Devouring 2025's Holiday Movies: The Good, The Bad and The So-Bad-It's-Good.

It is the time of year to relax on the couch and demolish a packet of holiday pastries in front of a terrific flick, a awful feature, or one that’s so bad it’s good.

This year, a batch of latest holiday movies hopes to be part of our festive viewing—perhaps even finding a spot alongside enduring classics like Home Alone, Elf, Love Actually, and Die Hard (we won’t debate it).

So, in a vital public service to distinguish the gems from the coal, and to embrace the festive feeling, I watched as many new Christmas films as possible in a single day.

First Up: The Jonas Brothers' Holiday Flick

Beginning, ideally, on a high. This release is the only 2025 entry on a well-known aggregator's list of the top 100 holiday films of all time.

The popular band are stranded in the UK after concluding their world tour and must return for Christmas. Their efforts are thwarted by an malevolent Father Christmas, who bursts into melody to announce they won’t get home until they “find their familial spark.”

The banter between the arguing trio is entertaining even for the uninitiated, while followers will certainly pick up on lots of in-jokes as they attempt to get back using every mode of travel possible.

It’s private planes, trains and automobiles.

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

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄 for Jonas Brothers fans or 🎄🎄🎄 for their loved ones who will have to sit through it.

Late Morning: Tinsel Town

Famous performer Kiefer Sutherland has been cast as a celebrity roped into a "panto".

“A panto-what??” asks Sutherland’s “temperamental” and ageing lead Brad Mack, who has hit a rough patch and whose representative has deceived him into thinking he’s starring in prestigious English theatre.

His Aladdin cast-mates tell him he’s playing Buttons. “No I'm not,” he retorts. It's easy to predict their response. Unless you’re not acquainted with traditional panto catchphrases.

There are some hilarious moments, some cockle-warming side stories, and the rest of the cast is cracking, too.

It’s the kind of movie that would be a bit naff at any other time of year, but is a highly enjoyable at Christmas.

Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄🎄

A New Spin on Scrooge

A familiar face appears at the outset of this film, too, insulting someone for the second consecutive movie. Could this be a fresh holiday staple?

This time, he’s a musical taxi operator who collects Mr Sood, the latest spin 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 familiar story progresses as the tight-fisted Mr Sood is confronted 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 regrettably he’s not very compelling and Nayyar’s performance is flat—a major flaw when he’s so the focal point.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄

Noon: A BBC Special

There’s time for a channel's Christmas comedy-drama—which stars Guz Khan as a endearingly grumpy man who “doesn’t really do Christmas.”

But after he receives an £8,000 Christmas bonus at work, his wife (starring Morgana Robinson) talks him into blowing the money on a holiday to Lapland.

There’s just one issue—he discovers there was an mix-up with his bonus, which should have been £800, and he has to devise a plan for how to reimburse the remainder.

Pleasant yet unmemorable.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄

Early Afternoon: Champagne Problems

This is one of those Christmas films where the festive trappings are in the setting—Christmas is the environment of the film rather than its core purpose—but it feels cosy and festive all the same.

Driven corporate star Sydney (played by Minka Kelly) is assigned to a vineyard to negotiate a purchase for a champagne business. On the way, she runs into a fellow in a bookshop who offers to show her a festive Paris.

A commentator recently claimed this is the top 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 required warm and fuzzy feels.

The scene with a extended debate about Die Hard is very good too.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄

A Charming Quest

Sixteen-year-old Chris, played by Lenny Rush, refuses to stop believing in Father Christmas, despite the persuasion of his dad (played by James Buckley) to tell him the reality.

The truth is out there, and Chris ventures forth to find it with the guidance of a panel of well-known figures.

It’s understated but charming, and perfect viewing while anticipating Santa to visit.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄

Late Afternoon: Oh. What. Fun.

Michelle Pfeiffer is the mother of a bickering American family who gather for the holidays—including other acclaimed actress Felicity Jones, Chloe Grace Moretz, Jason Schwartzman, and dad Denis Leary.

Pfeiffer begins by referencing Christmas classics like National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, It’s A Wonderful Life and Home Alone, before stating: “They need to make a movie about the true heroes of the holidays—moms.”

So that’s the concept, but in reality it’s really a mash-up of those aforementioned movies, at least until Pfeiffer’s character eventually comes into her own.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄

Formulaic Fun

The day’s taken a dip, but fortunately here’s a new addition in the packed genre of cliched, saccharine, over-the-top—and strangely compelling—festive fodder.

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

In this case, Caprice Bourret plays a publisher