Devouring This Year's Christmas Films: Highlights, Lowlights, and Unexpected Delights.
‘Tis the season to relax on the sofa and consume a box of festive treats in front of a good movie, a bad movie, or one that’s awesomely awful.
This year, a crop of new seasonal stories hopes to be part of our seasonal watchlist—maybe even finding a spot alongside timeless staples like Home Alone, Elf, Love Actually, and Die Hard (no arguments).
Therefore, in a helpful attempt to separate the winners from the losers, and to embrace the Christmas spirit, I watched as many recent holiday releases as possible in a single day.
First Up: The Jonas Brothers' Holiday Flick
Beginning, hopefully, on a high. This is the sole 2025 movie on a popular review site's list of the greatest 100 festive features of all time.
The Jonas Brothers end up stranded in the UK after finishing their world tour and must make it back for Christmas. Their endeavors are hampered by an evil Santa, who bursts into melody to declare they won’t get home until they “rekindle their sibling bond.”
The repartee between the squabbling siblings is entertaining even for the casual viewer, while fans will certainly notice lots of references as they try to get back using all transportation available.
It’s a travelogue of mishaps.
It’s not a timeless masterpiece, but is superb for fans and a good start to the day.
Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄 for Jonas Brothers fans or 🎄🎄🎄 for their family members who will have to sit through it.
8.45am - Tinsel Town
Famous performer Kiefer Sutherland appears as a celebrity tricked into a traditional British stage show.
“A panto-what??” asks Sutherland’s “hard-to-work-with” and aging action hero Brad Mack, who has hit a rough patch and whose agent has misled him into thinking he’s starring in prestigious English theatre.
His Aladdin cast-mates let him know he’s playing Buttons. “No I'm not,” he retorts. It's easy to predict their retort. Except if you’re unfamiliar with traditional stage call-and-response.
There are some hilarious moments, some cockle-warming side stories, and the rest of the cast is excellent, too.
It’s the kind of movie that would be a bit tacky at a different time, but is a highly enjoyable at Christmas.
Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄🎄
10.19am - Christmas Karma
Danny Dyer pops up at the beginning of this film, too, calling someone a mug for the second consecutive movie. Is this a budding festive ritual?
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 classic narrative progresses as the miserly Mr Sood is visited by the ghosts of Christmas yesterday, today, and tomorrow, played by Hugh Bonneville, Billy Porter, and Boy George.
This South Asian reinterpretation is at least distinct from all the others, but unfortunately he’s not very compelling and Nayyar’s performance is wooden—a significant issue when he’s so the focal point.
Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄
Noon: A BBC Special
Before lunch for a major broadcaster's Christmas comedy-drama—which stars Guz Khan as a charmingly cantankerous character who “avoids Christmas.”
But after he gets an £8,000 Christmas bonus at work, his wife (starring Morgana Robinson) convinces him splurging the cash on a vacation to Lapland.
There’s just one problem—he learns there was an mistake with his bonus, which should have been £800, and he has to devise a plan for how to pay back the excess.
Pleasant yet unmemorable.
Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄
A Classy Netflix Romance
This is one of those holiday movies where the decorations and snow are in the backdrop—Christmas is the environment of the film rather than its raison d’etre—but it feels comfortable and seasonal all the same.
High-powered businesswoman Sydney (starring Minka Kelly) is sent to a vineyard to do a deal for a champagne business. En route, she meets a guy in a bookshop who offers to show her the holidays in the City of Light.
An expert recently stated this is the best new Christmas film of the past few years. That’s a bit of a exaggeration, but it is a holiday love story with a hint of sophistication and gives the necessary warm and fuzzy feels.
The scene with a lengthy discussion about Die Hard is notable too.
Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄
A Charming Quest
Young 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 answer is out there, and Chris embarks on a quest to find it with the assistance of a group of well-known scientists and personalities.
It’s low-key but sweet, and good viewing while waiting for Santa to visit.
Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄
Late Afternoon: Oh. What. Fun.
Michelle Pfeiffer is the mother of a quarrelling American family who come back together for the holidays—including fellow 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 saying: “They need to make a movie about the true heroes of the holidays—moms.”
So that’s the premise, but in reality it’s really a jumble of those aforementioned movies, at least until Pfeiffer’s character at last takes center stage.
Festive score: 🎄🎄
Evening: A Scottish Christmas Secret
The day’s waned in quality, but thankfully here’s a new offering in the crowded field of predictable, sentimental, cheesy—and highly entertaining—festive fodder.
It’s a tale as old as time: An American woman journeys to a picturesque cold country and ends up discovering romance.
In this case, Caprice Bourret plays a publisher
