Binge-Watching This Year's Christmas Films: The Good, The Bad and The So-Bad-It's-Good.
‘Tis the time of year to relax on the couch and consume a tin of holiday pastries in front of a great film, a poor film, or one that’s awesomely awful.
As always, a crop of latest holiday movies strives to join part of our seasonal watchlist—maybe even joining the ranks alongside enduring classics like Home Alone, Elf, Love Actually, and Die Hard (don’t start).
Thus, in a vital public service to distinguish the gems from the coal, and to embrace the holiday mood, I marathoned as many fresh holiday releases as possible in a single day.
Early Morning: A Very Jonas Christmas Movie
Kicking off, optimistically, on a good foot. This film is the sole 2025 title on a famous website's list of the greatest 100 Christmas movies of all time.
The popular band are stuck in the UK after finishing their global concert series and must get home for Christmas. Their endeavors are thwarted by an villainous Saint Nick, who bursts into melody to announce they won’t get home until they “rekindle their familial spark.”
The banter between the bickering brothers is entertaining even for the casual viewer, while followers will undoubtedly catch lots of easter eggs as they attempt to get back using any means of transport necessary.
It’s a journey of epic proportions.
It’s not legendary, but is superb for fans and a solid start to the day.
Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄 for Jonas Brothers fans or 🎄🎄🎄 for their relatives who are obliged to sit through it.
Next: A Star in Panto
Hollywood star Kiefer Sutherland appears as a celebrity tricked into a pantomime.
“A what's a panto??” asks Sutherland’s “temperamental” and aging lead Brad Mack, who has fallen on hard times and whose representative has deceived him into thinking he’s appearing in renowned British drama.
His Aladdin fellow actors let him know he’s playing Buttons. “Oh no I’m not,” he retorts. You can guess their response. That is, unless you’re ignorant of traditional panto catchphrases.
There are some great jokes, some cockle-warming sub-plots, and the supporting actors is cracking, too.
It’s the sort of feature that would be a bit cheesy at any other time of year, but is a great entertainment at Christmas.
Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄🎄
A New Spin on Scrooge
A familiar face shows up at the beginning of this film, too, insulting someone for the second film in a row. Could this be a budding festive ritual?
This time, he’s a crooning chauffeur who encounters Mr Sood, the latest spin 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 develops as the stingy Mr Sood is haunted by the spirits of Christmas past, present and future, played by Hugh Bonneville, Billy Porter, and Boy George.
This South Asian reinterpretation is at least unique from all the others, but sadly he’s not very compelling and Nayyar’s portrayal is lifeless—a significant issue when he’s so the main character.
Festive score: 🎄🎄
12.04pm - Stuffed
Before lunch for a channel's Christmas comedy-drama—which stars Guz Khan as a endearingly grumpy man who “avoids Christmas.”
But after he is awarded an sizable holiday payout at work, his wife (played by Morgana Robinson) persuades him blowing the money on a family trip to Lapland.
There’s just one issue—he learns there was an mistake with his bonus, which should have been £800, and he has to figure out how to return the excess.
Pleasant yet unmemorable.
Festive score: 🎄🎄
Early Afternoon: Champagne Problems
This is one of those Christmas films where the tree, fairy lights and snow are in the setting—Christmas is the setting of the film rather than its raison d’etre—but it feels cosy and festive all the same.
High-powered businesswoman Sydney (played by Minka Kelly) is assigned to a vineyard to do a deal for a champagne business. On the way, she encounters a man in a literary haven who offers to show her a festive Paris.
An expert recently stated this is the best new Christmas film of the last several seasons. That’s a bit of a exaggeration, but it is a Christmas romance with a touch of class and gives the obligatory warm and fuzzy feels.
The scene with a lengthy discussion about Die Hard is notable too.
Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄
3.29pm - Finding Father Christmas
Young Chris, played by Lenny Rush, refuses to stop believing in Father Christmas, despite the efforts of his dad (played by James Buckley) to tell him the reality.
The secret is to be discovered, and Chris embarks on a quest to find it with the expert help of a group of well-known experts and celebrities.
It’s gentle but charming, and perfect viewing while anticipating Santa to visit.
Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄
Late Afternoon: Oh. What. Fun.
Michelle Pfeiffer is the head 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 begins by referencing Christmas classics 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 execution it’s really a combination of those forerunner films, at least until Pfeiffer’s character finally comes into her own.
Festive score: 🎄🎄
Evening: A Scottish Christmas Secret
The day’s waned in quality, but fortunately here’s a new addition in the crowded field of predictable, sentimental, cheesy—and strangely compelling—festive fodder.
It’s a story as familiar as can be: An American woman goes on a quest to a picturesque cold country and ends up stumbling across romance.
In this case, Caprice Bourret plays a publisher
