I've Always Wanted a Secret Garden...

There's a little patch of our backyard between the house and the fence that has always seemed separate from the rest of the yard, and for years we talked about turning it into a "secret garden". On Saturday we took that possibility one step further when we bought a pair of trellises and some flowers to crawl up them. It will make a nice entrance if we can get some things to grow back there. Interestingly, when we were at my uncle's house on Monday, he happened to pull out The Secret Garden and suggested we watch it after dinner. This was the very film that had inspired the idea in the first place back when we saw it years ago. Of course, our little bit of Earth is much smaller, much less mysterious and unlikely to attract lambs, ducks and ferrets, but it's a start...

The Secret Garden is a classic work of literature by Frances Hodgson Burnett about a dour, neglected, rich girl who comes to live in her uncle's estate after her parents' deaths. The 1993 version that we watched the other day is not the first adaptation of this book; several others have been made, including a made-for-television version that I recall seeing many years ago but don't remember very well except for the fact that when it ended, the children had grown up. This version, directed by Agnieszka Holland, includes no such glimpse of the future, leaving us to imagine what happens to the three children who help bring the titular garden back to life.

The film begins in India, where Mary Lennox (Kate Maberly) is used to being treated like royalty, though her parents ignore her. When they die in an earthquake, she goes off to a dreary castle in England owned by her uncle, Lord Craven (John Lynch), who spends most of the film away on business, partly to escape the memories of his deceased wife, the twin sister of Mary's mother. Mary is quite the sourpuss in the beginning, snapping at everyone who comes near, but thanks to some encouragement from the sunny young servant Martha (Laura Crossley), she begins to explore the grounds, where she finds friendship, first with a robin and then with Martha's brother Dickon (Andrew Knott), and stumbles upon a hidden door that opens into her aunt's beloved garden.

Soon she and Dickon are spending every day in the garden, clearing away ten years' worth of dead leaves and brush and watching blossoms spring up all around them. Mary is no longer nearly so contrary, though she still butts heads with Mrs. Medlock (Maggie Smith), the severe head housekeeper, especially after Mary discovers that she has a cousin, Colin (Heydon Prowse), who's been kept shut up in his room all his life. Though he and the staff are convinced he could drop dead at any moment, Mary isn't so sure, and she gradually coaxes Colin outside, where he too is transformed by the joy of nature and friendship.

The cinematography is beautiful, especially when we linger on the secret garden, which is teeming with life. There are several time-elapsed sequences in which we see various flowers blossom and trees change color. The effect is impressive, and though Lord Craven tells Mary he ought to send her away because there is nothing here for a child, this strikes me as an amazing place to spend one's tender years.

Maberly brings Mary to life very well, initially making her as obnoxious as Veruca Salt in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory but slowly softening until she is both joyful and considerate. Colin follows a similar path, and Prowse, who never appeared in another film, is quite effective as the pampered, overly sheltered cousin Mary never knew she had, and his reaction to his first taste of the outside world is affecting. Knott's Dickon stands in contrast to both of them, slightly older and vigorous from a life spent outdoors. There's a moment toward the end of the film that suggests a future rivalry between the boys for Mary's affections; Mary is closer to both boys than they are to each other, but generally the three of them get along fine. Crossley's cheerful portrayal of Martha offsets Mary's initial crossness. Though I think of her as being several years older than Dickon, Crossley and Prowse are the same age.

Of the adults, we don't see much of Lord Craven, but Lynch puts in a melancholy performance that is more haunting than intimidating. Walter Sparrow has a brief role as Ben Weatherstaff, a faithful groundskeeper who eventually befriends the children. But probably my favorite performance is Smith's, in an antagonistically authoritarian role reminiscent of her Mother Superior in Sister Act. While Mrs. Medlock's treatment of Mary is sometimes vindictive, she truly does care for Colin and is concerned for his well-being, fearing Mary is getting him too riled up and endangering his health. She's an easy character to loathe, but Smith puts just the right touch of humanity into this strict woman to make her sympathetic.

