Three stars out of four.



Like the gooiest, sweetest cup of eggnog, “The Holiday” doesn’t have a whole lot of nutritional value, and you’ll probably hate yourself afterward for giving in to it, but it is rich and yummy and irresistible.

Writer-director Nancy Meyers, who established herself as the queen of the glossy chick flick with 2003’s “Something’s Gotta Give,” offers another beautifully shot, flawlessly crafted film that’s both an homage to and an update of the classy, classic romantic comedies of the 1940s. (And like “Something’s Gotta Give,” it’s a little too long and it has its fair share of hokey moments.)

Everyone’s witty and great-looking, with fashionable clothes (thanks to costume designer Marlene Stewart), fantastic cars and to-die-for homes. It’s total female wish fulfillment — as if an entire issue of InStyle magazine had been brought to the screen. So just sit back and try not to think too hard.

Cameron Diaz and Kate Winslet star as bright, talented women simultaneously suffering from man troubles who swap homes for the holidays through a Web site to get away from it all.

Diaz’s Amanda Woods, whose company creates movie trailers (a very clever job to give a character), ends up in a cozy cottage outside London after discovering that her longtime live-in boyfriend (Edward Burns) has cheated on her.

Winslet, as London Daily Telegraph wedding columnist Iris Simpkins, finds herself luxuriating in a modern L.A. mansion after the colleague with whom she’s had an on-again, off-again romance (Rufus Sewell) announces his engagement to another woman.

Cutting back and forth between their stories, Meyers reveals Amanda trudging through the snow and getting drunk by herself on red wine when there’s nothing better to do, while Iris swims laps in the pool and soaks up the Southern California sunshine. (One aspect the director does depict realistically, with the help of veteran cinematographer Dean Cundey, is the wonderfully weird sensation of the Los Angeles Christmas: At a time when it’s cold everywhere else, hot Santa Ana winds stir things up and spark an electricity in the air.)

Diaz and Winslet encounter an unexpected new love interest in Jude Law and Jack Black, respectively. Diaz and Law, by the way, have got to be the prettiest couple in the history of cinema — even more so than the two-headed monster known as Brangelina.

If you thought Law’s book-editor character, Graham, seemed too good to be true when he’s first introduced, wait until you hear his back story. (Bring Kleenex.) Conveniently, he also happens to be Iris’ brother, who knocks on the cottage door drunk after a long night at the nearby pub.

Black, meanwhile, is a funny sweetheart of a guy as film composer Miles, which gives Black a chance to sing and do his overly familiar Tenacious D rambling, which by this point he seriously needs to stop. (No less than the prolific Hans Zimmer provided the score here.)

Miles, a buddy of Amanda’s ex, shows up at the door one day and befriends Iris but remains smitten by his actress girlfriend (Shannyn Sossamon), who he believes is out of his league. We can see from the beginning where this relationship is headed, of course — teasing us with the possibility of it is inherent to the genre.

Iris also finds an unlikely friendship with Amanda’s next-door neighbor, Arthur, an aging screenwriter played with warmth, humor and substance by Eli Wallach. The character allows Meyers to spell out unequivocally what she’s aiming for here: Arthur assigns Iris a list of movies to watch, like “The Lady Eve” from 1941, and explains to her the “meet-cute,” the screenwriting device that throws the main characters together in a romantic comedy.

The meetings aren’t the only things that are cute in “The Holiday” — at times, the film is almost sickeningly idyllic. (As Iris herself tells Arthur at one point, “I like corny. I’m looking for corny in my life.”) But it can also be undeniably charming, so you may as well just check your cynicism at the door and surrender.

“The Holiday,” a Columbia Pictures release, is rated PG-13 for sexual content and some strong language. Running time: 131 minutes.