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

It is the season to lounge on the sofa and consume a tin of festive treats in front of a terrific flick, a poor film, or one that’s terrible yet terrific.

Once again, a selection of fresh seasonal stories aims to become part of our seasonal watchlist—perhaps even earning a place alongside enduring classics like Home Alone, Elf, Love Actually, and Die Hard (we won’t debate it).

Therefore, in a vital public service to distinguish the gems from the coal, and to get into the holiday mood, I binged as many new festive movies as possible in a single day.

7.17am - A Very Jonas Christmas Movie

Starting, optimistically, on a positive note. This release is the only 2025 movie on a well-known aggregator's list of the greatest 100 Christmas movies of all time.

The Jonas Brothers are stuck in the UK after finishing their global concert series and must return for Christmas. Their attempts are hampered by an malevolent Father Christmas, who bursts into melody to announce they won’t get home until they “find their brotherly magic.”

The repartee between the arguing trio is entertaining even for the uninitiated, while fans will certainly catch lots of references as they attempt to get back using any means of transport necessary.

It’s a travelogue of mishaps.

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

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄 for Jonas Brothers fans or 🎄🎄🎄 for their relatives who are obliged to sit through it.

Late Morning: Tinsel Town

A-list actor Kiefer Sutherland has been cast as a Hollywood star tricked into a traditional British stage show.

“A what's a panto??” asks Sutherland’s “hard-to-work-with” and aging star Brad Mack, who has hit a rough patch and whose representative has deceived him into thinking he’s starring in prestigious English theatre.

His Aladdin co-stars inform him he’s playing Buttons. “Oh no I’m not,” he protests. One can imagine their response. That is, unless you’re ignorant of traditional British theatre traditions.

There are some great jokes, some touching storylines, and the supporting actors is cracking, too.

It’s the type of film that would be a bit naff at a different time, but is a lot of fun at Christmas.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄🎄

A New Spin on Scrooge

An actor appears at the start of this film, too, delivering a signature line for the second film in a row. Is this a fresh holiday staple?

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

Mr Sood is played by an actor from Kunal Nayyar and Christmas Karma is directed by the director of Gurinder Chadha. The familiar story progresses as the miserly Mr Sood is visited by the apparitions of Christmas past, present and future, played by Hugh Bonneville, Billy Porter, and Boy George.

This South Asian reinterpretation is at least distinct from all the others, but regrettably he’s not very charismatic and Nayyar’s portrayal is wooden—a significant issue when he’s so the main character.

Festive score: 🎄🎄

Lunchtime: Stuffed

There’s time for a major broadcaster's Christmas comedy-drama—which stars Guz Khan as a lovably grouchy guy who “doesn’t really do Christmas.”

But after he receives an £8,000 Christmas bonus at work, his wife (starring Morgana Robinson) persuades him blowing the money on a holiday to Lapland.

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

Fun while it lasts but not lasting.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄

Early Afternoon: Champagne Problems

This is one of those holiday movies where the decorations and snow are in the backdrop—Christmas is the setting 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 dispatched to a country estate to secure an acquisition for a sparkling wine company. During her travels, she meets a fellow in a literary haven who vows to show her Christmas in Paris.

An expert recently stated this is the top new Christmas film of the past few years. That’s a bit of a stretch, but it is a holiday love story with a touch of class and gives the required heartwarming sensation.

The scene with a lengthy discussion about Die Hard is particularly strong too.

Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄

Mid-Afternoon: Finding Father Christmas

Sixteen-year-old Chris, played by Lenny Rush, holds onto his belief in Father Christmas, regardless of the persuasion of his dad (played by James Buckley) to tell him the truth.

The truth is to be discovered, and Chris embarks on a quest to find it with the assistance of a team of well-known scientists and personalities.

It’s gentle but sweet, and ideal viewing while waiting for Santa to visit.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄

4.39pm - Oh. What. Fun.

Michelle Pfeiffer is the matriarch of a dysfunctional American family who reunite for the holidays—including other 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 saying: “They need to make a movie about the true heroes of the holidays—moms.”

So that’s the premise, but in execution it’s really a combination of those aforementioned movies, at least until Pfeiffer’s character finally takes center stage.

Festive score: 🎄🎄

6.43pm - A Scottish Christmas Secret

The day’s gone downhill, but happily here’s a new offering in the packed genre of formulaic, schmaltzy, badly acted—and utterly watchable—seasonal comfort food.

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

In this case, Caprice Bourret plays a publisher