I can't compare this to other versions of Burnett's classic tale, but it succeeds so beautifully as a moving family film that I'd be surprised to learn that another adaptation managed the task more effectively. The Secret Garden is a movie that should not be kept a secret.

Squirrelly Crickle-Crack Aims to Keep Kids Off Crack

Last week, I took part in the yearly tradition of going to the city-wide book sale and diving through tables piled with a hopelessly disorganized assortment of books in hopes of discovering a few buried treasures. I always seem to leave with an overflowing box, half of whose contents I will probably never get around to reading. But among those randomly selected titles, there are usually a few especially notable finds. Past examples include A Boy, a Dog and a Frog, which turned me on to the charming six-book series of wordless books by Little Critter creator Mercer Mayer; Anguished English, a collection of hilariously tortured sentences and paragraphs; and an early edition of Fellowship of the Ring containing a warning from Tolkien not to purchase unauthorized versions.

When I saw the cover of Crickle-Crack, bearing the unmistakable mark of a Serendipity book and featuring a squirrel, which is arguably my favorite animal, I suspected I might have found this year's winner. Back in the days when my idea of reading consisted of looking at the pictures and making up my own story, I had a considerable collection of the distinctive morality tales by Stephen Cosgrove, irresistibly illustrated by Robin James, but I don't recall encountering this one before. Having been drawn in by my familiarity with the series and affection for the animal on the front, I read the note at the bottom of the cover: "It's important to know when to say 'no'." Even better! I thought, expecting a lesson in assertiveness along the lines of Sherman Crunchley, the Laura Numeroff book about a doormat dog who finds a creative way to tell his father he doesn't want to take over as sheriff.

It soon became clear that the lesson within wouldn't be quite as applicable to my life as I'd thought. Rather than being a story about the need for gumption, it's a tale of temptation. It bears a considerable resemblance to the biblical account of Adam and Eve, since Squeakers, the bushy-tailed protagonist, falls into trouble when a mysterious voice calls for him to eat the buds on the Crickle-Crack tree. The lesson isn't so much about obeying authority as it is avoiding things that may look attractive but are actually dangerous and detrimental. Though it doesn't come right out and say it, the predominant purpose of the book seems to be to steer kids away from drugs, with the friendly reminder on the cover recalling Nancy Reagan's "Just Say No" campaign from the late 80s, which is when this book was published.

When Squeakers comes upon the tree, which grows in "twisted profusion" in a semi-hidden part of the forest, he decides to see for himself whether these buds are so dangerous. After his first taste, he is disappointed to find the bud unsatisfying, but a sense of euphoria kicks in shortly thereafter, and he decides to skip school and binge on the buds, with disastrous results. The story is pretty straight-forward, the message heavy-handed, but then that is true of all of the books in this series. As a fable encouraging certain behavior from children, it seems to hit the mark pretty well. It's the illustrations that really grab me, though, with almost every page depicting the furry gray squirrel with enormous brown, shining eyes, a fluffy tail and a cheeky grin. Of course, he's not always smiling; we see the effects of the Crickle-crack buds in a couple of rather disturbing pictures, particularly one in which his parents help him home from school as he stands woozily, a sickly frown on his face and bags under his eyes.

I'm not sure if Crickle-Crack is quite the catch those books in the first paragraph were. But I still get a kick out of this charming squirrel, and while I don't think I'm in much danger of becoming addicted to drugs any time soon, this story provides a healthy reminder of the dangers of temptation, so perhaps it was a serendipitous find after all.

Carell and Freeman Keep Carrey-less Evan Almighty Afloat

Four years ago, I went to see Bruce Almighty on opening night, having been tipped off about it at a Don McLean concert in Buffalo the previous year. My interest was sufficiently piqued, and the movie didn't disappoint. So when I heard about the sequel, Evan Almighty, earlier this year, I was eager to check it out. Though the lack of Jim Carrey and Jennifer Aniston - who were asked to reprise their roles and declined - was potentially ominous, given the nature of the film it seemed plausible for a legitimate sequel to focus on an entirely different group of people, as long as God was still in the picture. With Morgan Freeman back on board, joined by Steve Carell and a huge assortment of animals, the film had promise. And then the reviews started rolling in, and I wondered whether this would be another of those disastrous sequels that would manage to sap life out of the original by mere association.

