'Inbetweeners' movie was red hot when it was released in fall 2012, earning $88M, and now a sequel is set for August 2014.

Meanwhile Henry Lloyd-Hughes, who plays the bully Mark Donovan on the show, will be jumping into his biggest film role, taking the male opposite Mia Wasikowska in Madame Bovary. Sophie Bartes is directing the adaptation of Gustave Flaubert's 19th century novel, about the wife of a doctor (Lloyd-Hughes) who has adulterous affairs to escape her boring life. Paul Giamatti, Rhys Ifans, and Ezra Miller are co-starring in the film, to be directed by Cold Souls helmer Sophie Bartes. [Deadline]