WHETHER or not you enjoy The Holiday might depend entirely on whether you are a girl or a guy.

After previews earlier this week the film got a slating by Radio 1 presenters Chris Moyles and Dominic Byrne, who described it mainly as "long".

But read a review by a woman and it's sure to have a more positive angle.

While there is plenty of eye candy for the boys, in the form of Cameron Diaz and Kate Winslet (or Jude Law if that way inclined), this is essentially a Christmas chick flick - though at the same time, it's not.

Under the direction of Nancy Meyers, the sparkling script and warm, intelligent characters give the film a depth which elevates it from the oft derided girly genre.

Here is the story of two single females who, desperate for a break from failed relationships, arrange a house-swap for Christmas.

Successful but stressed trailer-maker Amanda (Cameron Diaz) gives up her LA pad for a twee countryside cottage in a Surrey village where, she has been assured, there is not a man in sight.

Meanwhile depressed journalist Iris (Kate Winslet) finds herself on a two-week vacation in a luxury apartment, with every gadget imaginable to divert her from the pain of unrequited love.

Cue Jude Law and Jack Black. Jude takes on the role of Iris' dishy English brother Graham, who pitches up at Rosehill Cottage after a night at the pub and within minutes gets the American inhabitant into bed.

On the other side of the Atlantic, his sister has befriended elderly former movie writer Arthur Abbott (Eli Wallach) who helps restore her self-belief.

At the same time she meets affable composer Miles (Jack Black) who eventually falls into her arms after finding that his actress girlfriend is cheating on him.

Though there is Hollywood clich aplenty here, the mechanics of love and loss get a thorough analysis and the relationships which develop are mostly very convincing.

I defy any heterosexual woman not to fall in love with Jude Law, whose character, far from being the player you expect him to be, is charming, funny, gentle and open.

Add to that log fires, snow-laden countryside and cute kids and the dream is surely complete.

Less probable is the romance which ensues in LA, where Iris seems more engaged by the man in his nineties with a zimmerframe than by the younger model she ends up with.

Much more believable is her pathetic inability to let go of a relationship which has caused her intolerable misery for three years - and the triumph she feels when she finally does.

Jack Black does not not provide enough laughs to make this a belly-aching comedy.

The humour is more the fuzzy, tingly Christmas kind, which let's be honest, may appeal more to the ladies than their fellas.

The Holiday looks certain to be the rom com of the season and if it's a girl's night out you're after, this is definitely a Christmas hit.

But, be warned, the 131 minute-long movie might not make an ideal date.