Here's an excellent recipe for a holiday charmer: Take two charismatic and easy-on-the-eyes romantic leads (Morris Chestnut, The Brothers, and Gabrielle Union, Bring It On); put them in an entertainingly preposterous plot that keeps them from falling too easily in each other's arms; surround them with a cantankerous and sneaky supporting cast of friends and foes (such as Katt Williams, Friday After Next; Rachel True, The Craft; Charles Q. Murphy, Chappelles's Show; and Faizon Love, Idlewild); and frame it all with a couple of supernatural spirits of good and bah-humbug (Queen Latifah, Bringing Down the House, and Terence Howard, Hustle & Flow). Mix it all with bright colors and smart sideways quips--sometimes out of the mouths of a trio of adorable tykes--and you've got The Perfect Holiday, about a songwriting department store Santa (Chestnut) who, thanks to a little girl's wish, falls in love with a single mom (Union)--who just happens to be the ex-wife of a crass hip-hop superstar (Murphy) who's looking for a hit song. Some elements don't entirely mesh and the screwball plot stretches belief at times, but cheerfully so, and the actors are so appealing you can't resist going along with them. All in all, a holiday movie that doesn't oversell the treacle yet manages to end up warm and fuzzy; this could become an annual favorite. --Bret Fetzer