Next in Hollywood’s seemingly endless line of remakes is “Last Holiday,” a retooling of the biting 1950  British comedy into a vehicle for Queen Latifah.

The new screenwriters retained the basic story line from the original, in which Alec Guinness starred as a dying man who decides to live it up at a posh resort before it’s too late. But the new version is missing the edge provided by original writer J.B. Priestley, and even Latifah can’t bring it fully to life.

She plays Georgia Byrd, a dedicated kitchenware sales clerk/cooking demonstrator at a large department store,  who, when she goes home, cooks meals following Emeril Lagasse, then gives them to her neighbor. She’s secretly in love with co-worker Sean Matthew (LL Cool J), and he feels the same way about her.

But the two can’t ever quite get together, and when she falls and hits her head during one of their semi-romantic in-store encounters, she gets a shocking diagnosis via the store’s new MRI machine. Not exactly realistic, but a plot device is a plot device.

She’s given just a few weeks to live without expensive treatment — and her HMO won’t pay. So she quits her job, cashes in her savings and heads off on a dream vacation to the posh Grand Hotel Pupp in the Czech Republic.

There, the retail wallflower blossoms, buying designer outfits and ordering everything on the menu in the hotel’s four-star dining room.

That brings Chef Didier (Gerard Depardieu) out of the kitchen. He’s immediately entranced by the quick-witted, down-to-earth Georgia.

Less sure what to make of her is Matthew Kragen (Timothy Hutton), the slimeball who owns the department store where Georgia worked, and Sen. Dillings (Giancarlo Esposito) and Congressman Stewart (Michael Nouri), a pair of legislators who need to approve a merger that would make Kragen rich.  They think Georgia’s some rich financial expert who could sour the deal, or at least is some kind of competition.

It’s pretty obvious where “Last Holiday” is headed once the setup is complete. That’s never a good thing. Plus, director Wayne Wang, who made “The Joy Luck Club” and has been heading into schlock ever since, turns up the mush factor, eliminating any of the topical/satiric edge that was contained in the rewritten screenplay.

Latifah brings some fun to the picture, particularly when she’s shocking the stuffy rich with her “let’s do it” abandon. But the film would have been more effective if Georgia hadn’t suddenly emerged as a carefree person. The rest of the performances are as thin as the characters the actors are given to play — except for Depardieu, who makes Didier full bodied and charming.

“Last Holiday” was probably never intended to be much more than just escapism. On that level, the picture’s an OK diversion. But there was much more potential that is never realized.

Reach L. Kent Wolgamott at 473-7244 or kwolgamott@journalstar.com.