Binge-Watching This Year's Holiday Movies: The Good, The Bad and The So-Bad-It's-Good.
‘Tis the season to slob out on the sofa and devour a tin of holiday pastries in front of a terrific flick, a bad movie, or one that’s so bad it’s good.
This year, a batch of new seasonal stories strives to join part of our festive viewing—maybe even joining the ranks alongside enduring classics like Home Alone, Elf, