Have a cup of steaming hot chocolate with you, for the full effect.

Rating: 8/10 (10 February 2007)

Writer/director Nancy Meyers (What Women Want, Something's Gotta Give) obviously knows how to make movies for her female target audience. The trailer pretty much explains the plot: Amanda (Cameron Diaz) and Iris (Kate Winslet) swap homes over the holidays to get over their heartbreaks and end up in complicated situations, involving men of course, in their adopted getaways.
Amanda has the amazing bod, wardrobe, dream home plus a fantastic job as a movie trailer maker, but suffers from a cheating boyfriend (Ed Burns). She meets Graham (Jude Law), a fiercely attractive and mysterious book editor. It's refreshing to see Law play a sensitive non-cad, for once; he is still incredibly charming. Sweet and thoughtful Iris works in publishing as well, but her kindness is abused by her ever ineligible ex (Rufus Sewell). She meets Miles (the always-fun Jack Black), who is also in the creative business, doing musical scores for films.
The characters are all flawed, highly relatable and likable. Even the supporting cast and cameos are all welcome additions and don't appear as afterthoughts. The scenarios, despite the obvious tragedies, make you very willing to escape to this world for 2.5 hours, inordinately long for this genre.
Ladies, watch this wonderful chick-flick with your closest amigas; men, see it for educational purposes. Anti-romcom (romantic comedy)? Go see it anyway for the pretty good soundtrack furnished by Imogen Heap, The Killers and Jet. Have a cup of steaming hot chocolate with you, for the full effect.