Devouring This Year's Festive Features: The Good, The Bad and The So-Bad-It's-Good.
It is the time of year to lounge on the couch and consume a tin of mince pies in front of a terrific flick, a poor film, or one that’s awesomely awful.
Once again, a crop of new holiday movies hopes to be part of our seasonal watchlist—maybe even earning a place alongside enduring classics like Home Alone, Elf, Love Actually, and Die Hard (don’t start).
So, in a noble effort to distinguish the gems from the coal, and to embrace the festive feeling, I binged as many fresh Christmas films as possible in a single day.
Early Morning: A Very Jonas Christmas Movie
Beginning, hopefully, on a high. This film is the sole 2025 entry on a well-known aggregator's list of the top 100 Christmas movies of all time.
The musical trio are trapped in the UK after wrapping up their global concert series and must return for Christmas. Their efforts are thwarted by an villainous Saint Nick, who sings to state they won’t get home until they “rediscover their familial spark.”
The banter between the bickering brothers is amusing even for the non-fan, while followers will certainly notice lots of easter eggs as they attempt to get back using all transportation available.
It’s a journey of epic proportions.
It’s not an all-time classic, but is great for fans and a solid start to the day.
Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄 for Jonas Brothers fans or 🎄🎄🎄 for their family members who must sit through it.
8.45am - Tinsel Town
Famous performer Kiefer Sutherland has been cast as a movie actor roped into a traditional British stage show.
“A panto-what??” asks Sutherland’s “hard-to-work-with” and older star Brad Mack, who has fallen on hard times and whose manager has tricked him into thinking he’s starring in renowned British drama.
His Aladdin co-stars let him know he’s playing Buttons. “No I'm not,” he protests. It's easy to predict their response. Except if you’re not acquainted with traditional stage call-and-response.
There are some great jokes, some heartwarming storylines, and the ensemble is brilliant, too.
It’s the type of film that would be a bit cheesy at any other time of year, but is a lot of fun at Christmas.
Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄🎄
Mid-Morning: Christmas Karma
An actor shows up at the beginning of this film, too, insulting someone for the next movie straight. Might this become a new Christmas tradition?
This time, he’s a crooning chauffeur who collects 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 Bend It Like Beckham’s Gurinder Chadha. The well-known tale unfolds as the stingy Mr Sood is haunted by the apparitions of Christmas yesterday, today, and tomorrow, played by Hugh Bonneville, Billy Porter, and Boy George.
This Indian Scrooge is at least unique from all the others, but sadly he’s not very compelling and Nayyar’s acting is lifeless—a major flaw when he’s so central to everything.
Festive score: 🎄🎄
12.04pm - Stuffed
Before lunch for a major broadcaster's holiday special—which stars Guz Khan as a lovably grouchy guy who “avoids Christmas.”
But after he gets an sizable holiday payout at work, his wife (starring Morgana Robinson) convinces him spending the sum on a vacation to Lapland.
There’s just one issue—he finds out there was an mistake with his bonus, which should have been £800, and he has to determine how to return the remainder.
Fun while it lasts but not lasting.
Festive score: 🎄🎄
1.12pm - Champagne Problems
This is one of those Christmas films where the tree, fairy lights and snow are in the setting—Christmas is the scene of the film rather than its raison d’etre—but it feels cosy and festive all the same.
High-powered businesswoman Sydney (starring Minka Kelly) is dispatched to a country estate to secure an acquisition for a sparkling wine company. During her travels, she encounters a fellow in a book store who vows to show her Christmas in Paris.
A critic recently declared this is the finest new Christmas film of the recent era. That’s a bit of a overstatement, but it is a festive dalliance with a hint of sophistication and gives the necessary warm and fuzzy feels.
The scene with a lengthy discussion about Die Hard is particularly strong too.
Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄
A Charming Quest
Sixteen-year-old Chris, played by Lenny Rush, continues to believe in Father Christmas, regardless of the persuasion of his dad (starring James Buckley) to tell him otherwise.
The secret is to be discovered, and Chris embarks on a quest to find it with the guidance of a group of well-known experts and celebrities.
It’s gentle but endearing, and good viewing while anticipating Santa to visit.
Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄
4.39pm - Oh. What. Fun.
Michelle Pfeiffer is the mother of a dysfunctional American family who come back together for the holidays—including fellow acclaimed actress 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 real champions of the holidays—moms.”
So that’s what this is, but in reality it’s really a combination of those forerunner films, at least until Pfeiffer’s character eventually finds her strength.
Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄
6.43pm - A Scottish Christmas Secret
The day’s gone downhill, but fortunately here’s a new offering in the crowded field of formulaic, schmaltzy, badly acted—and highly entertaining—holiday fare.
It’s a tale as well-worn: An American woman travels to a far-off wintery locale and ends up stumbling across romance.
In this case, Caprice Bourret plays a publisher
