Binge-Watching The Latest Holiday Movies: Highlights, Lowlights, and Unexpected Delights.
‘Tis the time of year to relax on the couch and devour a packet of holiday pastries in front of a good movie, a bad movie, or one that’s awesomely awful.
This year, a batch of new Christmas films strives to join part of our seasonal watchlist—potentially even earning a place alongside enduring classics like Home Alone, Elf, Love Actually, and Die Hard (don’t start).
So, in a vital public service to sort the crackers from the turkeys, and to embrace the festive feeling, I watched as many recent festive movies as possible in a single day.
7.17am - A Very Jonas Christmas Movie
Kicking off, ideally, on a high. This film is the only 2025 movie on a famous website's list of the best 100 Christmas movies of all time.
The Jonas Brothers find themselves stranded in the UK after concluding their world tour and must return for Christmas. Their endeavors are thwarted by an evil Santa, who breaks into song to state they won’t get home until they “rediscover their familial spark.”
The repartee between the arguing trio is enjoyable even for the uninitiated, while fans will undoubtedly catch lots of in-jokes as they attempt to get back using all transportation available.
It’s a travelogue of mishaps.
It’s not a timeless masterpiece, but is great for devotees and a positive start to the day.
Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄 for Jonas Brothers fans or 🎄🎄🎄 for their loved ones who must sit through it.
8.45am - Tinsel Town
Famous performer Kiefer Sutherland stars as a movie actor cast a traditional British stage show.
“A panto-what?” asks Sutherland’s “temperamental” and aging action hero Brad Mack, who has hit a rough patch and whose representative has misled him into thinking he’s appearing in high-class London stage.
His pantomime cast-mates let him know he’s playing Buttons. “No I'm not,” he retorts. One can imagine their response. That is, unless you’re ignorant of traditional British theatre traditions.
There are some very funny lines, some cockle-warming storylines, and the supporting actors is excellent, too.
It’s the kind of movie that would be a bit naff at any other time of year, but is a lot of fun at Christmas.
Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄🎄
A New Spin on Scrooge
A familiar face pops up at the beginning of this film, too, insulting someone for the next movie straight. Might this become a budding festive ritual?
This time, he’s a crooning chauffeur who picks up Mr Sood, the newest interpretation on Mr Scrooge from Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol.
Mr Sood is played by an actor from Kunal Nayyar and Christmas Karma is directed by the director of Gurinder Chadha. The familiar story progresses as the miserly Mr Sood is visited by the spirits of Christmas yesterday, today, and tomorrow, played by Hugh Bonneville, Billy Porter, and Boy George.
This South Asian reinterpretation is at least distinct from all the others, but sadly he’s not very compelling and Nayyar’s acting is wooden—a significant issue when he’s so the focal point.
Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄
Lunchtime: Stuffed
There's just enough time for a network's original festive film—which stars Guz Khan as a endearingly grumpy man who “doesn’t really do Christmas.”
But after he receives an large festive windfall at work, his wife (starring Morgana Robinson) persuades him blowing the money on a vacation to Lapland.
There’s just one issue—he finds out there was an error with his bonus, which should have been £800, and he has to devise a plan for how to pay back the remainder.
Pleasant yet unmemorable.
Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄
1.12pm - Champagne Problems
This is one of those Christmas films where the decorations and snow are in the backdrop—Christmas is the scene of the film rather than its core purpose—but it feels cosy and festive all the same.
High-powered businesswoman Sydney (played by Minka Kelly) is sent to a French chateau to secure an acquisition for a sparkling wine company. On the way, she encounters a man in a book store who offers to show her Christmas in Paris.
A critic recently stated this is the best new Christmas film of the recent era. That’s a bit of a overstatement, but it is a Christmas romance with a hint of sophistication and gives the obligatory warm and fuzzy feels.
The scene with a lengthy discussion about Die Hard is very good too.
Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄
Mid-Afternoon: Finding Father Christmas
Teenage Chris, played by Lenny Rush, refuses to stop believing in Father Christmas, in spite of the efforts of his dad (played by James Buckley) to tell him the reality.
The truth is out there, and Chris embarks on a quest to find it with the guidance of a team of well-known scientists and personalities.
It’s low-key but sweet, and ideal viewing while waiting for Santa to visit.
Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄
Late Afternoon: Oh. What. Fun.
Michelle Pfeiffer is the matriarch of a quarrelling American family who gather for the holidays—including other Oscar nominee Felicity Jones, Chloe Grace Moretz, Jason Schwartzman, and dad Denis Leary.
Pfeiffer opens by name-dropping holiday staples like National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, It’s A Wonderful Life and Home Alone, before stating: “They need to make a movie about the unsung heroes of the holidays—moms.”
So that’s what this is, but in practice it’s really a combination of those forerunner films, at least until Pfeiffer’s character finally comes into her own.
Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄
Formulaic Fun
The day’s taken a dip, but thankfully here’s a new entry in the saturated market of cliched, saccharine, over-the-top—and highly entertaining—seasonal comfort food.
It’s a story as old as time: An American woman travels to a distant snowy land and ends up finding romance.
In this case, Caprice Bourret plays a publisher