So I was pleasantly surprised to disagree with Richard Roeper and a host of other critics. Maybe I'm just not sophisticated enough, but I found Evan Almighty thoroughly enjoyable, starting with the previews, which not only announced VeggieTales' second big screen adventure but also gave me a Dick King-Smith adaptation about the Loch Ness Monster to look forward to. These family-friendly previews gave me a good sense of what sort of movie we were about to see. While Bruce Almighty was primarily aimed at adults, with a fair share of rather raunchy humor, the PG-rated Evan Almighty has much more in common with old school live action Disney flicks than contemporary comedies. The genre shift could be jarring to some, but Freeman's performance is consistent throughout the two films, tying them together.

Less consistent is Carell as Evan Baxter, the narcissistic newsman who was Bruce's rival in the original; while he comes across as a bit self-absorbed, particularly in the beginning, he soon becomes sympathetic, just an overworked guy trying to make a difference in the world but leaving his family behind in the process. I'm willing to overlook it, though, particularly since our perception of him in the first film was probably skewed by the fact that we were seeing him as Bruce was. Some of the humor in the sequel comes from the fact that Evan is an immaculately groomed neat freak who suddenly has an unshavable beard, much like Scott Calvin in The Santa Clause, and a wild assortment of animals following him around. The almost Hitchcock-esque sequences in which he is tailed by dozens of pairs of birds are among the most entertaining in the film. Once he accepts all the not-so-subtle hints, the animals become a welcome rather than oppressive presence and even manage to aid him in his divinely appointed task of building an ark.

On the home front, Evan has to deal with his wife Joan (Lauren Graham), who first chides him for being an inattentive dad and later for apparently cracking up. It does seem a little odd that the people who live with Evan would not find anything amiss in the fact that a week's worth of beard has appeared overnight, but even when Evan tells Joan about his meeting with God, she remains convinced that the hair, the boat and even the animals that seem magnetically drawn to Evan constitute some sort of massive mid-life crisis. Meanwhile, his sons - Dylan (Johnny Simmons), Jordan (Graham Phillips), and Animal Planet-addicted Ryan (Jimmy Bennett) - prefer the new Evan, since he's around a lot more.

In his new role as congressman, Evan has three close advisors: the sassy Rita (Wanda Sykes), anxious Marty (John Michael Higgins) and excessively admiring Eugene (Jonah Hill). They soon have more than they bargained for in presenting a positive image of Evan to the press, which hungrily fixates on his increasingly bizarre antics. He also has an unexpected ally, Congressman Long (John Goodman), a fat cat who happens to be Evan's neighbor in the fancy new development where he recently moved his family. This alliance quickly turns sour as it becomes clear the corrupt congressman intends to bribe and cajole the rookie into helping him pass through a bill that will allow him to develop peripheral national park lands. Goodman makes a great villain along the lines of Alonzo Hawk, the despicable developer who graced several Disney films in the 60s and 70s.

When we get wind of the piece of legislation he wants Evan to sign, its ecological bent is no surprise; the film drives home Evan's reckless consumerism early on, from his massive, gas-guzzling hummer to a conversation he has with the man building the cabinets in his new home in which he cheerfully chooses wood made from old growth trees. Stewardship of the environment forms a strong undercurrent for the story, most effectively illustrated when God shows Evan how the valley in which he lives used to look before it became a victim of urban sprawl. The other main message of the film is to treasure one's family and, more generally, to never miss an opportunity to perform an "Act of Random Kindness".

Watching the movie, I was reminded of several of director Tom Shadyac's previous films. Like Ace Ventura it concerns itself with the well-being of animals, and with so many of them on screen at once, it's sure to attract animal lovers of all ages. Like Liar, Liar, it involves a dad who's too wrapped up in his career to make time for his family. Like Patch Adams, it focuses on the importance of making life better for individuals. And, of course, like Bruce Almighty, it depicts God as compassionate and involved in our lives. Shadyac is a devout Christian attempting to bring his sensibilities to the big screen, and he succeeds in this aim especially well here. While putting words in God's mouth always runs the risk of blasphemy, Shadyac's motivation is sincere, and Freeman's gentle but insistent portrayal commands respect.

I read that Evan Almighty is the most expensive comedy ever made. While I enjoyed the film very much, I find that categorization a little strange, since comedy really wasn't the focus of this movie. There's the unfortunate barrage of defecation, particularly of the avian variety, which I suppose is hard to resist when you've got hundreds of animals and you're trying to get a laugh out of a PG crowd; thankfully, that's about the only crude humor to be found in the movie. Most of the amusing moments are visual, such as God appearing as several passersby while trying to convince Evan to build the ark or a pair of primates downing lemonade with Evan on a break from pounding boards. There's a running joke involving a silly dance that Evan does, and much as Bruce kept seeing the same mysterious phone number repeatedly, our hero can't escape the number 614, a reference to Genesis 6:14, in which Noah is commanded to build the ark. Evan's realtor (Molly Shannon) is named Eve Adams, while a movie theater marquee he passes reads The 40-Year-Old Virgin Mary. It's a funny enough movie, but it's really more of a feel-good film the whole family can enjoy together, which in a too frequently cynical age may be even better.

Seth Rogen Follows in Steve Carell's Footsteps in Knocked Up

A few years ago, if I had seen the trailers for Judd Apatow's Knocked Up, I probably would not have said to myself, "Now, that is a movie I need to see." One-night stands? Potty humor? Excessive profanity? R rating? Sounds more like something to avoid. But as much as those factors caused me to question how much I would enjoy the film, I couldn't help but be intrigued; Apatow's Freaks and Geeks, which I embraced when it arrived on DVD, was a brilliant show, and while The 40-Year-Old Virgin was pretty crude for my tastes, it had heart. So after hearing many gushing reviews, I decided I'd better check out Knocked Up and see if it lived up to the hype.

The first thing I'll say for Apatow is that he is loyal. No fewer than five Freaks and Geeks alums put in an appearance, starting with Seth Rogen as kind but clueless schlub Ben Stone, whose drunken shenanigans with Allison Scott (Katherine Heigl), a beautiful, ambitious young correspondent who has just received a promotion, lead to her pregnancy. While Rogen's character was the least developed of the "freak" crowd of which he was a part on Freaks and Geeks, he made a strong impression nonetheless, and when he showed up in Virgin, this time in a chattier role, it became easier to envision him as a leading man. Ben may be a loser who's never worked and whose last name seems to be a nod to his favorite activity, but he really carries the movie, especially when we realize that despite his inertia and rather foul mouth, he's actually a very sweet guy.

Other familiar faces from Freaks and Geeks include Jason Segel and Martin Starr as two of Ben's perpetually stoned housemates. There are echoes of their characters from that show in their performances here; Jason is intense to an intimidating level, while Martin is put upon by the others. (The quartet of guys with whom Ben resides all share a first name with the actors who portray them; the other two are played by Jonah Hill, who had a brief but memorable role in Virgin, and Jay Baruchel, from Apatow's short-lived television series Undeclared.) James Franco shows up as himself putting in a plug for Spider-man 3, which several characters later go see, perhaps in a sly show of support for Franco by Apatow, who not only directed Knocked Up but wrote the script. Leslie Mann, who had a brief role on Freaks and Geeks as a teacher on whom Bill had a crush and in Virgin as a disastrous potential date for Andy, plays Allison's shrill sister Debbie, whose seemingly ideal marriage to the melancholy Pete (Paul Rudd, from Virgin) is crumbling despite the presence of two adorable daughters (Maude and Iris Apatow).

Among the few cast members without a previous Apatow connection, Harold Ramis, who looks and sounds remarkably like Rogen, is both funny and tender as Ben's dad, and SNL cast member Kristen Wiig is hilarious as Jill, a higher-up who quietly offers Allison icily insincere congratulations for landing a plum position. Bill Hader, also of SNL, doesn't stand out much as Allison's co-worker Brent but is still amusing, as is Alan Tudyk as Jack, her too-cheerful boss.

All of these characters add to the film in one way or another, but the success of the movie really depends upon Rogen and Heigl, and they play off one another very well. While they don't seem like a very likely couple, the circumstances of Ben and Allison's meeting and subsequent hook-up are believable; chalk it up to a gentlemanly gesture on Ben's part and Allison's promotion-induced adrenaline. Besides, she may be a knockout, but she's also very down-to-earth and doesn't seem to think herself better than Ben, at least until he tells her about his "job", which involves pin-pointing all the nude scenes in various films for chronicling on a website he and his buddies are working on, and confesses that he's spent all of his adult life thus far living off the money he received when a mail truck ran over his foot. Despite her dubious impression of how he spends his time, once she learns of the pregnancy and decides to keep the baby, she's determined to at least give their relationship a shot, and he's willing, at least on some level, to step up to the challenge of being a father.

In romantic terms, I preferred Knocked Up to Virgin, as I liked both parties equally and was really rooting for them to end up together. While Ben's lethargic pals aren't as engaging as Andy's co-workers, they still form a decent support system; meanwhile, the friendship that develops between Ben and Pete is charming, and Allison shares some nice moments with her sister. In terms of vulgarity, I can't decide which of the films is cruder. Both are quite heavy on the profanity and the explicit references to sexuality, though what we actually see on screen is somewhat limited. I didn't find the movie any more offensive than I expected; reviews and my prior experience with Virgin left me well prepared. Still, despite the ultimately fairly warm and fuzzy undercurrent, this is not a film I would recommend to all audiences. My parents are intrigued enough by what they've heard to want to check it out; I suspect they will find it equal parts funny, touching and mortifying.

I won't heap "movie of the summer"-type accolades on this film, but I will say that fans of Apatow's first film should enjoy his second, which may do for Rogen what Virgin did for Steve Carell. I don't think either comes close to capturing the perfect blend of hilarity and drama found in Freaks and Geeks, which was situated firmly in PG-13, if not strictly PG, territory. I'd like to see him do a movie more in that vein, but until he does, his first two film outings are worthwhile efforts. Just get ready to click the ol' internal mute button a few dozen times...

Bradley Trevor Greive Gives Dad His Due With Dear Dad

Tomorrow is Fathers' Day, that time when we all go out of our way to let our dads know we appreciate them. If you're still scrambling for a little something to show your father how much you care, you could do a lot worse than Dear Dad: Father, Friend and Hero by prolific gift book creator Bradley Trevor Greive.

Since the success of The Blue Day Book, which coupled wise and witty words of inspiration with highly appropriate black-and-white photographs of animals, Greive has churned out the tiny masterpieces. My one complaint with him is that he seems to have a bit of a bias against his own gender; he's always making sarcastic, unflattering remarks about men, particularly in those of his books that are aimed at women. But Greive rectifies that with Dear Dad, which comes after two books dedicated to mothers. At last Pop can have a little time in the spotlight.

In his acknowledgments section, Greive first mentions all the people who requested this book and notes that he was a bit intimidated by the subject matter; it took three years for him to formulate exactly what he wanted to say to his dad. Aiding in inspiration was his editor, whom he often mentions warmly in his introductory notes. Both men, it would seem, have had considerable impact on Greive's development. Thus, it's not much of a stretch to consider this an appropriate book not only to give to one's father but to anyone who has acted as a father figure.

