British journalist Iris Simpkins discovers that her ex-boyfriend Jasper is getting married, which she is surprised to find still saddens her. In California, American Amanda Woods splits with her unfaithful boyfriend, and goes onto the Internet, looking for a holiday which will be a total change of pace. Discovering Iris’ country cottage in Surrey is available, she suggest to Iris a two week holiday home swap over the Christmas period, with Iris coming to California while Amanda recuperates in England. They agree, but Amanda is soon bored and plans to return to LA, until Iris’ brother Graham, who doesn’t know she is away, calls round. Their attraction is instantaneous and mutual, and Graham ends up spending the night with Amanda. In Los Angeles Iris meets Miles, a film composer who also knows Amanda’s ex-boyfriend, and his girlfriend Maggie, an actress. Amanda finds herself becoming more and more involved with Graham while Iris meets Arthur, an elderly neighbour who is also a famous and much decorated screenplay writer. Iris starts to visit Arthur, who has a wealth of stories of old Hollywood and the iconic actresses, such as Rosalind Russell, who he worked with. Amanda decides to surprise Graham by dropping in on him at home, only to be stunned by the discovery that he is actually a widower, caring for two young children. Miles finds that his girlfriend Maggie has been seeing another man and parts with her, and accepts Iris’ invitation to write a special piece of music for a celebration of Arthur’s work. As Miles receives a call from Maggie, who wants him back, and is visited by her, Iris is visited by Jasper, who seems to wants to restart their relationship, but she rejects him and asks him to leave. Amanda and Graham both agree that a long-range relationship will not work after she returns to the US and they agree to part, just as Iris is planning to return to the UK and believing that Miles may once more get involved with Maggie. But all four are having second thoughts about splitting up, and Miles seems to come up with the perfect solution.... A romantic comedy claimed to be specifically written by writer and director Nancy Meyers (What Women Want) for her four leads (Cameron Diaz, Kate Winslet, Jude Law and Jack Black), The Holiday quite ruthlessly cannibalises rom-com hits such as Bridget Jones’ Diary (in its’ female characters obsessions and insecurities) and both Four Wedding And A Funeral and Love Actually in its’ cross-Atlantic love affairs, all the better for English language territories’ box-office. Indeed one is surprised that both Hugh Grant and / or Colin Firth are not in this, since both the roles of the caddish Jasper (a caddish name if ever there was one) and the angelic Graham seem to be tailor-made for either of them, the roles actually being taken by Rufus Sewell (A Knight’s Tale) and Law. The undeniably fine cast is rounded out by the presence of veteran Eli Wallach (The Good, The Bad And The Ugly) as screenwriter Arthur, and the delicious Shannyn Sossamon (The Rules Of Attraction), balanced by the stultifyingly dull Edward Burns (Fifteen Minutes). The main problem with The Holiday is the inordinate length, meaning that what is essentially a quite linear plot is stretched out to a gruelling two and a quarter hours, which is actually a common fault with Meyer’s films such as Something’s Gotta Give in that the material is spread rather thin in order to accommodate all sorts of quirks and inconsequential asides. Where the film works is in actually presenting four likeable main characters (even if naming Winslet’s character Iris is a movie in-joke too far) and getting them into various romantic situations with the audience knowing that they will end up with their desired partners, and the provision of a happy ending is taken as a guarantee. The only major surprise is the lack of Richard Curtis’ name on the credits, or a Working Title logo.