Devouring 2025's Christmas Films: The Hits, The Misses, and The Guilty Pleasures.

It is the season to lounge on the sofa and devour a packet of mince pies in front of a good movie, a awful feature, or one that’s so bad it’s good.

Once again, a selection of new Christmas films aims to become part of our seasonal watchlist—potentially even finding a spot alongside enduring classics like Home Alone, Elf, Love Actually, and Die Hard (don’t start).

Thus, in a noble effort to separate the winners from the losers, and to get into the holiday mood, I binged as many recent festive movies as possible in a single day.

First Up: The Jonas Brothers' Holiday Flick

Kicking off, optimistically, on a positive note. This is the sole 2025 entry on a popular review site's list of the greatest 100 holiday films of all time.

The popular band end up stuck in the UK after concluding their international trek and must get home for Christmas. Their attempts are hampered by an villainous Saint Nick, who breaks into song to announce they won’t get home until they “find their brotherly magic.”

The back-and-forth between the arguing trio is enjoyable even for the non-fan, while followers will certainly pick up on lots of references as they attempt to get back using all transportation available.

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 relatives who will have to sit through it.

Next: A Star in Panto

Hollywood star Kiefer Sutherland has been cast as a movie actor tricked into a traditional British stage show.

“A what's a panto??” asks Sutherland’s “hard-to-work-with” and older star Brad Mack, who has seen better days and whose manager has misled him into thinking he’s performing in renowned British drama.

His pantomime cast-mates inform him he’s playing Buttons. “Oh no I’m not,” he protests. One can imagine their retort. Except if you’re ignorant of traditional stage call-and-response.

There are some hilarious moments, some heartwarming side stories, and the rest of the cast is excellent, too.

It’s the kind of movie that would be a bit naff at another season, but is a lot of fun at Christmas.

Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄🎄

10.19am - Christmas Karma

An actor shows up at the start of this film, too, delivering a signature line for the second film in a row. Might this become a budding festive ritual?

This time, he’s a crooning chauffeur who encounters 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 the filmmaker behind Gurinder Chadha. The classic narrative develops as the miserly Mr Sood is confronted by the ghosts of Christmas past, present and future, played by Hugh Bonneville, Billy Porter, and Boy George.

This Indian Scrooge is at least different from all the others, but unfortunately he’s not very compelling and Nayyar’s performance is wooden—a problem when he’s so central to everything.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄

Noon: A BBC Special

There's just enough time for a channel'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 (portrayed by Morgana Robinson) persuades him blowing the money on a vacation 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 figure out how to pay back the difference.

Enjoyable but forgettable.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄

A Classy Netflix Romance

This is one of those Christmas films where the decorations and snow are in the background—Christmas is the scene of the film rather than its main point—but it feels cosy and festive all the same.

Ambitious executive Sydney (played by Minka Kelly) is assigned to a country estate to negotiate a purchase for a champagne business. During her travels, she encounters a man in a literary haven who offers to show her the holidays in the City of Light.

A commentator recently stated this is the best new Christmas film of the last several seasons. That’s a bit of a exaggeration, but it is a holiday love story with a hint of sophistication and gives the obligatory warm and fuzzy feels.

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

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄

Mid-Afternoon: Finding Father Christmas

Teenage Chris, played by Lenny Rush, refuses to stop believing in Father Christmas, regardless of the efforts of his dad (played by James Buckley) to tell him the reality.

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

It’s low-key but charming, and perfect viewing while anticipating Santa to visit.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄

4.39pm - Oh. What. Fun.

Michelle Pfeiffer is the matriarch of a quarrelling American family who gather for the holidays—including other Oscar nominee 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 true heroes of the holidays—moms.”

So that’s the premise, but in reality it’s really a jumble of those aforementioned movies, at least until Pfeiffer’s character finally comes into her own.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄

6.43pm - A Scottish Christmas Secret

The day’s taken a dip, but thankfully here’s a new offering in the packed genre of cliched, saccharine, over-the-top—and utterly watchable—festive fodder.

It’s a narrative as familiar as can be: An American woman journeys to a distant snowy land and ends up stumbling across romance.

In this case, Caprice Bourret plays a publisher