Jude Law makes full use of his British accent and overall Anglo appeal in Alfie, director Charles Shyer's remake of the 1966 film that made Michael Caine famous.

If an actor has to stare at the camera and ramble, it might as well be handsome, charismatic Jude Law, one of few actors today who qualify as a true heartthrob. There is no credibility issue for Law when it comes to playing roguish Alfie Elkins, the titular womanizer at the heart of co-writer/director Charles Shyer's sparkly remake of the 1966 film that made actor Michael Caine famous.

Alfie (Law) describes himself as a heat-seeking bachelor, someone who solely judges his dates on FBB -- face, boobs and bum -- and tosses flings aside like half-eaten sandwiches.

Alfie zips through Manhattan on his blue and white Vespa, but a walk down a crowded Manhattan sidewalk confirms what we've already guessed. No women can resist his charms -- even a Muslim woman winks at Alfie from behind her headscarf.

Alfie is either bedding a woman or doing whatever is necessary to get into bed with one, including married women (who leave behind their panties as souvenirs), a loyal girlfriend (Marisa Tomei) quickly growing tired of Alfie's philandering and even a best friend's girlfriend.

Alfie's sex drive and robust self-love sum up everything one needs to know about the plot to Shyer's good-natured, buoyant Alfie remake.

This 21st-century Alfie is a lark, a wild party filled with beautiful people but not one meaningful conversation. It's a good time, as stylish as the pink dress shirts Alfie wears, but nothing more serious than that. Still, a good time at the movies should never be taken for granted.

Alfie plays well over the 40-year gap since Caine's performance with little need for revision because he's something of a cliché: a handsome working-class Joe, a limo driver, who beds many of his wealthy female customers.

Alfie looks like a million bucks but has little stability beneath his feet. He lives in a small apartment with an empty refrigerator.

But Alfie has dreams that reach beyond the morning after. He wants to own his own limo company someday, to be as rich as many of he women at his lips.

Alfie is a constant flirt, which suits Jude Law's likable personality like a designer leather glove. Because if someone has to be reprehensible -- and Alfie acts reprehensibly -- let it be someone who can win sympathy with a wink of an eye. In fact, Law's effeminate charisma is the glue that holds the bouncy film together.

"I'm just being honest," Alfie says with eyelashes aflutter. "I'm a bit of a fashion whore."

There's not much left to Alfie after the flirtatious fun and bedroom games, which suits me fine. Law is rock steady as the Romeo with commitment problems, giving a star performance that outshines his recent work in I Huckabees and Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow.

Law is lanky with a tiny ass, bedroom blue eyes, spiky hair and a constant cigarette dangling from his lips.

Between puffs on a cigarette, Law delivers every line of dialogue in Alfie with a twinkle in his eye. He makes full use of his British accent and overall Anglo appeal. Most importantly, he comes off as someone who loves women, all types of women. With the benefit of Law's blue, bedroom eyes, Alfie looks at women as if he's mentally undressing them: He is and they like it.

Law senses what we've come to know about Alfie since Caine's 1966 performance. Here is a character built solely on looks and charisma. Law shatters the fourth wall in Alfie, speaking to the camera directly, offering advice on all issues of dating. His rule for cologne: Nothing above the neck and a splash on Big Ben (or whatever you call your penis). Luckily, Law's constant chatter is more likable than annoying.

Marisa Tomei brings depth and warmth to her cliché character: a pretty single mom with an adorable young son, someone who wants a commitment and realizes she is chasing the wrong guy.

Susan Sarandon matches Law's charisma as an older woman who falls to his charms. A pretty party woman in short skirt and knee-high black leather boots (Sienna Miller) becomes the first woman to share his apartment.

Director Charles Shyer shifts Alfie from its original London home but he's clever enough to explain the move and keep many of the film's original strengths intact. Billboards with catchy phrases like "Desire" and "Pursue" scatter throughout the city streets. Manhattan lights up and looks beautiful.

To Shyer's credit, the serious moments -- including penile dysfunction and bedding his best friend's girlfriend -- feel true, relevant and connected with the rest of the story.

The revelation that makes everything meaningful is Alfie's realization that money in his pocket, nice threads and being single -- free as the wind -- are not everything.

Many of the gags are familiar: Alfie flirts with his landlady, and she cleans his apartment for him as a favor. But Law still makes them his own. To Law's credit, Alfie is the sexiest movie in some time, a film that puts the fun back in bedroom games. Grade: B