'Alfie' (R) (out of four popcorns)

What's it all about, Alfie?

Well, it's about remaking a 60s film that made Michael Caine a star. It's about one of today's hottest stars -- Jude Law -- stepping into Caine's considerable loafers and nailing it. And it's about a film remake and update that actually works.

Alfie is a Brit transplanted to New York City, where the most beautiful women in the world reside-- a virtual smorgasbord for this insatiable lothario.

Alfie loves women. He just doesn't see the need for marriage or commitment. The closest he comes to a relationship is a single mother, Liz (Marisa Tomei), with an adorable child.

When he's not zipping around on his Vespa, Alfie is driving limos for the rich and famous -- and shagging their lonely wives.

Life is grand until everything starts to fall apart. His fall-back woman dumps him, his lusty ways force a fallout with his best buddy and he goes through a health crisis that shocks him so much that he starts to re-evaluate what is really important and finds there are some things that just can't be fixed.

Alfie speaks directly to the audience as he goes through his life changes. That film convention can often be artificial and awkward, but Law is brilliant in the way he addresses the audience, like he's confiding his deepest, darkest secrets to a close friend.

In lesser hands, Alfie could come off as a smug and smarmy womanizer, but Law appears to be made for this role. He reveals the character's insecurities at the same time that he is oozing charm and sex appeal. What is really appealing is that the character does not stay the same. He changes as he starts to understand the loneliness of his life and what is in store for him if he doesn't start trusting people with his vulnerabilities.

Sienna Miller (Law's real-life girlfriend) strikes a tragic note as a party girl who touches something in Alfie, making him willing to trust somebody for the first time in his life. But cracks in her façade threaten their relationship.

The whole cast is marvelous, from Susan Sarandon as a libidinous older woman with a penchant for rich men to Nia Long as a sensual waitress whose broken relationship with Alfie's pal makes her vulnerable.

Law is the Alfie for a new generation, and its update to present day New York City has a lot to say about men and women in these confused times. "Alfie" is sexy, funny and a bloomin' good time.