Back to the story, Joy (Diaz) sees her fiancee Mason off in the morning and says that they need to meet later to set their wedding date. He whines that she's planning to make a plan again and leaves for work. We learn Joy is a trader and after work she has a surprise party set up for Mason at his home. As people hide, Mason arrives and breaks up with her (while making comments about great sex with the guests listening as they hide) Joy goes drinking afterward and decides with her friend Tipper that they will use the tickets she bought Mason to go to Vegas for some fun.

Jack (Kutcher) is a sexaholic with a thing for seeing his friend Kelly in skimpy costumes like the sexy girl scout costume she wears at the beginning of the film. Jack is a furniture maker who works for his father who fires him because he can never finish anything he starts. The two compete in a basketball match against each other with Jack's job at stake, his father wins. His friend Hater later recommends a trip to Vegas.

The four of them meet by mistake upon arrival in Vegas when they are placed in the same hotel suite by mistake. They fix the mistake by getting two separate suites of the highest quality. Jack also manages to convince the hotel clerk to give them some VIP passes. As Joy and Tipper are dropped off onto the Vegas strip, Jack begs Joy to have one drink. Joy claims she and Tipper are about to plan their "assault" on the strip. Reminding her of her now ex-fiancee, Jack replies that she's planning to make a plan. Joy stops in her tracks and agrees to have one drink.

This is where the fun begins. I'd LOVE to tell more of the story but I really recommend you see it yourself.

4/5 Novas.

My boyfriend has a “thing” for Cameron Diaz (he loves her nose, which I heard she was going to have fixed,) so we took in “The Holiday.” Very Christmasy without elves or Kronks or similar film emblems for the season, the film’s premise is intriguing. After parallel romantic disappointments, Kate Winslet (always beautiful and vulnerable and an actress of grand and versatile talent and Cameron Diaz (I get what my boyfriend sees in her, spunk, great comedic instincts and offbeat beauty) switch houses, cars, “everything”but thankfully (!) not identities. (That would have made it comic book silly and that just doesn’t work in a romantic comedy.

Amanda (Cameron Diaz) produces movie film trailers; Iris (Kate Winslet) covers weddings for a London newspaper. Overnight, they arrive at each other’s homes and the frothy fun begins. I wanted to love this movie, but I didn’t; I’m sorry…especially since I am the movie’s target demographic. Somehow, for me, it missed the mark, the L.A. to England vacation exchange is a fine hook, but while there is character growth and change, and the characters are well-drawn, it falls down and feels like unfizzy Diet Coke. It tries hard enough, and there are some great laughs and somewhat poignant moments, it comes off as a little less than comforting or like the warm cocoa of a movie one would expect from the trailers.

I don’t like to read reviews in which the reader is told too many specifics about the plot, figuring: how could it be possible to know every plot detail as it is about to be revealed; if you’re the type that wants advance notice, there are entire “spoiler” sites that will give you every detail about a film. Sue me, but I just don’t get that at all.

It’s the film equivalent of “chick lit,” which means it may be box office poison for men of any age, even though there are enough men to go around and more than the occasional moment with soundtrack producer Miles (Jack Black) who works for Cameron Diaz’s ex (Ed Burns) who appears in a single scene; Burns’s character, of course, is the reason Amanda seeks exile from L.A. but then she meets Iris’s brother Graham (Jude Law) in Surrey (which is Iris’s ‘hood)… and the result is a movie that is a bit sweet, very small and ultimately, sort of forgettable.

Everyone is loving this movie and I am usually the type to adore even a lousy made-for-tv romantic comedy, but it is so light, it is positively feathery; Kate Winslet was underutilized and Jack Black watered down his personality and lost a few pounds to be a believable love interest. Cameron Diaz and Jude Law, who, by sheer virtue of the script, had more screen time and a more developed story arc, were both “lovely” (as they say across the pond). Cameron Diaz is unafraid to laugh at herself, and she turns in a dynamic performance, and she is very well-developed as a very tightly wound control freak. I’m not sure Jude Law was ever more endearing, warm, vulnerable or believable as a good guy on film. Since Iris is such a loving character, her brother is equally kind and generous. And interestingly, I loved him in “Alfie” but that character is so intrinsically lonely and tragic in an everyman way, it was a great distraction to be allowed to really like him as an actor and a character in this film.

Oddly enough, in a romantic comedy, the very best relationship seemed to be Kate Winslet’s thoroughly platonic friendship with a legendary screenwriter, subtly played by Eli Wallach, who surrenders his walker and fragility thanks to Winslet’s nurturing. Watching their trust in each other grow, how they cross over into each other’s lives and become an unlikely but genuinely “believable” pair is heartfelt. I would have loved the movie to mean more, but I’ll give it more credit than it actually deserves. It is a testament to finding what you need in giving and in being open to everything life – and love…in its endlessly myriad forms…can offer.