Binge-Watching 2025's Christmas Films: Highlights, Lowlights, and Unexpected Delights.

It is the season to lounge on the sofa and demolish a tin of festive treats in front of a good movie, a poor film, or one that’s so bad it’s good.

As always, a batch of fresh holiday movies aims to become part of our holiday traditions—potentially even finding a spot alongside beloved favorites like Home Alone, Elf, Love Actually, and Die Hard (we won’t debate it).

Therefore, in a noble effort to distinguish the gems from the coal, and to find the festive feeling, I watched as many recent festive movies as possible in a single day.

7.17am - A Very Jonas Christmas Movie

Kicking off, optimistically, on a positive note. This is the sole 2025 movie on a famous website's list of the best 100 holiday films of all time.

The popular band are stuck in the UK after finishing their international trek and must make it back for Christmas. Their endeavors are hindered by an villainous Saint Nick, who sings to state they won’t get home until they “rediscover their sibling bond.”

The repartee between the bickering brothers is amusing even for the non-fan, while fans will no doubt pick up on lots of easter eggs as they endeavor to get back using every mode of travel possible.

It’s private planes, trains and automobiles.

It’s not a timeless masterpiece, but is excellent for devotees and a solid start to the day.

Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄 for Jonas Brothers fans or 🎄🎄🎄 for their loved ones who are obliged to sit through it.

Next: A Star in Panto

A-list actor Kiefer Sutherland stars as a movie actor cast a traditional British stage show.

“A panto-what?” asks Sutherland’s “temperamental” and older action hero Brad Mack, who has seen better days and whose agent has deceived him into thinking he’s starring in high-class London stage.

His Aladdin cast-mates inform him he’s playing Buttons. “Oh no I’m not,” he insists angrily. One can imagine their reply. Except if you’re unfamiliar with traditional British theatre traditions.

There are some hilarious moments, some touching storylines, and the supporting actors is brilliant, too.

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

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄🎄

Mid-Morning: Christmas Karma

Danny Dyer appears at the beginning of this film, too, delivering a signature line for the next movie straight. Might this become a fresh holiday staple?

This time, he’s a singing black cab driver who encounters 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 the director of Gurinder Chadha. The familiar story develops as the tight-fisted 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 charismatic and Nayyar’s portrayal is flat—a significant issue when he’s so the main character.

Festive score: 🎄🎄

12.04pm - Stuffed

Before lunch for a channel's holiday special—which stars Guz Khan as a endearingly grumpy man who “isn't big on Christmas.”

But after he receives an £8,000 Christmas bonus at work, his wife (played by Morgana Robinson) persuades him splurging the cash on a family trip to Lapland.

There’s just one issue—he learns 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.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄

A Classy Netflix Romance

This is one of those Christmas films where the tree, fairy lights and snow are in the setting—Christmas is the scene of the film rather than its core purpose—but it feels comfortable and seasonal all the same.

Driven corporate star Sydney (played by Minka Kelly) is assigned to a French chateau to secure an acquisition for a sparkling wine company. On the way, she meets a man in a bookshop who vows to show her the holidays in the City of Light.

A commentator recently declared this is the finest 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 lengthy discussion about Die Hard is notable too.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄

Mid-Afternoon: Finding Father Christmas

Young Chris, played by Lenny Rush, holds onto his belief in Father Christmas, despite the attempts of his dad (played by James Buckley) to tell him otherwise.

The truth is to be discovered, and Chris embarks on a quest to find it with the guidance of a group of well-known experts and celebrities.

It’s gentle but sweet, and perfect viewing while expecting Santa to visit.

Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄

4.39pm - Oh. What. Fun.

Michelle Pfeiffer is the mother of a bickering 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 stating: “They need to make a movie about the real champions of the holidays—moms.”

So that’s the premise, but in reality it’s really a mash-up of those forerunner films, at least until Pfeiffer’s character finally takes center stage.

Festive score: 🎄🎄

Formulaic Fun

The day’s taken a dip, but fortunately here’s a new offering in the packed genre of cliched, saccharine, over-the-top—and utterly watchable—holiday fare.

It’s a narrative as old as time: An American woman goes on a quest to a distant snowy land and ends up discovering romance.

In this case, Caprice Bourret plays a publisher