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 sofa and consume a box of festive treats in front of a great film, a awful feature, or one that’s awesomely awful.

This year, a batch of fresh Christmas films aims to become part of our holiday traditions—potentially even finding a spot alongside enduring classics like Home Alone, Elf, Love Actually, and Die Hard (we won’t debate it).

So, in a helpful attempt to distinguish the gems from the coal, and to get into the festive feeling, I binged as many recent holiday releases as possible in a single day.

First Up: The Jonas Brothers' Holiday Flick

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

The popular band are stuck in the UK after concluding their global concert series and must get home for Christmas. Their attempts are hindered by an malevolent Father Christmas, who breaks into song to declare they won’t get home until they “find their familial spark.”

The back-and-forth between the arguing trio is enjoyable even for the casual viewer, while fans will no doubt notice lots of easter eggs 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 superb for devotees and a solid start to the day.

Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄 for Jonas Brothers fans or 🎄🎄🎄 for their relatives who will have to sit through it.

8.45am - Tinsel Town

Hollywood star Kiefer Sutherland stars as a Hollywood star tricked into a traditional British stage show.

“A what's a panto??” asks Sutherland’s “difficult” and aging action hero Brad Mack, who has fallen on hard times and whose agent has deceived him into thinking he’s starring in prestigious English theatre.

His pantomime fellow actors let him know he’s playing Buttons. “No I'm not,” he insists angrily. You can guess their reply. Unless you’re unfamiliar with traditional stage call-and-response.

There are some hilarious moments, some cockle-warming sub-plots, and the ensemble is cracking, too.

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

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄🎄

A New Spin on Scrooge

Danny Dyer appears at the start of this film, too, calling someone a mug for the second consecutive movie. Might this become a new Christmas tradition?

This time, he’s a musical taxi operator who encounters Mr Sood, the newest interpretation 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 director of Gurinder Chadha. The familiar story unfolds as the stingy Mr Sood is haunted by the apparitions of Christmas yesterday, today, and tomorrow, played by Hugh Bonneville, Billy Porter, and Boy George.

This cultural adaptation is at least different from all the others, but sadly he’s not very compelling and Nayyar’s portrayal is lifeless—a major flaw when he’s so the main character.

Festive score: 🎄🎄

Lunchtime: Stuffed

There’s time for a major broadcaster's holiday special—which stars Guz Khan as a endearingly grumpy man who “avoids Christmas.”

But after he is awarded an sizable holiday payout at work, his wife (played by Morgana Robinson) talks him into splurging the cash on a vacation to Lapland.

There’s just one snag—he discovers there was an error with his bonus, which should have been £800, and he has to determine how to reimburse the excess.

Enjoyable but forgettable.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄

A Classy Netflix Romance

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

Driven corporate star Sydney (starring Minka Kelly) is sent to a country estate to secure an acquisition for a champagne business. En route, she runs into a man in a literary haven who vows to show her Christmas in Paris.

A critic recently declared this is the top new Christmas film of the past few years. That’s a bit of a stretch, but it is a Christmas romance with a touch of class and gives the required heartwarming sensation.

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

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄

A Charming Quest

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

The truth is somewhere, and Chris embarks on a quest to find it with the assistance of a team of well-known experts and celebrities.

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

Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄

A Star-Studded Family Drama

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

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

So that’s the premise, but in execution it’s really a mash-up of those inspirations, at least until Pfeiffer’s character at last finds her strength.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄

Evening: A Scottish Christmas Secret

The day’s gone downhill, but fortunately 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 old as time: An American woman journeys to a far-off wintery locale and ends up discovering romance.

In this case, Caprice Bourret plays a publisher