A MOST ENJOYABLE `HOLIDAY'.

Byline: Bob Strauss Film Critic

There is so much to not like about ``The Holiday.'' Yet this humorous romantic fantasy is really, really easy to enjoy -- and you don't necessarily have to be a complete fool to do so.

The latest from Nancy Meyers, the writer-director behind ``What Women Want'' and ``Something's Gotta Give,'' ``Holiday'' can be maddeningly cliched at times and ludicrous at others. Yet it often manages to sling some fantastic dialogue and beguiling bits of behavior. It always looks too good to be true -- and we're talking the impossibly lovely homes that are the film's main settings, not just stars Cameron Diaz, Kate Winslet, Jude Law and a somewhat straightened-up Jack Black. But some true, sometimes very complicated emotions are also well-displayed, at least when the movie isn't indulging contrivance like so much Christmas punch.

It's the actors who really sell the piece, though. And Meyers doesn't make it easy for some of them.

Take Diaz, for example, whose Hollywood movie trailer-maker Amanda has esophageal spasms whenever she tries to cry, but is incapable of shedding a single tear. Try playing that without looking like an idiot -- and Diaz pulls it off several times.

Amanda also has to throw her philandering boyfriend (Ed Burns) out of their stadium-size Brentwood hacienda while uttering the pathetic line, ``C'mon, nobody has time for sex.'' Obviously, this workaholic needs a break, and as Christmas is coming, a cozy, snow-covered English cottage, preferably far from the reaches of any males, sounds soothingly apt.

And guess who has one so quaint that it looks like Thomas Kinkade personally built it? Newspaper scribbler Iris (Winslet), who's just been devastated to learn that the cad she's carried a years-long torch for is getting married. A few quick e-mail exchanges and the two gals fly halfway around the world and turn their homes over to a total stranger.

It's illogic like that that makes you want to reach up and slap the screen. But once you accept the set-up and get past the fish-out-of-water inevitabilities (it's kooky driving on the wrong side of the road! It doesn't feel like Christmas with these Santa Ana winds blowing!), things settle into nice comic/sexy/finding-yourself business.

Iris' brother Graham (Law) shows up drunk at the cottage and is uncharacteristically welcomed into Amanda's bed. Iris bonds with both an elderly screenwriter neighbor (Eli Wallach), through whom Meyers expresses her affection for classic Hollywood comedies, and Black's composer Miles, who shares some of her doormat tendencies.

Both nascent couples get to know one another, and reveal more interesting facets of their personalities, in a generally delightful way. The two main guys couldn't be more different, yet both prove patient and quite amusing in their distinctive ways -- i.e., they're an unmatched set of perfect movie fantasy figures.

Winslet, of course, handles everything Meyers tosses at her expertly. Diaz is a bit more of a surprise. As mentioned, she's burdened with a few too many quirks, yet she brings Amanda's knotty emotional confusion to vibrant life nonetheless.

So, what to say? I liked these people. I liked the homes, too, though I wonder if Meyers could ever make a movie about someone who lived in a normal place. It's all enough for ``The Holiday'' to work just fine for me. If you simply can't stand the silly nonsense that even superior romantic comedies tend to fall for, though, you might want to go somewhere else.

Bob Strauss [phone]

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THE HOLIDAY - Three stars

(PG-13: sex, language)

Starring: Cameron Diaz, Kate Winslet, Jude Law, Jack Black, Eli Wallach.

Director: Nancy Meyers.

Running time: 2 hr. 16 min.

Playing: In wide release.

In a nutshell: Good thing this comedy about two heartbroken women who swap homes -- and, of course, find love -- for Christmas has a lot of charm. Makes you overlook numerous flaws, which any romantic fantasy must do if you're gonna fall for it.