THE QUEEN SAVES WANG'S REMAKE OF 'LAST HOLIDAY'.

Byline: Bob Strauss Film Critic

'LAST HOLIDAY'' boasts beautiful locations, fabulous clothes and fantastic food. But the real radiance in this sumptuous, likable fantasy-fulfillment comedy comes from Queen Latifah.

A remake of the modest 1950 English film that starred Alec Guinness, ``Holiday'' spares no expense to present as plush a dream vacation as Hollywood can imagine. But the one element that director Wayne Wang (``The Joy Luck Club,'' ``Maid in Manhattan'') does dial down is Latifah's sassy brio. That proves to be this otherwise-contrived movie's saving grace; the Queen is even more charming than usual with a little bit of self-control and insecurity in the mix.

Her Georgia Byrd is a repressed kitchenware seller who lives in a poor part of pre-Katrina New Orleans. So unassertive that her church choir director can't hear her, Georgia is an Emeril-loving aspiring chef who feeds her delectable creations to the kid next door while she sticks to a Lean Cuisine diet.

She also has a crush on the appliance salesman Sean (LL Cool J) at Kragen's department store, where they both work. Needless to say, they're both too insecure to act on their mutual attraction.

When Georgia is diagnosed with terminal brain tumors, she wails to the lord (which starts an uncomprehending gospel rave-up among her congregation), then decides to blow her savings on a first-class European vacation.

She ends up at the swank Grandhotel Pupp in the Czech resort Karlovy Vary. And wouldn't you just know it? Her creepy former boss, Matthew Kragen (Timothy Hutton), is there to celebrate New Year's with his employee/mistress (Alicia Witt) and a couple of Louisiana politicians (Giancarlo Esposito, Michael Nouri) he's trying to corrupt.

Determined to experience everything she's denied herself, Georgia enjoys a ``Pretty Woman'' shopping spree, undergoes weird and wonderful spa treatments, and orders everything on the chef's special menu, which totally endears her to the hotel's French culinary star (Gerard Depardieu).

In fact, everyone but Kragen, who suspects this rich home gal is a competitor bent on sabotaging his shady deals, becomes enchanted by Georgia's carefree, life-loving outlook. And that means everyone in Kragen's entourage, too.

It hardly needs mentioning that the dark, ironic twists which made the original ``Last Holiday'' aren't to be found in this wish-granting big studio happyfest (although the new movie's last scene is unintentionally ominous, considering where it's set). But the basic idea of a bottled-up loser blossoming under the assumption that she has nothing more to lose works just as well for the extremely engaging Latifah as it did for master thespian Guinness. One of ``Last Holiday's'' many uplifting themes is that it's not who you know but who you are that counts. The casting certainly proves that point.

Bob Strauss, [phone]

bob.strauss(at)dailynews.com

LAST HOLIDAY - Three stars

(PG-13: language, sexual situations)

Starring: Queen Latifah, LL Cool J, Timothy Hutton, Alicia Witt, Gerard Depardieu, Giancarlo Esposito.

Director: Wayne Wang.

Running time: 1 hr. 48 min.

Playing: In wide release.

In a nutshell: Pleasant remake of the English comedy is utterly dependent on Latifah's charm as a timid salesperson who, told she has three weeks to live, takes a blowout European vacation. The Queen's got the goods.