Binge-Watching 2025's Christmas Films: The Hits, The Misses, and The Guilty Pleasures.

It is the season to lounge on the couch and demolish a tin of holiday pastries in front of a good movie, a bad movie, or one that’s terrible yet terrific.

This year, a crop of latest seasonal stories hopes to be part of our festive viewing—perhaps even joining the ranks alongside enduring classics like Home Alone, Elf, Love Actually, and Die Hard (no arguments).

Therefore, in a vital public service to separate the winners from the losers, and to embrace the festive feeling, I marathoned as many new holiday releases as possible in a single day.

Early Morning: A Very Jonas Christmas Movie

Kicking off, optimistically, on a good foot. This is the exclusive 2025 entry on a famous website's list of the top 100 holiday films of all time.

The Jonas Brothers find themselves stranded in the UK after wrapping up their international trek and must make it back for Christmas. Their endeavors are thwarted by an evil Santa, who breaks into song to declare they won’t get home until they “rekindle their brotherly magic.”

The repartee between the arguing trio is entertaining even for the uninitiated, while fans will no doubt notice lots of references as they endeavor to get back using any means of transport necessary.

It’s a journey of epic proportions.

It’s not legendary, but is great for devotees and a solid start to the day.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄 for Jonas Brothers fans or 🎄🎄🎄 for their loved ones who must sit through it.

Late Morning: Tinsel Town

Hollywood star Kiefer Sutherland has been cast as a movie actor tricked into a "panto".

“A what's a panto??” asks Sutherland’s “temperamental” and ageing action hero Brad Mack, who has seen better days and whose manager has deceived him into thinking he’s performing in high-class London stage.

His pantomime fellow actors inform him he’s playing Buttons. “Oh no I’m not,” he protests. It's easy to predict their response. Except if you’re ignorant of traditional stage call-and-response.

There are some very funny lines, some heartwarming storylines, and the ensemble is cracking, too.

It’s the type of film that would be a bit tacky at a different time, but is a great entertainment at Christmas.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄🎄

10.19am - Christmas Karma

Danny Dyer pops up at the start of this film, too, insulting someone for the second film in a row. Might this become a budding festive ritual?

This time, he’s a musical taxi operator who picks up Mr Sood, the newest interpretation 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 well-known tale unfolds as the miserly Mr Sood is haunted by the ghosts 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 regrettably he’s not very charismatic and Nayyar’s performance is lifeless—a major flaw when he’s so the focal point.

Festive score: 🎄🎄

Noon: A BBC Special

Before lunch for a major broadcaster's holiday special—which stars Guz Khan as a charmingly cantankerous character who “isn't big on Christmas.”

But after he gets an large festive windfall at work, his wife (starring Morgana Robinson) convinces him spending the sum on a family trip 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 determine how to pay back the difference.

Pleasant yet unmemorable.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄

1.12pm - Champagne Problems

This is one of those Christmas films where the festive trappings are in the backdrop—Christmas is the environment of the film rather than its main point—but it feels warm and holiday-like all the same.

High-powered businesswoman Sydney (played by Minka Kelly) is sent to a vineyard to secure an acquisition for a sparkling wine company. During her travels, she encounters a guy in a book store who promises to show her a festive Paris.

A commentator recently declared this is the best new Christmas film of the last several seasons. That’s a bit of a overstatement, but it is a festive dalliance with a touch of class and gives the obligatory warm and fuzzy feels.

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

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄

Mid-Afternoon: Finding Father Christmas

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

The secret is out there, and Chris embarks on a quest to find it with the expert help of a team of well-known scientists and personalities.

It’s gentle but endearing, and good viewing while anticipating Santa to visit.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄

A Star-Studded Family Drama

Michelle Pfeiffer is the mother of a quarrelling American family who come back together for the holidays—including other 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 declaring: “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 jumble of those aforementioned movies, at least until Pfeiffer’s character finally finds her strength.

Festive score: 🎄🎄

Formulaic Fun

The day’s waned in quality, but fortunately here’s a new entry in the packed genre of cliched, saccharine, over-the-top—and highly entertaining—festive fodder.

It’s a story as well-worn: An American woman journeys to a picturesque cold country and ends up finding romance.

In this case, Caprice Bourret plays a publisher