Writer/director Nancy Meyers has made romantic comedies seem so effortless in films like &#8220Something’s Gotta Give” and &#8220What Women Want,” a reasonable person might guess she could make them in her sleep.

And while some people might accuse Meyers of sleepwalking in her latest film, &#8220The Holiday,” it still worked for me thanks to a likable cast and some rather smart dialogue. Sure, this film relies heavily on parts of better films and there are some deep problems overall, but I still found myself giving in and enjoying myself in spite of its limitations.

The premise for &#8220The Holiday” is pretty simple. Cameron Diaz and Kate Winslet play Amanda and Iris, successful women who are trying to get over guy troubles.

Hoping to get away from those troubles, the pair agree to swap houses for two weeks. But instead of running from love, they find it in unexpected places. Amanda falls for Iris’s charming brother Graham (Jude Law), while Iris connects with a film composer named Miles (Jack Black).

I’ve always been a fan of Winslet and she is in fine form as the neurotic Iris. Diaz has her moments – maybe too many – but she is OK as Amanda.

Law’s character is too good to be true, but I’m sure females will still swoon over every word he says. And while it’s nice to see Black in something other than &#8220Nacho Libre” and &#8220The Pick of Destiny,” I still felt I was watching Jack Black the person – not a real character.

Some of the movie’s best moments come in a subplot involving Eli Wallach as an aging Hollywood writer who develops a friendship with Iris. The scenes with Wallach really seem to have a true sense of the film industry and are smart and somewhat sweet – even if the scenes really belong in a different movie.

&#8220The Holiday” won’t be too high on many guys’ must-see list, but it serves its purpose – giving couples a suitable date movie for the Christmas season.

DVD dandy of the week

This week’s dandy is &#8220Little Miss Sunshine” (A), the very witty and offbeat indie hit from earlier this year.

First-time screenwriter Michael Arndt’s script hits all the right notes, with a first-rate cast that makes this among the year’s very best films.

&#8220Sunshine” tells the story of a dysfunctional family’s quest to get the youngest member, Olive (Abigail Breslin), to a beauty pageant in California.

Joining Olive on the trip are her dad, Richard (Greg Kinnear), an aspiring self-help guru; her brother, Dwayne (Paul Dano), who has taken a vow of silence in his quest to get into the Air Force; her mother, Sheryl (Toni Collette); her uncle Frank, (Steve Carrell), a suicidal English professor; and her pageant coach and grandfather (Alan Arkin), who is forced to live with the family after being kicked out of a nursing home due to a drug habit.

&#8220Little Miss Sunshine” could have easily evolved into a safe and predictable little comedy, but to Arndt’s credit the story finds laughs in unexpected places – and still manages to have slightly good-natured intentions at heart.

The tone is set with a great extended opening scene at the dinner table and culminates in an event at the pageant – the single funniest scene I can remember in a long time.

The quality script is backed by a superb cast. Kinnear hits all the right notes as the rather unlikable head of the house, while Collette has her moments as the mother.

Arkin is great and Breslin is a discovery as the young Olive, but the two best performances come from Dano and Carrell. The two effectively feed off each other, generating some rather funny moments with surprising character depth. Carrell is so good, in fact, that he deserves Oscar consideration.

&#8220Little Miss Sunshine” is rated R for language, some sex and drug content and will be available on DVD on Tuesday.