Alfie

This remake of the mod 1966 film about a philandering, philosophical Cockney playboy who begins to reassess his swinging-singles lifestyle nearly overstays its gradual buildup to a smashingly resonant conclusion. Jude Law, in the role that jettisoned a young Michael Caine to international fame, brings the necessary mix of external charm and swagger, and eventual internal confusion, to his performance as a woman-magnet limousine driver who hides his emotions behind a wall of hedonism and spends much of the movie commenting directly to the audience. The story has been relocated cleverly from mod London to modern Manhattan as a parade of women (including the superb Marisa Tomei, Nia Long and Susan Sarandon) enter and exit his orbit of seduction, deceit, betrayal, opportunism and comeuppance. Co-written and directed by Charles Shyer (Private Benjamin and Baby Boom).