🔗 Share this article Devouring 2025's Christmas Films: The Hits, The Misses, and The Guilty Pleasures. ‘Tis the time of year to lounge on the sofa and devour a box of holiday pastries in front of a terrific flick, a poor film, or one that’s so bad it’s good. As always, a batch of latest holiday movies aims to become part of our seasonal watchlist—maybe even finding a spot alongside timeless staples like Home Alone, Elf, Love Actually, and Die Hard (we won’t debate it). So, in a vital public service to separate the winners from the losers, and to get into the holiday mood, I watched as many fresh holiday releases as possible in a single day. 7.17am - A Very Jonas Christmas Movie Kicking off, hopefully, on a good foot. This film is the only 2025 entry on a popular review site's list of the greatest 100 Christmas movies of all time. The Jonas Brothers find themselves stranded in the UK after finishing their world tour and must get home for Christmas. Their endeavors are thwarted by an evil Santa, who breaks into song to announce they won’t get home until they “find their brotherly magic.” The repartee between the arguing trio is enjoyable even for the casual viewer, while devotees will certainly catch lots of in-jokes as they try to get back using every mode of travel possible. It’s a travelogue of mishaps. It’s not a timeless masterpiece, but is great for fans and a positive start to the day. Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄 for Jonas Brothers fans or 🎄🎄🎄 for their family members who are obliged to sit through it. 8.45am - Tinsel Town A-list actor Kiefer Sutherland stars as a movie actor tricked into a pantomime. “A panto-what?” asks Sutherland’s “hard-to-work-with” and older star Brad Mack, who has fallen on hard times and whose agent has misled him into thinking he’s performing in prestigious English theatre. His Aladdin co-stars inform him he’s playing Buttons. “Absolutely not,” he retorts. You can guess their retort. Unless you’re not acquainted with traditional panto catchphrases. There are some great jokes, some touching storylines, and the supporting actors is brilliant, too. It’s the sort of feature that would be a bit naff at a different time, but is a highly enjoyable at Christmas. Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄🎄 A New Spin on Scrooge An actor shows up at the beginning of this film, too, calling someone a mug for the second consecutive movie. Could this be a fresh holiday staple? This time, he’s a musical taxi operator who encounters 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 progresses as the stingy Mr Sood is haunted by the apparitions of Christmas past, present and future, played by Hugh Bonneville, Billy Porter, and Boy George. This Indian Scrooge is at least distinct from all the others, but sadly he’s not very compelling and Nayyar’s acting is lifeless—a significant issue when he’s so the focal point. Festive score: 🎄🎄 12.04pm - Stuffed Before lunch for a channel's original festive film—which stars Guz Khan as a charmingly cantankerous character who “isn't big on Christmas.” But after he receives an large festive windfall at work, his wife (starring Morgana Robinson) talks him into splurging the cash on a holiday to Lapland. There’s just one problem—he finds out there was an mix-up with his bonus, which should have been £800, and he has to devise a plan for how to pay back the excess. Pleasant yet unmemorable. Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄 A Classy Netflix Romance This is one of those Christmas films where the tree, fairy lights and snow are in the setting—Christmas is the setting of the film rather than its main point—but it feels cosy and festive all the same. Ambitious executive Sydney (starring Minka Kelly) is sent to a French chateau to secure an acquisition for a sparkling wine company. On the way, she encounters a fellow in a literary haven who promises to show her Christmas in Paris. A commentator recently claimed this is the best new Christmas film of the last several seasons. That’s a bit of a stretch, but it is a holiday love story with a touch of class and gives the obligatory cozy feelings. The scene with a detailed conversation about Die Hard is very good too. Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄 Mid-Afternoon: Finding Father Christmas Young Chris, played by Lenny Rush, continues to believe in Father Christmas, in spite of the efforts of his dad (starring James Buckley) to tell him otherwise. The truth is somewhere, and Chris sets out to find it with the guidance of a panel of well-known figures. It’s gentle but charming, and ideal viewing while waiting for Santa to visit. Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄 4.39pm - Oh. What. Fun. Michelle Pfeiffer is the mother of a bickering American family who gather for the holidays—including fellow acclaimed actress Felicity Jones, Chloe Grace Moretz, Jason Schwartzman, and dad Denis Leary. Pfeiffer opens by name-dropping classic festive films like National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, It’s A Wonderful Life and Home Alone, before saying: “They need to make a movie about the unsung heroes of the holidays—moms.” So that’s what this is, but in practice it’s really a mash-up of those aforementioned movies, at least until Pfeiffer’s character eventually comes into her own. Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄 6.43pm - A Scottish Christmas Secret The day’s gone downhill, but fortunately here’s a new entry in the crowded field of cliched, saccharine, over-the-top—and utterly watchable—holiday fare. It’s a tale as familiar as can be: An American woman journeys to a far-off wintery locale and ends up stumbling across romance. In this case, Caprice Bourret plays a publisher
