Devouring 2025's Holiday Movies: The Hits, The Misses, and The Guilty Pleasures.
‘Tis the season to relax on the sofa and devour a box of festive treats in front of a great film, a bad movie, or one that’s so bad it’s good.
This year, a selection of fresh Christmas films aims to become part of our holiday traditions—perhaps even joining the ranks alongside timeless staples like Home Alone, Elf, Love Actually, and Die Hard (don’t start).
So, in a noble effort to sort the crackers from the turkeys, and to embrace the holiday mood, I marathoned as many recent Christmas films as possible in a single day.
7.17am - A Very Jonas Christmas Movie
Beginning, hopefully, on a good foot. This release is the only 2025 entry on a famous website's list of the greatest 100 holiday films of all time.
The Jonas Brothers find themselves stuck in the UK after finishing their global concert series and must make it back for Christmas. Their attempts are thwarted by an villainous Saint Nick, who sings to state they won’t get home until they “rediscover their sibling bond.”
The repartee between the bickering brothers is entertaining even for the uninitiated, while devotees will certainly notice lots of easter eggs as they endeavor to get back using all transportation available.
It’s a travelogue of mishaps.
It’s not an all-time classic, but is excellent for fans 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 appears as a celebrity roped into a traditional British stage show.
“A panto-what?” asks Sutherland’s “temperamental” and ageing action hero Brad Mack, who has seen better days and whose agent has misled him into thinking he’s appearing in high-class London stage.
His pantomime co-stars tell him he’s playing Buttons. “Absolutely not,” he insists angrily. It's easy to predict 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 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 great entertainment at Christmas.
Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄🎄
A New Spin on Scrooge
Danny Dyer appears at the outset of this film, too, delivering a signature line for the next movie straight. Might this become a fresh holiday staple?
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 filmmaker behind Gurinder Chadha. The well-known tale progresses as the miserly Mr Sood is confronted by the ghosts of Christmas yesterday, today, and tomorrow, played by Hugh Bonneville, Billy Porter, and Boy George.
This cultural adaptation is at least distinct from all the others, but regrettably he’s not very compelling and Nayyar’s portrayal is wooden—a problem when he’s so the focal point.
Festive score: 🎄🎄
Noon: A BBC Special
There's just enough time for a network's original festive film—which stars Guz Khan as a charmingly cantankerous character who “isn't big on Christmas.”
But after he receives an £8,000 Christmas bonus at work, his wife (starring Morgana Robinson) persuades him spending the sum on a vacation to Lapland.
There’s just one problem—he discovers there was an mistake with his bonus, which should have been £800, and he has to figure out how to pay back the remainder.
Enjoyable but forgettable.
Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄
1.12pm - Champagne Problems
This is one of those Christmas films where the festive trappings are in the background—Christmas is the environment of the film rather than its core purpose—but it feels cosy and festive all the same.
High-powered businesswoman Sydney (starring Minka Kelly) is sent to a country estate to secure an acquisition for a sparkling wine company. During her travels, she runs into a guy in a literary haven who promises to show her a festive Paris.
An expert recently declared this is the top new Christmas film of the past few years. That’s a bit of a stretch, but it is a festive dalliance with a touch of class and gives the necessary warm and fuzzy feels.
The scene with a detailed conversation about Die Hard is very good too.
Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄
A Charming Quest
Young Chris, played by Lenny Rush, refuses to stop believing in Father Christmas, in spite of the efforts of his dad (played by James Buckley) to tell him the reality.
The secret is to be discovered, and Chris sets out to find it with the guidance of a team of well-known scientists and personalities.
It’s gentle but endearing, and ideal viewing while waiting for Santa to visit.
Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄
4.39pm - Oh. What. Fun.
Michelle Pfeiffer is the matriarch of a dysfunctional American family who reunite for the holidays—including fellow Oscar nominee 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 concept, but in practice it’s really a combination of those inspirations, at least until Pfeiffer’s character at last comes into her own.
Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄
Evening: A Scottish Christmas Secret
The day’s waned in quality, but fortunately here’s a new addition in the packed genre of formulaic, schmaltzy, badly acted—and utterly watchable—festive fodder.
It’s a tale as well-worn: 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
