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Frothier than the trim on a Badgley Mischka dress, "The Holiday" makes the rest of this year's chick flicks look like wallflowers.

There probably won't be a prettier, glossier movie this season than "The Holiday." It's well aimed at frazzled women who need a respite from gift shopping or from kids on school breaks. It asks nothing more than to be a Calgon movie moment.

Anyone looking for anything different - say, realism, depth, inspiration - should search elsewhere. Implicit with "The Holiday" is the expectation that viewers will leave their brains at home.

"The Holiday" is about two women - one Brit and one American - with similar problems.

Iris (Kate Winslet), who writes about weddings for London's Daily Telegraph, learns that the man she loves, Jasper (Rufus Sewell), has proposed to another woman. Amanda (Cameron Diaz), who runs a successful business that creates movie trailers, finds out that her film-composer boyfriend, Ethan (Edward Burns), has been cheating on her.

Workaholic Amanda decides to take a vacation, thinking she'll be less lonely during the holidays if she goes to a place where she doesn't know anyone. She finds Iris' listing on a Web site that promotes home exchanges. The women agree to swap houses for two weeks.

Overnight, Amanda is sloughing through the snow to Iris' quaint cottage in the English countryside while Iris is gawking at the ritzy estates in Amanda's Los Angeles neighborhood.

Amanda quickly regrets her atypically impulsive act and is about to head home when Graham (Jude Law), Iris' handsome and extremely drunk brother, knocks on her door.

Iris is delighted with the trade. She makes friends with an elderly neighbor, legendary screenwriter Arthur Abbott (Eli Wallach), and with Miles (Jack Black), a colleague of Ethan's who comes to pick up his things.

Writer-director Nancy Meyers ("What Women Want," "Something's Gotta Give") is on familiar turf. It's the "nothing cures a broken heart like a new romance" formula times two.

It's natural for Meyers to want to play fairy godmother to both women, but she undermines her one innovation by doing so. The main point of the Iris-Arthur relationship is that he shows her that she can be on her own; bringing in Miles feels like an intrusion.

Winslet plays Iris as an adorable underdog. Amanda's neuroses are grating, but Diaz manages to give her appeal. Law gets into the spirit and is almost as good a girlfriend to the females in his life as he is a lover for Amanda.

Black dials back his bombastic quality except for a few annoying scenes showcasing his singing. He can't hold a candle to Wallach, who plays the sweet old geezer role to a T.

The film gets off to a sluggish start, and it's at least half an hour too long. Fortunately, the stars are likable enough to make sticking around bearable.