There are many illustrations in this book that deal with seeing, indicating the wonder with which a child views the world and the way a dad can nurture that vision. We have a lion surveying the horizon with wonder, a little llama awakening to a gentle nudge from its father, a pig and its parent peeking up at the sky together. There's the usual array of amusing animal antics illustrating the sorts of childhood foibles fathers have to deal with, from learning to tie one's shoes to being asked to help with housework.

Mostly, there is photo after photo of two animals of the same species huddled together in some sort of activity, often simply quiet contemplation. Lions, whales, cheetah, monkeys, rhinos and a long list of other animals are captured in moments of domestic tranquility or chaos. All are wonderful, but my favorite features a tiny snail and much larger snail seeming to approach and star at one another, accompanied by the words "slowly but surely I have grown to be more and more like you in the very best ways."

That's what the book is all about, realizing how much so many of us owe to our fathers and how, despite all the troubles we may put them through as children and adolescents, we probably will come to see that they were right about most things. It's part adulation, part apology and all sincere appreciation coupled with some irresistible animal photos, and with fewer than 90 pages, it's a breeze to read through, but its tender message is worth returning to again and again.

With Installments Like Endangered Species, the Line of LOST Novels May Be Endangered

Shortly before the finale of this season of LOST aired, I got my hands on a copy of Signs of Life, the third in a series of tie-in novels about the epic stuck-on-a-mysterious-island drama. I found it very disappointing, but not as disappointing as the prospect of enduring the rest of the year without any new installments of my favorite current series. So I rushed to the website of the Erie County Library and discovered that I could read the first two books in the series in electronic format. Hoping for the best, I downloaded both and was pleased to find that author Cathy Hapka demonstrated much greater skill and familiarity with the show than Frank Thompson, at least with Secret Identity, the second of her efforts.

Her first outing, while still considerably better than Thompson's, is not as successful as her second, which impressed me more than it should have simply because Signs of Life was so dreary. Entitled Endangered Species, it runs parallel to Secret Identity in that it covers roughly the same time span of the first few days after the crash of Flight 815. The star red-shirt this time around is Faith Harrington, a graduate student passionate about ecology and wildlife, particularly snakes. Very quiet and unassertive, she has a tendency to get yanked around by people with more forceful personalities preying on her desire to make a positive difference in the world.

Faith is a sympathetic character, clearly a kind-hearted young woman who could be a valuable asset given her expertise. She and Arzt ought to put their heads together; I was a bit disappointed that he didn't have a role to play in this book, since I think they would have complemented each other nicely. She reminds me of myself, which is perhaps why I often found myself so frustrated with the way her rampant insecurities lead her to either hang back, so overwhelmed and intimidated that she is immobilized, or go along with the orders of somebody else even when her gut instinct tells her she shouldn't. She comes across as a bit whiny on the island, while in the flashback chapters she allows herself to be manipulated in a series events that rather obviously are leading to a calamitous conclusion. She puts her trust in the wrong people while allowing a moment of disillusionment to destroy a cherished relationship.

The writing in this novel is not as artful as in Secret Identity; the narration often comes across as rather cliched and bland. Moreover, Faith's actions leading up to the event necessitating her quick departure from Australia seem awfully dim-witted to me. Jeff and Dexter, the protagonists in the other books, also made some pretty grievous errors, but Faith just doesn't seem to be paying attention. Or maybe she's too blinded by love to realize what's happening. But when her overzealous activist boyfriend talks her into going to Australia to protest the lecture of her former mentor, it's only one in a series of very poorly considered decisions on her part. I guess the point is that the island is supposed to give her some backbone. Does it succeed?

Perhaps the biggest problem with Endangered Species is that the main character with whom Faith interacts on the island was invented for this book. When I spotted a couple references to him in Secret Identity, I assumed the middle-aged, talkative George must have been a throwback to this first novel, and I was right. The trouble is that even more than the island and all its inherent enigmas, what makes LOST compelling is its characters, so if people are picking up a book based on the show, they want to read about Jack, Kate, Hurley, Charlie, Sun, Jin and all the other castaways they've come to love. I can accept the decision to put the focus on characters who haven't been explored on the show, but in order for this to really feel like something that is part of the LOST universe, there needs to be a bit more involvement from the main players.

