Marathon Viewing 2025's Holiday Movies: The Good, The Bad and The So-Bad-It's-Good.
‘Tis the season to slob out on the sofa and consume a packet of holiday pastries in front of a great film, a bad movie, or one that’s awesomely awful.
As always, a crop of fresh seasonal stories hopes to be part of our seasonal watchlist—maybe even joining the ranks alongside beloved favorites like Home Alone, Elf, Love Actually, and Die Hard (we won’t debate it).
Thus, in a vital public service to sort the crackers from the turkeys, and to embrace the holiday mood, I watched as many recent Christmas films as possible in a single day.
First Up: The Jonas Brothers' Holiday Flick
Starting, hopefully, on a high. This is the exclusive 2025 title on a famous website's list of the greatest 100 holiday films of all time.
The popular band end up stuck in the UK after wrapping up their world tour and must get home for Christmas. Their endeavors are thwarted by an malevolent Father Christmas, who sings to announce they won’t get home until they “find their sibling bond.”
The back-and-forth between the squabbling siblings is amusing even for the uninitiated, while followers will certainly notice lots of easter eggs as they endeavor to get back using any means of transport necessary.
It’s private planes, trains and automobiles.
It’s not legendary, but is superb for devotees 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.
Next: A Star in Panto
Hollywood star Kiefer Sutherland stars as a celebrity cast a "panto".
“A panto-what?” asks Sutherland’s “hard-to-work-with” and older lead Brad Mack, who has hit a rough patch and whose agent has tricked him into thinking he’s appearing in renowned British drama.
His pantomime fellow actors inform him he’s playing Buttons. “Absolutely not,” he insists angrily. One can imagine their response. Unless you’re ignorant of traditional panto catchphrases.
There are some great jokes, some heartwarming sub-plots, and the rest of the cast is cracking, too.
It’s the sort of feature that would be a bit naff at a different time, but is a highly enjoyable at Christmas.
Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄🎄
A New Spin on Scrooge
Danny Dyer pops up at the start of this film, too, delivering a signature line for the second film in a row. Is this a budding festive ritual?
This time, he’s a singing black cab driver who collects 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 Bend It Like Beckham’s Gurinder Chadha. The well-known tale develops as the stingy Mr Sood is visited by the apparitions of Christmas yesterday, today, and tomorrow, played by Hugh Bonneville, Billy Porter, and Boy George.
This South Asian reinterpretation is at least different from all the others, but regrettably he’s not very captivating and Nayyar’s performance is lifeless—a major flaw when he’s so the main character.
Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄
12.04pm - Stuffed
There's just enough time for a channel's original festive film—which stars Guz Khan as a endearingly grumpy man who “isn't big on Christmas.”
But after he gets an sizable holiday payout at work, his wife (starring Morgana Robinson) talks him into blowing the money on a vacation 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 figure out how to return the excess.
Enjoyable but forgettable.
Festive score: 🎄🎄
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 core purpose—but it feels warm and holiday-like all the same.
Driven corporate star Sydney (played by Minka Kelly) is sent to a vineyard to negotiate a purchase for a champagne business. On the way, she meets a man in a literary haven who offers to show her Christmas in Paris.
A critic recently claimed this is the finest new Christmas film of the last several seasons. That’s a bit of a stretch, but it is a holiday love story with a dash of elegance and gives the required heartwarming sensation.
The scene with a extended debate about Die Hard is very good too.
Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄
Mid-Afternoon: Finding Father Christmas
Sixteen-year-old Chris, played by Lenny Rush, refuses to stop believing in Father Christmas, despite the attempts of his dad (starring James Buckley) to tell him the reality.
The truth is to be discovered, and Chris ventures forth to find it with the guidance of a panel of well-known figures.
It’s low-key but charming, and good viewing while anticipating Santa to visit.
Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄
4.39pm - Oh. What. Fun.
Michelle Pfeiffer is the head of a bickering American family who come back together for the holidays—including fellow Oscar nominee Felicity Jones, Chloe Grace Moretz, Jason Schwartzman, and dad Denis Leary.
Pfeiffer begins by referencing 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 real champions of the holidays—moms.”
So that’s the premise, but in practice it’s really a jumble of those inspirations, at least until Pfeiffer’s character at last takes center stage.
Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄
6.43pm - A Scottish Christmas Secret
The day’s taken a dip, but happily here’s a new addition in the saturated market of predictable, sentimental, cheesy—and strangely compelling—festive fodder.
It’s a tale as well-worn: An American woman goes on a quest to a picturesque cold country and ends up discovering romance.
In this case, Caprice Bourret plays a publisher