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

It is the time of year to slob out on the couch and demolish a tin of mince pies in front of a terrific flick, a awful feature, or one that’s awesomely awful.

As always, a batch of latest Christmas films hopes to be part of our seasonal watchlist—perhaps even finding a spot 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 embrace the Christmas spirit, I binged as many fresh holiday releases as possible in a single day.

Early Morning: A Very Jonas Christmas Movie

Kicking off, optimistically, on a good foot. This release is the sole 2025 entry on a famous website's list of the best 100 festive features of all time.

The Jonas Brothers find themselves trapped in the UK after finishing their global concert series and must make it back for Christmas. Their attempts are thwarted by an evil Santa, who bursts into melody to state they won’t get home until they “rekindle their familial spark.”

The banter between the arguing trio is enjoyable even for the casual viewer, while devotees will undoubtedly pick up on lots of in-jokes as they attempt to get back using all transportation available.

It’s a journey of epic proportions.

It’s not an all-time classic, but is excellent for devotees and a positive start to the day.

Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄 for Jonas Brothers fans or 🎄🎄🎄 for their loved ones who must sit through it.

Next: A Star in Panto

Hollywood star Kiefer Sutherland stars as a celebrity roped into a "panto".

“A panto-what?” asks Sutherland’s “difficult” and older lead Brad Mack, who has fallen on hard times and whose representative has misled him into thinking he’s appearing in prestigious English theatre.

His Aladdin cast-mates tell him he’s playing Buttons. “Oh no I’m not,” he insists angrily. You can guess their reply. That is, unless you’re ignorant of traditional British theatre traditions.

There are some hilarious moments, some touching sub-plots, and the ensemble is brilliant, too.

It’s the sort of feature 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

A familiar face shows up at the outset of this film, too, calling someone a mug for the second film in a row. Could this be a budding festive ritual?

This time, he’s a crooning chauffeur who collects 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 stingy Mr Sood is confronted by the spirits of Christmas yesterday, today, and tomorrow, played by Hugh Bonneville, Billy Porter, and Boy George.

This Indian Scrooge is at least unique from all the others, but unfortunately he’s not very charismatic and Nayyar’s portrayal is lifeless—a major flaw when he’s so the main character.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄

Lunchtime: Stuffed

There’s time for a network's holiday special—which stars Guz Khan as a endearingly grumpy man who “doesn’t really do Christmas.”

But after he gets an £8,000 Christmas bonus at work, his wife (played by Morgana Robinson) convinces him spending the sum 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 remainder.

Enjoyable but forgettable.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄

Early Afternoon: Champagne Problems

This is one of those holiday movies where the festive trappings are in the setting—Christmas is the setting of the film rather than its core purpose—but it feels warm and holiday-like all the same.

Ambitious executive Sydney (starring Minka Kelly) is sent to a country estate to do a deal for a sparkling wine company. During her travels, she encounters a guy in a book store who offers to show her Christmas in Paris.

An expert recently claimed this is the top new Christmas film of the last several seasons. That’s a bit of a overstatement, but it is a holiday love story with a dash of elegance and gives the obligatory warm and fuzzy feels.

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

Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄

Mid-Afternoon: Finding Father Christmas

Teenage Chris, played by Lenny Rush, holds onto his belief in Father Christmas, in spite of the efforts of his dad (played by James Buckley) to tell him otherwise.

The truth is somewhere, and Chris sets out to find it with the guidance of a team of well-known figures.

It’s low-key but sweet, and perfect viewing while waiting for Santa to visit.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄

A Star-Studded Family Drama

Michelle Pfeiffer is the mother 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 starts by mentioning Christmas classics like National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, It’s A Wonderful Life and Home Alone, before saying: “They need to make a movie about the real champions of the holidays—moms.”

So that’s the premise, but in reality it’s really a mash-up of those forerunner films, at least until Pfeiffer’s character finally takes center stage.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄

Formulaic Fun

The day’s waned in quality, but fortunately here’s a new offering in the crowded field of cliched, saccharine, over-the-top—and utterly watchable—festive fodder.

It’s a tale as well-worn: 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