Marathon Viewing 2025's Holiday Movies: Highlights, Lowlights, and Unexpected Delights.

‘Tis the time of year to relax on the couch and demolish a packet of holiday pastries in front of a great film, a awful feature, or one that’s so bad it’s good.

As always, a batch of latest seasonal stories aims to become part of our holiday traditions—maybe even earning a place alongside timeless staples like Home Alone, Elf, Love Actually, and Die Hard (don’t start).

Therefore, in a helpful attempt to separate the winners from the losers, and to get into the festive feeling, I watched as many new Christmas films as possible in a single day.

First Up: The Jonas Brothers' Holiday Flick

Kicking off, hopefully, on a good foot. This release is the sole 2025 entry on a well-known aggregator's list of the best 100 holiday films of all time.

The Jonas Brothers are trapped in the UK after wrapping up their global concert series and must get home for Christmas. Their endeavors are hindered by an villainous Saint Nick, who sings to declare they won’t get home until they “find their brotherly magic.”

The back-and-forth between the squabbling siblings is entertaining even for the casual viewer, while devotees will certainly pick up on lots of in-jokes as they endeavor to get back using any means of transport necessary.

It’s a travelogue of mishaps.

It’s not a timeless masterpiece, but is great for fans and a good start to the day.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄 for Jonas Brothers fans or 🎄🎄🎄 for their family members who must sit through it.

Next: A Star in Panto

A-list actor Kiefer Sutherland stars as a celebrity tricked into a traditional British stage show.

“A what's a panto??” asks Sutherland’s “temperamental” and older action hero Brad Mack, who has hit a rough patch and whose manager has tricked him into thinking he’s starring in high-class London stage.

His pantomime fellow actors tell him he’s playing Buttons. “No I'm not,” he insists angrily. You can guess their reply. Unless you’re unfamiliar with traditional panto catchphrases.

There are some very funny lines, some touching side stories, and the supporting actors is brilliant, too.

It’s the type of film that would be a bit cheesy at any other time of year, 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, calling someone a mug for the second consecutive movie. Could this be a new Christmas tradition?

This time, he’s a crooning chauffeur who collects Mr Sood, the latest spin on Mr Scrooge from Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol.

Mr Sood is played by a star of Kunal Nayyar and Christmas Karma is directed by Bend It Like Beckham’s Gurinder Chadha. The classic narrative unfolds as the miserly Mr Sood is confronted by the spirits 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 unfortunately he’s not very charismatic and Nayyar’s acting is wooden—a problem when he’s so the main character.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄

Lunchtime: Stuffed

There’s time 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 is awarded an £8,000 Christmas bonus at work, his wife (starring Morgana Robinson) talks him into blowing the money on a family trip to Lapland.

There’s just one problem—he finds out there was an mistake with his bonus, which should have been £800, and he has to determine how to return the difference.

Fun while it lasts but not lasting.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄

A Classy Netflix Romance

This is one of those holiday movies where the festive trappings are in the backdrop—Christmas is the scene of the film rather than its core purpose—but it feels comfortable and seasonal all the same.

High-powered businesswoman Sydney (played by Minka Kelly) is dispatched to a French chateau to negotiate a purchase for a sparkling wine company. En route, she encounters a guy in a bookshop who offers to show her a festive Paris.

An expert recently stated this is the finest new Christmas film of the recent era. That’s a bit of a stretch, but it is a festive dalliance with a dash of elegance and gives the required warm and fuzzy feels.

The scene with a detailed conversation about Die Hard is particularly strong too.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄

Mid-Afternoon: Finding Father Christmas

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

The secret is to be discovered, and Chris ventures forth to find it with the expert help of a group of well-known figures.

It’s low-key but sweet, and good viewing while waiting for Santa to visit.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄

4.39pm - Oh. What. Fun.

Michelle Pfeiffer is the matriarch of a quarrelling American family who gather for the holidays—including fellow Oscar nominee Felicity Jones, Chloe Grace Moretz, Jason Schwartzman, and dad Denis Leary.

Pfeiffer opens by name-dropping 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 true heroes of the holidays—moms.”

So that’s what this is, but in practice it’s really a combination of those aforementioned movies, at least until Pfeiffer’s character eventually finds her strength.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄

Formulaic Fun

The day’s waned in quality, but thankfully here’s a new entry in the saturated market of predictable, sentimental, cheesy—and highly entertaining—holiday fare.

It’s a tale as well-worn: An American woman travels to a picturesque cold country and ends up stumbling across romance.

In this case, Caprice Bourret plays a publisher