Marathon Viewing This Year's Christmas Films: The Hits, The Misses, and The Guilty Pleasures.
It is the time of year to relax on the couch and devour a box of festive treats in front of a good movie, a awful feature, or one that’s awesomely awful.
As always, a batch of latest Christmas films aims to become part of our seasonal watchlist—maybe even earning a place alongside timeless staples like Home Alone, Elf, Love Actually, and Die Hard (no arguments).
Therefore, in a helpful attempt to separate the winners from the losers, and to get into the festive feeling, I binged as many recent holiday releases as possible in a single day.
Early Morning: A Very Jonas Christmas Movie
Kicking off, optimistically, on a high. This film is the exclusive 2025 title on a popular review site's list of the best 100 Christmas movies of all time.
The musical trio end up stranded in the UK after wrapping up their global concert series and must make it back for Christmas. Their efforts are hindered by an evil Santa, who breaks into song to announce they won’t get home until they “rediscover their brotherly magic.”
The back-and-forth between the squabbling siblings is entertaining even for the casual viewer, while followers will certainly catch lots of in-jokes as they endeavor to get back using any means of transport necessary.
It’s a journey of epic proportions.
It’s not an all-time classic, but is great for devotees 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 celebrity roped into a traditional British stage show.
“A panto-what??” asks Sutherland’s “temperamental” and ageing star Brad Mack, who has hit a rough patch and whose manager has misled him into thinking he’s appearing in high-class London stage.
His Aladdin fellow actors tell him he’s playing Buttons. “Oh no I’m not,” he retorts. One can imagine their retort. That is, unless you’re not acquainted with traditional panto catchphrases.
There are some very funny lines, some cockle-warming sub-plots, and the rest of the cast is brilliant, too.
It’s the sort of feature that would be a bit tacky at any other time of year, but is a highly enjoyable at Christmas.
Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄🎄
A New Spin on Scrooge
A familiar face appears at the beginning of this film, too, insulting someone for the second consecutive movie. Is this a new Christmas tradition?
This time, he’s a crooning chauffeur who encounters Mr Sood, the modern take on Mr Scrooge from Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol.
Mr Sood is played by The Big Bang Theory’s Kunal Nayyar and Christmas Karma is directed by the director of Gurinder Chadha. The familiar story unfolds as the stingy Mr Sood is confronted by the spirits of Christmas past, present and future, played by Hugh Bonneville, Billy Porter, and Boy George.
This cultural adaptation is at least different from all the others, but sadly he’s not very captivating and Nayyar’s performance is wooden—a problem when he’s so central to everything.
Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄
Lunchtime: Stuffed
Before lunch for a network's Christmas comedy-drama—which stars Guz Khan as a endearingly grumpy man who “avoids Christmas.”
But after he gets an large festive windfall at work, his wife (starring Morgana Robinson) talks him into blowing the money on a vacation to Lapland.
There’s just one snag—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 return the excess.
Enjoyable but forgettable.
Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄
1.12pm - Champagne Problems
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 core purpose—but it feels comfortable and seasonal all the same.
Driven corporate star Sydney (played by Minka Kelly) is sent to a vineyard to negotiate a purchase for a sparkling wine company. During her travels, she meets a fellow in a bookshop who vows to show her the holidays in the City of Light.
A commentator recently claimed this is the top new Christmas film of the last several seasons. That’s a bit of a overstatement, but it is a holiday love story with a hint of sophistication and gives the required cozy feelings.
The scene with a lengthy discussion about Die Hard is very good too.
Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄
Mid-Afternoon: Finding Father Christmas
Sixteen-year-old 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 truth is out there, and Chris sets out to find it with the expert help of a group of well-known experts and celebrities.
It’s low-key but endearing, and ideal viewing while anticipating Santa to visit.
Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄
A Star-Studded Family Drama
Michelle Pfeiffer is the mother 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 declaring: “They need to make a movie about the true heroes of the holidays—moms.”
So that’s what this is, but in practice it’s really a jumble of those inspirations, at least until Pfeiffer’s character finally finds her strength.
Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄
6.43pm - A Scottish Christmas Secret
The day’s taken a dip, but happily here’s a new offering in the saturated market of predictable, sentimental, cheesy—and utterly watchable—holiday fare.
It’s a story as old as time: 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
