Devouring This Year's Holiday Movies: The Hits, The Misses, and The Guilty Pleasures.
It is the season to relax on the sofa and consume a tin of mince pies in front of a good movie, a poor film, or one that’s awesomely awful.
Once again, a selection of new Christmas films strives to join part of our festive viewing—maybe even earning a place alongside enduring classics like Home Alone, Elf, Love Actually, and Die Hard (we won’t debate it).
Therefore, in a vital public service to distinguish the gems from the coal, and to embrace the holiday mood, I marathoned as many recent festive movies as possible in a single day.
7.17am - A Very Jonas Christmas Movie
Beginning, optimistically, on a high. This film is the exclusive 2025 title on a well-known aggregator's list of the top 100 Christmas movies of all time.
The popular band find themselves stuck in the UK after concluding their international trek and must get home for Christmas. Their endeavors are thwarted by an villainous Saint Nick, who bursts into melody to state they won’t get home until they “rekindle their sibling bond.”
The repartee between the squabbling siblings is amusing even for the uninitiated, while followers will no doubt pick up on lots of in-jokes as they try to get back using any means of transport necessary.
It’s a journey of epic proportions.
It’s not a timeless masterpiece, but is superb for devotees and a solid start to the day.
Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄 for Jonas Brothers fans or 🎄🎄🎄 for their loved ones who must sit through it.
Late Morning: Tinsel Town
Famous performer Kiefer Sutherland stars as a Hollywood star tricked into a pantomime.
“A what's a panto??” asks Sutherland’s “hard-to-work-with” and ageing lead Brad Mack, who has fallen on hard times and whose representative has misled him into thinking he’s performing in renowned British drama.
His pantomime cast-mates inform him he’s playing Buttons. “Absolutely not,” he protests. It's easy to predict their reply. Except if you’re ignorant of traditional stage call-and-response.
There are some very funny lines, some cockle-warming storylines, and the supporting actors is excellent, too.
It’s the sort of feature that would be a bit tacky at a different time, but is a great entertainment at Christmas.
Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄🎄
Mid-Morning: Christmas Karma
An actor pops up at the start of this film, too, insulting someone for the second film in a row. Might this become a budding festive ritual?
This time, he’s a singing black cab driver who picks up Mr Sood, the modern take 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 filmmaker behind Gurinder Chadha. The familiar story unfolds as the stingy Mr Sood is visited 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 different from all the others, but unfortunately he’s not very charismatic and Nayyar’s performance is wooden—a significant issue when he’s so the main character.
Festive score: 🎄🎄
12.04pm - Stuffed
There’s time for a channel's Christmas comedy-drama—which stars Guz Khan as a endearingly grumpy man who “avoids Christmas.”
But after he receives an sizable holiday payout at work, his wife (starring Morgana Robinson) convinces him spending the sum on a family trip to Lapland.
There’s just one issue—he discovers there was an mistake with his bonus, which should have been £800, and he has to determine how to pay back the difference.
Enjoyable but forgettable.
Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄
A Classy Netflix Romance
This is one of those Christmas films where the tree, fairy lights and snow are in the backdrop—Christmas is the environment of the film rather than its core purpose—but it feels warm and holiday-like all the same.
Driven corporate star Sydney (played by Minka Kelly) is assigned to a French chateau to negotiate a purchase for a sparkling wine company. During her travels, she runs into a guy in a book store who vows to show her Christmas in Paris.
A critic recently declared this is the best new Christmas film of the last several seasons. That’s a bit of a exaggeration, but it is a festive dalliance with a touch of class and gives the obligatory heartwarming sensation.
The scene with a detailed conversation about Die Hard is very good too.
Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄
A Charming Quest
Sixteen-year-old Chris, played by Lenny Rush, holds onto his belief in Father Christmas, in spite of the attempts 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 guidance of a group of well-known experts and celebrities.
It’s gentle but endearing, and ideal viewing while waiting for Santa to visit.
Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄
4.39pm - Oh. What. Fun.
Michelle Pfeiffer is the head of a quarrelling American family who come back together for the holidays—including other acclaimed actress Felicity Jones, Chloe Grace Moretz, Jason Schwartzman, and dad Denis Leary.
Pfeiffer begins by referencing holiday staples like National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, It’s A Wonderful Life and Home Alone, before declaring: “They need to make a movie about the true heroes of the holidays—moms.”
So that’s the premise, but in execution it’s really a mash-up of those forerunner films, at least until Pfeiffer’s character eventually comes into her own.
Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄
6.43pm - A Scottish Christmas Secret
The day’s gone downhill, but fortunately here’s a new offering in the saturated market of cliched, saccharine, over-the-top—and utterly watchable—holiday fare.
It’s a narrative as familiar as can be: An American woman journeys to a distant snowy land and ends up stumbling across romance.
In this case, Caprice Bourret plays a publisher
