It is the season to slob out on the couch and consume a box of holiday pastries in front of a great film, a bad movie, or one that’s so bad it’s good.
This year, a batch of fresh Christmas films strives to join part of our festive viewing—perhaps even earning a place alongside enduring classics like Home Alone, Elf, Love Actually, and Die Hard (don’t start).
So, in a helpful attempt to separate the winners from the losers, and to embrace the Christmas spirit, I binged as many new festive movies as possible in a single day.
Early Morning: A Very Jonas Christmas Movie
Kicking off, ideally, on a high. This release is the exclusive 2025 entry on a famous website's list of the greatest 100 Christmas movies of all time.
The Jonas Brothers are stuck in the UK after finishing their global concert series and must get home for Christmas. Their endeavors are hindered by an evil Santa, who bursts into melody to state they won’t get home until they “rediscover their sibling bond.”
The banter between the bickering brothers is enjoyable even for the non-fan, while devotees will certainly pick up on lots of references as they endeavor to get back using every mode of travel possible.
It’s a journey of epic proportions.
It’s not an all-time classic, but is great for fans and a positive start to the day.
Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄 for Jonas Brothers fans or 🎄🎄🎄 for their relatives who must sit through it.
Next: A Star in Panto
A-list actor Kiefer Sutherland has been cast as a movie actor roped into a traditional British stage show.
“A panto-what??” asks Sutherland’s “temperamental” and aging star Brad Mack, who has fallen on hard times and whose manager has misled him into thinking he’s appearing in prestigious English theatre.
His pantomime co-stars inform him he’s playing Buttons. “Absolutely not,” he retorts. One can imagine their response. Except if you’re not acquainted with traditional stage call-and-response.
There are some great jokes, some heartwarming side stories, and the ensemble is excellent, too.
It’s the kind of movie that would be a bit cheesy at a different time, but is a highly enjoyable at Christmas.
Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄🎄
10.19am - Christmas Karma
Danny Dyer appears at the start of this film, too, calling someone a mug for the second film in a row. Is this a budding festive ritual?
This time, he’s a singing black cab driver who collects Mr Sood, the latest spin 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 classic narrative develops 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 cultural adaptation is at least different from all the others, but unfortunately he’s not very compelling and Nayyar’s performance is wooden—a major flaw when he’s so the focal point.
Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄
Noon: A BBC Special
Before lunch for a network's original festive film—which stars Guz Khan as a charmingly cantankerous character who “avoids Christmas.”
But after he receives an £8,000 Christmas bonus at work, his wife (played by Morgana Robinson) talks him into blowing the money on a holiday 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 reimburse the excess.
Fun while it lasts but not lasting.
Festive score: 🎄🎄
Early Afternoon: Champagne Problems
This is one of those Christmas films where the decorations and snow are in the backdrop—Christmas is the setting of the film rather than its raison d’etre—but it feels cosy and festive all the same.
Ambitious executive Sydney (played by Minka Kelly) is assigned to a vineyard to negotiate a purchase for a champagne business. During her travels, she meets a man in a bookshop who promises to show her a festive Paris.
A commentator 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 required heartwarming sensation.
The scene with a extended debate about Die Hard is notable too.
Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄
Mid-Afternoon: Finding Father Christmas
Sixteen-year-old Chris, played by Lenny Rush, holds onto his belief in Father Christmas, regardless of the attempts of his dad (played by James Buckley) to tell him otherwise.
The answer is somewhere, and Chris ventures forth to find it with the expert help of a team of well-known scientists and personalities.
It’s gentle but charming, and perfect viewing while expecting Santa to visit.
Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄
4.39pm - Oh. What. Fun.
Michelle Pfeiffer is the matriarch of a dysfunctional American family who reunite for the holidays—including other Oscar nominee Felicity Jones, Chloe Grace Moretz, Jason Schwartzman, and dad Denis Leary.
Pfeiffer opens by name-dropping Christmas classics like National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, It’s A Wonderful Life and Home Alone, before saying: “They need to make a movie about the real champions of the holidays—moms.”
So that’s the concept, but in execution it’s really a mash-up of those inspirations, at least until Pfeiffer’s character finally comes into her own.
Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄
Evening: A Scottish Christmas Secret
The day’s taken a dip, but thankfully here’s a new entry in the crowded field of formulaic, schmaltzy, badly acted—and strangely compelling—festive fodder.
It’s a story as well-worn: An American woman journeys to a picturesque cold country and ends up finding romance.
In this case, Caprice Bourret plays a publisher
