Marathon Viewing This Year's Holiday Movies: The Good, The Bad and The So-Bad-It's-Good.
It is the season to slob out on the sofa and demolish a packet of mince pies in front of a great film, a awful feature, or one that’s so bad it’s good.
As always, a batch of new Christmas films aims to become part of our seasonal watchlist—potentially even earning a place alongside timeless staples like Home Alone, Elf, Love Actually, and Die Hard (don’t start).
Therefore, in a vital public service to separate the winners from the losers, and to embrace the holiday mood, I marathoned as many fresh festive movies as possible in a single day.
7.17am - A Very Jonas Christmas Movie
Kicking off, optimistically, on a high. This release is the exclusive 2025 title on a famous website's list of the best 100 holiday films of all time.
The Jonas Brothers find themselves stranded in the UK after finishing their international trek and must get home for Christmas. Their endeavors are hindered by an malevolent Father Christmas, who breaks into song to announce they won’t get home until they “rekindle their brotherly magic.”
The banter between the arguing trio is amusing even for the casual viewer, while devotees will undoubtedly notice lots of references as they attempt to get back using any means of transport necessary.
It’s private planes, trains and automobiles.
It’s not legendary, but is excellent for fans and a solid start to the day.
Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄 for Jonas Brothers fans or 🎄🎄🎄 for their loved ones who are obliged to sit through it.
Next: A Star in Panto
Hollywood star Kiefer Sutherland appears as a movie actor roped into a "panto".
“A panto-what??” asks Sutherland’s “difficult” and older lead Brad Mack, who has hit a rough patch and whose representative has deceived him into thinking he’s appearing in prestigious English theatre.
His Aladdin co-stars inform him he’s playing Buttons. “No I'm not,” he protests. It's easy to predict their retort. That is, unless you’re ignorant of traditional panto catchphrases.
There are some very funny lines, some touching sub-plots, and the supporting actors is brilliant, too.
It’s the kind of movie that would be a bit tacky at another season, but is a highly enjoyable at Christmas.
Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄🎄
Mid-Morning: Christmas Karma
Danny Dyer pops up at the start of this film, too, insulting someone for the second consecutive movie. Might this become 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 a star of Kunal Nayyar and Christmas Karma is directed by the director of Gurinder Chadha. The familiar story develops as the miserly Mr Sood is visited by the apparitions of Christmas past, present and future, played by Hugh Bonneville, Billy Porter, and Boy George.
This South Asian reinterpretation is at least different from all the others, but regrettably he’s not very captivating and Nayyar’s portrayal is flat—a significant issue when he’s so central to everything.
Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄
Noon: A BBC Special
Before lunch for a channel's Christmas comedy-drama—which stars Guz Khan as a lovably grouchy guy who “avoids Christmas.”
But after he is awarded an large festive windfall at work, his wife (played by Morgana Robinson) talks him into splurging the cash on a family trip to Lapland.
There’s just one problem—he learns there was an mistake with his bonus, which should have been £800, and he has to determine how to reimburse the difference.
Enjoyable but forgettable.
Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄
A Classy Netflix Romance
This is one of those Christmas films where the decorations and snow are in the setting—Christmas is the environment 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 dispatched to a vineyard to negotiate a purchase for a champagne business. On the way, she encounters a fellow in a book store who vows to show her a festive Paris.
An expert recently stated this is the best new Christmas film of the past few years. That’s a bit of a stretch, but it is a festive dalliance with a hint of sophistication and gives the necessary heartwarming sensation.
The scene with a lengthy discussion about Die Hard is particularly strong too.
Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄
Mid-Afternoon: Finding Father Christmas
Sixteen-year-old Chris, played by Lenny Rush, holds onto his belief in Father Christmas, despite the efforts of his dad (starring James Buckley) to tell him the truth.
The answer is somewhere, and Chris embarks on a quest to find it with the assistance of a panel of well-known experts and celebrities.
It’s low-key but charming, and good viewing while waiting for Santa to visit.
Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄
4.39pm - Oh. What. Fun.
Michelle Pfeiffer is the head 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 saying: “They need to make a movie about the unsung heroes of the holidays—moms.”
So that’s the premise, but in reality it’s really a jumble of those forerunner films, at least until Pfeiffer’s character at last takes center stage.
Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄
Formulaic Fun
The day’s taken a dip, but thankfully here’s a new offering in the saturated market of predictable, sentimental, cheesy—and utterly watchable—seasonal comfort food.
It’s a story as old as time: An American woman travels to a picturesque cold country and ends up discovering romance.
In this case, Caprice Bourret plays a publisher
