Devouring 2025's Christmas Films: The Good, The Bad and The So-Bad-It's-Good.

It is the season to lounge on the sofa and devour a box of festive treats in front of a good movie, a awful feature, or one that’s terrible yet terrific.

Once again, a crop of latest holiday movies aims to become part of our seasonal watchlist—perhaps even earning a place alongside timeless staples like Home Alone, Elf, Love Actually, and Die Hard (don’t start).

Thus, in a helpful attempt to separate the winners from the losers, and to find the festive feeling, I binged as many recent Christmas films as possible in a single day.

Early Morning: A Very Jonas Christmas Movie

Kicking off, ideally, on a good foot. This is the sole 2025 movie on a well-known aggregator's list of the greatest 100 Christmas movies of all time.

The popular band are stranded in the UK after concluding their world tour and must make it back for Christmas. Their attempts are thwarted by an malevolent Father Christmas, who breaks into song to announce they won’t get home until they “rediscover their brotherly magic.”

The banter between the squabbling siblings is entertaining even for the casual viewer, while devotees will certainly pick up on lots of in-jokes as they attempt to get back using any means of transport necessary.

It’s a journey of epic proportions.

It’s not legendary, 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.

8.45am - Tinsel Town

Hollywood star Kiefer Sutherland stars as a movie actor tricked into a pantomime.

“A panto-what??” asks Sutherland’s “difficult” and ageing star Brad Mack, who has fallen on hard times and whose agent has tricked him into thinking he’s performing in renowned British drama.

His Aladdin cast-mates let him know he’s playing Buttons. “Oh no I’m not,” he retorts. You can guess their retort. Unless you’re unfamiliar with traditional British theatre traditions.

There are some very funny lines, some touching side stories, and the supporting actors is cracking, too.

It’s the type of film that would be a bit cheesy at any other time of year, but is a highly enjoyable at Christmas.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄🎄

10.19am - Christmas Karma

Danny Dyer shows up at the outset of this film, too, calling someone a mug for the second consecutive movie. Could this be 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 an actor from Kunal Nayyar and Christmas Karma is directed by Bend It Like Beckham’s Gurinder Chadha. The classic narrative progresses as the tight-fisted Mr Sood is confronted by the ghosts 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 charismatic and Nayyar’s acting is flat—a problem when he’s so central to everything.

Festive score: 🎄🎄

Noon: A BBC Special

There’s time for a channel's original festive film—which stars Guz Khan as a lovably grouchy guy who “isn't big on Christmas.”

But after he receives an £8,000 Christmas bonus at work, his wife (played by Morgana Robinson) convinces him blowing the money on a vacation 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 devise a plan for how to pay back the remainder.

Enjoyable but forgettable.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄

1.12pm - Champagne Problems

This is one of those holiday movies where the tree, fairy lights and snow are in the setting—Christmas is the scene of the film rather than its main point—but it feels cosy and festive all the same.

Ambitious executive Sydney (starring Minka Kelly) is dispatched to a French chateau to negotiate a purchase for a sparkling wine company. During her travels, she encounters a guy in a literary haven who offers to show her a festive Paris.

An expert recently stated 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 required warm and fuzzy feels.

The scene with a lengthy discussion about Die Hard is very good too.

Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄

3.29pm - Finding Father Christmas

Sixteen-year-old Chris, played by Lenny Rush, continues to believe in Father Christmas, in spite of the attempts of his dad (played by James Buckley) to tell him the reality.

The truth is somewhere, and Chris ventures forth to find it with the assistance of a group of well-known experts and celebrities.

It’s understated but sweet, and ideal viewing while waiting for Santa to visit.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄

A Star-Studded Family Drama

Michelle Pfeiffer is the mother of a quarrelling American family who come back together for the holidays—including fellow acclaimed actress 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 declaring: “They need to make a movie about the unsung heroes 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 eventually takes center stage.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄

Formulaic Fun

The day’s waned in quality, but fortunately here’s a new offering in the saturated market of formulaic, schmaltzy, badly acted—and utterly watchable—seasonal comfort food.

It’s a story as familiar as can be: An American woman journeys to a picturesque cold country and ends up stumbling across romance.

In this case, Caprice Bourret plays a publisher