“I like corny. I’m looking for corny in my life.” That’s Kate Winslet in “The Holiday,” which opened on Friday. Oh, she’ll get corn all right and then some in this cutesy-poo concoction written and directed by Nancy Meyers (“Something’s Gotta Give”).

Film affords a viewer the opportunity to see something they otherwise would never be able to access except in their wildest imagination. In her movies Meyers plays that concept to the hilt by showcasing real estate superior to the HGTV Dream Home. In “Something’s Gotta Give” it was Diane Keaton’s beachfront home in the Hamptons; that goes double in “The Holiday” with a veritable mansion in the fashionable Brentwood section of Los Angeles (hello, O.J.) and a precious cottage in the English countryside right out of the Dickens’ Village collection.

Okay, I enjoy the escapism from the humdrum of ordinary life but the trouble starts when Meyers writes her screenplays with characters that have not a shred of realism to them, especially in the romance department. I mean, what planet are these people from?

“The Holiday” borrows from a concept that dates back to the long forgotten 1962 TV series “Fair Exchange” as well as Meyers’ 1998 vehicle, “The Parent Trap.” This time Cameron Diaz decides to exchange a two-week stay at her Brentwood estate for Winslet’s English cottage. Why? Because it is so close to Christmas and both ladies have suffered the indignity of being jilted by their jerk boyfriends. Imagine that—a babe like Cameron Diaz without another honey to text message for comfort during the holiday.

That’s about as far-fetched as me staying at the Waldorf-Astoria with Tyra Banks in tow.

Diaz plays Amanda, a shrill type-A personality movie trailer producer (yes, those annoying commercials we all sit through for 15 minutes waiting for a film to start) who wants to get away from it all after her latest romance fails.

She hooks up online with Iris (Ms. Winslet), who writes the wedding announcement column for London’s Daily Telegraph. Iris’ lugubrious three-year relationship with a cad of a fellow has come to an abrupt halt. Amanda asks Iris, “Are there any men in your town?” Iris answers “Zero.” “When can I come???” is the immediate response.

Ah, but everyone knows where this is heading, especially those of us who have seen the trailer. Amanda does the “meet cute” routine with Iris’ book editor brother Graham (Jude Law in the Hugh Grant role, strangely tan in the middle of the European winter), while Iris inexplicably hooks up with film composer Miles (Jack Black, strangely subdued as though he was ingesting Haldol before breakfast).

There are some truly heartfelt moments in the movie and the audience I sat with laughed at numerous witty exchanges of dialog. There is even a nice subplot involving a lonely retired screenwriter played by Eli Wallach who befriends Winslet. Straight from the checklist is the obligatory cute dog that steals a scene from Diaz and then inexplicably disappears from the rest of the picture.