Just the other day I was insulting Ben Affleck, and gosh darnit if I don't have to take it back and apologize in time to get my own Christmas spirit jump-started.

Affleck's recent career lows, including the movie-that-need-not-be-named, led many to expect disaster from any high-concept comedy called "Surviving Christmas."

But the surprisingly effective bleak humor earned scene by scene in "Surviving Christmas" reveals the proper formula that Affleck abandoned after "Good Will Hunting." Directors need to surround him with an edgy, talented cast of character actors and let Affleck be his big-hearted, self-absorbed self. As a well-meaning narcissist, he is pretty good company for the holidays, even if the pending holiday actually happens to be Halloween.

"Surviving Christmas" should not be confused with John Grisham's featherweight "Skipping Christmas," though the Affleck vehicle arrives early precisely because of Grisham's bestselling spectre. "Skipping Christmas" will appear as "Christmas with the Kranks" in a few weeks.

"Surviving Christmas" goes deeper. I like Tim Allen, the lead Krank, but he can't offer the promising menace of James Gandolfini.

Affleck plays Drew, a millionaire marketing executive whose latest stroke of genius is pre-spiked eggnog in handy twist-top plastic bottles. A personality conflict is what roots "Surviving Christmas" soundly in American culture. He's a deeply sentimental guy excelling at the most cynical of professions.

Dumped by his girlfriend, Drew desperately seeks company to break his streak of lonely yuletides. A psychologist tells him to go back to the site of his prime grievances and forgive everyone. So Drew knocks on the door of his childhood home and immediately annoys the bickering family now living there.

But he doesn't annoy them quite enough. He likes their style, led by the inimitable Gandolfini as a neutered Tony Soprano. Drew decides to rent them. If they agree to fulfill all his childhood Christmas fantasies - "including but not limited to" sledding, baking and snuggling by the fire - he'll pay them $250,000.

This forced family is ridiculous, of course. Except that it's so commonplace. We force ourselves on each other every Christmas, and the great majority of families somehow work it out anyway. The legal contract is the perfect device to let Drew meddle in everybody's affairs, just like any overconfident big brother would do.

Affleck's timing is terrific as he directs his angry "family," ignoring every insult until cutting them all down with supreme smarty-pants-ness. His manic enthusiasm for finally doing Christmas "right" makes his voice crack in mid-sentence, letting us wonder if he's about to giggle or sob.

He'd be flailing without good support, and with Gandolfini as "dad," Catherine O'Hara as "mom" and Christina Applegate as "sis," the cast has more rough edges than the bookcase I made in junior high shop.

By formula this must all lead to happiness of some sort. Even the corrosive "Bad Santa" turned upbeat, despite the long jail sentence.

The sign you might be "Surviving Christmas" yourself is if, like I did, you start caring whether this family can turn things around. It's a tall order - maybe nine days before Halloween is exactly the right time to start.

TITLE: “Surviving Christmas”DIRECTOR: Mike MitchellCAST: Ben Affleck, James Gandolfini, Christina Applegate, Catherine O’HaraRATED: PG-13 (sexual content, language and a brief drug reference)GRADE: * * * (on a scale of 5)