‘Tis the time of year to lounge on the sofa and devour a box of holiday pastries in front of a terrific flick, a poor film, or one that’s so bad it’s good. As always, a batch of latest holiday movies aims to become part of our seasonal watchlist—maybe even finding a spot alongside timeless staples like Home Alone, Elf, Love Actually, and Die Hard (we won’t debate it). So, in a vital public service to separate the winners from the losers, and to get into the holiday mood, I watched as many fresh holiday releases as possible in a single day. 7.17am - A Very Jonas Christmas Movie Kicking off, hopefully, on a good foot. This film is the only 2025 entry on a popular review site's list of the greatest 100 Christmas movies of all time. The Jonas Brothers find themselves stranded in the UK after finishing their world tour and must get home for Christmas. Their endeavors are thwarted by an evil Santa, who breaks into song to announce they won’t get home until they “find their brotherly magic.” The repartee between the arguing trio is enjoyable even for the casual viewer, while devotees will certainly catch lots of in-jokes as they try to get back using every mode of travel possible. It’s a travelogue of mishaps. It’s not a timeless masterpiece, but is great for fans and a positive start to the day. Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄 for Jonas Brothers fans or 🎄🎄🎄 for their family members who are obliged to sit through it. 8.45am - Tinsel Town A-list actor Kiefer Sutherland stars as a movie actor tricked into a pantomime. “A panto-what?” asks Sutherland’s “hard-to-work-with” and older star Brad Mack, who has fallen on hard times and whose agent has misled him into thinking he’s performing in prestigious English theatre. His Aladdin co-stars inform him he’s playing Buttons. “Absolutely not,” he retorts. You can guess their retort. Unless you’re not acquainted with traditional panto catchphrases. There are some great jokes, some touching storylines, and the supporting actors is brilliant, too. It’s the sort of feature that would be a bit naff at a different time, but is a highly enjoyable at Christmas. Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄🎄 A New Spin on Scrooge An actor shows up at the beginning of this film, too, calling someone a mug for the second consecutive movie. Could this be a fresh holiday staple? This time, he’s a musical taxi operator who encounters 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 progresses as the stingy Mr Sood is haunted by the apparitions of Christmas past, present and future, played by Hugh Bonneville, Billy Porter, and Boy George. This Indian Scrooge is at least distinct from all the others, but sadly he’s not very compelling and Nayyar’s acting is lifeless—a significant issue when he’s so the focal point. Festive score: 🎄🎄 12.04pm - Stuffed Before lunch for a channel's original festive film—which stars Guz Khan as a charmingly cantankerous character who “isn't big on Christmas.” But after he receives an large festive windfall at work, his wife (starring Morgana Robinson) talks him into splurging the cash on a holiday to Lapland. There’s just one problem—he finds out there was an mix-up with his bonus, which should have been £800, and he has to devise a plan for how to pay back the excess. Pleasant yet unmemorable. Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄 A Classy Netflix Romance This is one of those Christmas films where the tree, fairy lights and snow are in the setting—Christmas is the setting of the film rather than its main point—but it feels cosy and festive all the same. Ambitious executive Sydney (starring Minka Kelly) is sent to a French chateau to secure an acquisition for a sparkling wine company. On the way, she encounters a fellow in a literary haven who promises to show her Christmas in Paris. A commentator recently claimed this is the best new Christmas film of the last several seasons. That’s a bit of a stretch, but it is a holiday love story with a touch of class and gives the obligatory cozy feelings. The scene with a detailed conversation about Die Hard is very good too. Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄 Mid-Afternoon: Finding Father Christmas Young Chris, played by Lenny Rush, continues to believe in Father Christmas, in spite of the efforts of his dad (starring James Buckley) to tell him otherwise. The truth is somewhere, and Chris sets out to find it with the guidance of a panel of well-known figures. It’s gentle but charming, and ideal viewing while waiting for Santa to visit. Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄 4.39pm - Oh. What. Fun. Michelle Pfeiffer is the mother of a bickering American family who gather for the holidays—including fellow acclaimed actress Felicity Jones, Chloe Grace Moretz, Jason Schwartzman, and dad Denis Leary. Pfeiffer opens by name-dropping classic festive films like National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, It’s A Wonderful Life and Home Alone, before saying: “They need to make a movie about the unsung heroes of the holidays—moms.” So that’s what this is, but in practice it’s really a mash-up of those aforementioned movies, at least until Pfeiffer’s character eventually comes into her own. Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄 6.43pm - A Scottish Christmas Secret The day’s gone downhill, but fortunately here’s a new entry in the crowded field of cliched, saccharine, over-the-top—and utterly watchable—holiday fare. It’s a tale as familiar as can be: An American woman journeys to a far-off wintery locale and ends up stumbling across romance. In this case, Caprice Bourret plays a publisher