Devouring 2025's Christmas Films: The Good, The Bad and The So-Bad-It's-Good.

It is the time of year to relax on the sofa and devour a packet of holiday pastries in front of a good movie, a bad movie, or one that’s so bad it’s good.

Once again, a selection of new seasonal stories aims to become part of our seasonal watchlist—potentially even earning a place alongside enduring classics like Home Alone, Elf, Love Actually, and Die Hard (don’t start).

So, in a helpful attempt to distinguish the gems from the coal, and to embrace the festive feeling, I marathoned as many fresh festive movies as possible in a single day.

First Up: The Jonas Brothers' Holiday Flick

Beginning, hopefully, on a positive note. This release is the only 2025 title on a famous website's list of the greatest 100 festive features of all time.

The popular band find themselves stuck in the UK after concluding their global concert series and must get home for Christmas. Their attempts are hindered by an evil Santa, who bursts into melody to state they won’t get home until they “rekindle their brotherly magic.”

The back-and-forth between the bickering brothers is amusing even for the non-fan, while followers will undoubtedly catch lots of references as they try to get back using every mode of travel possible.

It’s private planes, trains and automobiles.

It’s not legendary, but is superb for devotees and a good start to the day.

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

8.45am - Tinsel Town

A-list actor Kiefer Sutherland has been cast as a movie actor tricked into a pantomime.

“A panto-what?” asks Sutherland’s “hard-to-work-with” and ageing action hero Brad Mack, who has seen better days and whose representative has tricked him into thinking he’s starring in prestigious English theatre.

His Aladdin fellow actors inform him he’s playing Buttons. “Absolutely not,” he retorts. You can guess their response. Except if you’re not acquainted with traditional British theatre traditions.

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

It’s the kind of movie that would be a bit tacky at a different time, but is a highly enjoyable at Christmas.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄🎄

A New Spin on Scrooge

A familiar face pops up at the beginning of this film, too, insulting someone for the second film in a row. Might this become a budding festive ritual?

This time, he’s a crooning chauffeur who collects Mr Sood, the modern take 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 familiar story progresses as the tight-fisted Mr Sood is visited by the spirits of Christmas past, present and future, played by Hugh Bonneville, Billy Porter, and Boy George.

This South Asian reinterpretation is at least unique from all the others, but unfortunately he’s not very compelling and Nayyar’s portrayal is lifeless—a problem when he’s so the focal point.

Festive score: 🎄🎄

12.04pm - Stuffed

There’s time for a network's holiday special—which stars Guz Khan as a lovably grouchy guy who “doesn’t really do Christmas.”

But after he gets an sizable holiday payout at work, his wife (played by Morgana Robinson) convinces him splurging the cash on a family trip to Lapland.

There’s just one snag—he learns there was an error with his bonus, which should have been £800, and he has to figure out how to return the remainder.

Pleasant yet unmemorable.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄

1.12pm - Champagne Problems

This is one of those Christmas films where the decorations and snow are in the setting—Christmas is the setting of the film rather than its main point—but it feels comfortable and seasonal all the same.

Ambitious executive Sydney (played by Minka Kelly) is assigned to a vineyard to negotiate a purchase for a champagne business. During her travels, she runs into a man in a bookshop who offers to show her the holidays in the City of Light.

An expert recently stated this is the top new Christmas film of the last several seasons. That’s a bit of a stretch, but it is a Christmas romance with a dash of elegance and gives the required warm and fuzzy feels.

The scene with a extended debate about Die Hard is notable too.

Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄

A Charming Quest

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

The truth is out there, and Chris sets out to find it with the assistance of a group of well-known scientists and personalities.

It’s low-key but endearing, and good viewing while expecting Santa to visit.

Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄

A Star-Studded Family Drama

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

Pfeiffer begins by referencing classic festive films like National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, It’s A Wonderful Life and Home Alone, before saying: “They need to make a movie about the unsung heroes of the holidays—moms.”

So that’s what this is, but in practice it’s really a jumble of those inspirations, at least until Pfeiffer’s character eventually comes into her own.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄

Formulaic Fun

The day’s gone downhill, but happily here’s a new addition in the crowded field of predictable, sentimental, cheesy—and utterly watchable—holiday fare.

It’s a story as old as time: An American woman goes on a quest to a far-off wintery locale and ends up finding romance.

In this case, Caprice Bourret plays a publisher