It doesn't help that although George is described as a pleasantly gregarious fellow, he's actually rather obnoxious, bossing Faith around minutes after meeting her and blowing a gasket because of her environmentalist views. His violent reaction is explained somewhat when we learn that his job as a real estate developer causes frequent clashes with people of Faith's persuasion, but his behavior is still less than laudable and has a pronounced negative effect on her, particularly when he needlessly squashes a spider that she points out.

What bothers me most about George is the fact that we're seeing him instead of the established castaways. Faith's interaction with most of them is minimal, in some cases limited to just a passing glance. She has brief conversations with Sawyer, Sayid and several others and forms the beginnings of friendships with Hurley and Claire. If I recall correctly, the back cover blurb on this seemed to indicate some sort of confrontation between her and John, but he actually seems poised to mentor Faith as he did with Charlie, Boone, Claire and several of the other castaways. It would have been nice to see that explored a bit more; as it is, she interacts with John, Claire and Hurley more than anyone else other than George, but all three relationships seem pretty tangential.

If you're a devoted fan looking for something to ease the wait until the fourth season, it might be worth it to see if your local library carries these books. This one is the longest, and even so it's barely longer than 200 pages, so you won't be wasting hours upon hours on shoddy writing. The story is engaging enough, but if you want a decent dose of all those fantastic characters from the show, Secret Identity is the only one of the three that really delivers. Something tells me the LOST tie-in novel is an endangered species...

It's a Jolly Holiday With Cameron, Kate, Jude and Jack

A couple years ago, I read Tara Road, a book by Irish author Maeve Binchy about a pair of middle-aged women, one from Ireland and one from America, who find themselves in the midst of personal crises and spontaneously decide to swap houses for the month. The premise of last year's The Holiday, starring Cameron Diaz, Kate Winslet, Jude Law and Jack Black, is similar enough that I immediately thought of the book when I saw the trailers, even wondering briefly if this was an adaptation of that novel. It's not - and actually that book has been made into a film of the same name, though it wasn't released in American theaters. But the basic idea is that two women in their late twenties or early thirties, one from America and one from England, switch homes for two weeks, during which they try to escape from the misery of two failed relationships, little knowing that far better romances await them in their new surroundings.

The American is fabulously rich but emotionally empty Amanda (Diaz). She makes her millions in L.A. producing movie trailers and is so wrapped up in her work that wherever she goes, she hears the distinct, rumbling tones of renowned movie trailer narrator Hal Douglas, offering cinematic commentary on the story of her life. After her latest break-up with a putz who cheats on her and blames it on her workaholism, Amanda, disturbed that she can't muster a single tear for her sad situation, decides she needs a vacation.

A Google search leads her to Iris (Winslet), a lowly journalist in Surrey who listed her charming cottage in the middle of nowhere on a home exchange site. The timing couldn't be better, since Iris has just learned that Jasper (Rufus Sewell), the rakish co-worker with whom she's been smitten for the past three years, has gotten engaged and never bothered to tell her; in fact, moments before the engagement was announced at the office Christmas party, he was busy flirting with her, inspiring hope that their on-again, off-again relationship might be headed in a positive direction. Now she just wants to get away from him.

It's perhaps a little too convenient how easily these women with sordid romantic pasts stumble upon the men of their dreams, but such is the stuff of Hollywood, and anyway, profound relationships can develop quickly when people are thrown into unfamiliar circumstances. Amanda meets Graham (Law), Iris's brother, when he comes pounding on her door in the middle of the night a scant six hours after her traumatic arrival, drunkenly demanding a bathroom and a place to crash for the night. Equally startled at the sight of each other, both are stricken with an immediate attraction that leads them to plunge recklessly into what both believe will be a one-night stand.

