Devouring This Year's Holiday Movies: The Hits, The Misses, and The Guilty Pleasures.
‘Tis the season to slob out on the sofa and demolish a packet of holiday pastries in front of a great film, a awful feature, or one that’s terrible yet terrific.
Once again, a crop of new Christmas films strives to join part of our holiday traditions—maybe even finding a spot alongside timeless staples like Home Alone, Elf, Love Actually, and Die Hard (no arguments).
Thus, in a helpful attempt to distinguish the gems from the coal, and to find the holiday mood, I watched as many new Christmas films as possible in a single day.
Early Morning: A Very Jonas Christmas Movie
Beginning, hopefully, on a positive note. This film is the sole 2025 title on a well-known aggregator's list of the greatest 100 holiday films of all time.
The musical trio end up stranded in the UK after finishing their global concert series and must make it back for Christmas. Their attempts are hindered by an malevolent Father Christmas, who sings to declare they won’t get home until they “rediscover their sibling bond.”
The back-and-forth between the bickering brothers is enjoyable even for the non-fan, while devotees will certainly pick up on lots of easter eggs as they try to get back using all transportation available.
It’s a travelogue of mishaps.
It’s not an all-time classic, but is excellent for devotees and a good start to the day.
Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄 for Jonas Brothers fans or 🎄🎄🎄 for their loved ones who are obliged to sit through it.
8.45am - Tinsel Town
Hollywood star Kiefer Sutherland stars as a movie actor roped into a pantomime.
“A what's a panto??” asks Sutherland’s “hard-to-work-with” and ageing star Brad Mack, who has hit a rough patch and whose manager has tricked him into thinking he’s starring in renowned British drama.
His Aladdin fellow actors tell him he’s playing Buttons. “No I'm not,” he insists angrily. You can guess their retort. That is, unless you’re ignorant of traditional stage call-and-response.
There are some hilarious moments, some cockle-warming side stories, and the supporting actors is brilliant, too.
It’s the sort of feature that would be a bit tacky at a different time, but is a great entertainment at Christmas.
Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄🎄
10.19am - Christmas Karma
Danny Dyer pops up at the outset of this film, too, delivering a signature line for the second consecutive movie. Is this a fresh holiday staple?
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 a star of Kunal Nayyar and Christmas Karma is directed by the filmmaker behind Gurinder Chadha. The familiar story develops as the stingy Mr Sood is confronted by the spirits of Christmas yesterday, today, and tomorrow, 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 captivating and Nayyar’s portrayal is flat—a major flaw when he’s so the main character.
Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄
Lunchtime: Stuffed
Before lunch for a major broadcaster's Christmas comedy-drama—which stars Guz Khan as a charmingly cantankerous character who “avoids Christmas.”
But after he is awarded an large festive windfall at work, his wife (portrayed by Morgana Robinson) convinces him splurging the cash on a family trip to Lapland.
There’s just one snag—he finds out there was an mix-up with his bonus, which should have been £800, and he has to figure out how to reimburse the excess.
Pleasant yet unmemorable.
Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄
Early Afternoon: Champagne Problems
This is one of those Christmas films where the festive trappings are in the setting—Christmas is the environment of the film rather than its core purpose—but it feels warm and holiday-like all the same.
Ambitious executive Sydney (played by Minka Kelly) is sent to a country estate to do a deal for a champagne business. During her travels, she runs into a fellow in a literary haven who offers to show her Christmas in Paris.
A critic recently claimed this is the best new Christmas film of the recent era. That’s a bit of a stretch, but it is a festive dalliance with a dash of elegance and gives the necessary heartwarming sensation.
The scene with a extended debate about Die Hard is very good too.
Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄
A Charming Quest
Teenage Chris, played by Lenny Rush, refuses to stop believing in Father Christmas, in spite of the attempts of his dad (starring James Buckley) to tell him the truth.
The answer is out there, and Chris ventures forth to find it with the guidance of a panel of well-known experts and celebrities.
It’s low-key but endearing, and good viewing while expecting Santa to visit.
Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄
4.39pm - Oh. What. Fun.
Michelle Pfeiffer is the mother of a quarrelling American family who reunite for the holidays—including fellow 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 real champions of the holidays—moms.”
So that’s the premise, but in execution it’s really a jumble of those inspirations, at least until Pfeiffer’s character at last comes into her own.
Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄
6.43pm - A Scottish Christmas Secret
The day’s gone downhill, but fortunately here’s a new addition in the crowded field of cliched, saccharine, over-the-top—and utterly watchable—seasonal comfort food.
It’s a narrative as familiar as can be: An American woman goes on a quest to a far-off wintery locale and ends up finding romance.
In this case, Caprice Bourret plays a publisher
