You would be hard pressed to find someone who has never dealt with the struggle of balancing family demands during the festive season.

Thus the appeal of romantic comedy Four Holidays. While not everyone has four sets of parents like the main characters, we can understand Christmas Day's relative angst.

Four Holidays successfully harnesses the audience's empathy for the subject matter and delivers a laugh and pathos.

It will not collect critical acclaim or even go down as one of the Christmas classics like It's A Wonderful Life or, at the other extreme, National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation.

For time out from tree decoration, present shopping or even Christmas Day strategy, it will come as welcome relief.

The film's premise is simple: happy and contented couple Brad (Vince Vaughn) and Kate (Reese Witherspoon) have their Christmas Day routine down pat. Each year the couple, who both come from divorced families hop a plane to a tropical location where they enjoy the sun, surf and avoid the challenge of family harmony.

Unfortunately, with their flights to Fiji cancelled and their faces on the TV news as unlucky holiday makers, Brad and Kate have no choice but to see all their families in one day.

It's a recipe for disaster, particularly when neither has been introduced to their partner's parents or siblings.

As a result, there are family stories to be told, revelations to be made and the couple begin to question what they hold dear.

There are three things that really make Four Holidays work as a successful film. The first is the impressive casting which not only offers Vaughn and Witherspoon as convincing romantic leads, but also a solid supporting cast including Robert Duvall, Sissy Spacek, Jon Voight, Mary Steenburgen, Kristin Chenoweth and singers-turned-actors Dwight Yoakam and Tim McGraw.

Then there's its humour, which goes between slapstick and delicate family humiliation, and finally the film's enjoyable plot twists and climax.

The leads do come to a pretty dramatic conclusion about their future in the course of the film.

It is not, as can happen in other films, dealt with lightly but rather is blunt and to the point and because of this, successful.

If you like your romantic comedies with a little spice, some laughs and solid performances, be sure to watch Four Holidays this silly season. Sometimes you just need a little better-than-average escapism.