For Iris, the process is more gradual. Her first introduction to Miles (Black), a film composer and acquaintance of Amanda, is brief and awkward, and they don't meet again for a few days, by which point Iris has managed to establish a firm friendship with Amanda's 90-year-old neighbor, feisty screenwriting legend Arthur Abbott (Eli Wallach). Her kinship with Miles develops as an outgrowth of that, and as he already has a girlfriend, they enjoy one another's company but don't outwardly acknowledge any romantic attraction; the kisses Miles plants on her cheek seem more indicative of an old-fashioned gentility than an attempt to woo her. But when Miles learns his darling Maggie (Shannyn Sassamon), supposedly out of state working on a movie, has been back in town for days and shacking up with another man, the game changes a bit...

Although I was rather put off by the way Amanda and Graham's relationship turns physical minutes after meeting each other, there's an undeniable sweetness to the way it progresses from there. In another actor's hands, our first impression could be that Graham is little better than a lecherous drunk. But the devilishly handsome Law is so irresistible in the role, his indiscretions are swiftly forgiven, particularly since it is technically Amanda who puts the moves on him. Though he professes to be a love-'em-and-leave-'em kind of guy, his actions speak louder than words; he shows himself to be gentlemanly, sincere and vulnerable in scene after scene, and even when we learn he has been keeping a major aspect of his life from Amanda, the motivation behind his secrecy only makes him more endearing. The high-maintenance Amanda is the least charming of the main foursome, but she's still quite likable, especially toward the end of the movie.

I'm used to seeing Black in schlub-finds-redemption roles; he always seems to turn out a decent guy, even if those tendencies are a bit buried. Here, he's surprisingly mellow, and his character is both accomplished and courteous, the perfect antidote to the roguish, manipulative Jasper. Black and Winslet don't get nearly as much screen time together as Diaz and Law do, since half of Iris's scenes are focused on the mutually mentorly relationship she develops with Arthur, who reluctantly agrees to appear at an event in his honor after considerable nudging by his new friend. I tend to find many of Winslet's characters a tad abrasive, but Iris is entirely sympathetic, her consideration and respect for Arthur and her easy camaraderie with Miles proving that she does indeed deserve to be the "leading lady" rather than the "best friend", as Arthur observes.

He makes other observations throughout the film as well that constitute a running commentary on the way Hollywood has changed over the years; there's quite a bit of sly self-reference as well, as when he refers to the moment when Iris offers him a lift home as a "meet-cute". With Arthur, Miles and Amanda all deeply involved in some aspect of the film-making process, these sorts of references slip out often, along with amusing cameos from Lindsay Lohan, James Franco and Dustin Hoffman. This is a movie that doesn't allow us to forget it's a movie.

There are a few somewhat shaky plots points to consider. The women switch houses with one day's notice, which seems an awfully short time in which to make arrangements for such a trip. I guess there really are no arrangements; they just pick up and leave with minimal luggage, notifying few people of their plans. Iris even leaves behind her dog, and it's not too clear whether she mentioned this to Amanda. When she first arrives, Amanda is forced to trudge through the snow in high heels because the cab driver refuses to chug down that narrow country road and risk getting stuck, but at the end, the same driver pulls up to the cottage and turns around without protest halfway down the road at Amanda's request. I'd like to think he felt badly about giving Amanda such a crummy first impression of England, but it does seem like slightly inconsistent characterization.

While this is more a stylistic issue than a plot point, I found it strange that the film begins with a voiceover by Iris, but she doesn't provide narration at any other point in the film. I might say it's a nod to her deciding to take the leading lady role, but the narration seems to be rooted in the moment of the Christmas party, at which point she is still feeling very much on the sidelines. Most problematically, while we're offered a blissful final scene that screams happy Hollywood ending, we're not given any solid solution to the problem that has plagued these romances from the beginning - that is, the fact that all four people have considerable commitments which happen to be rooted half a world away from their newfound loves.

But that's a problem for another movie. For this one, the ending is sufficient, leaving us feeling warm and fuzzy, happy it all worked out so nicely for these folks, if only until the credits roll.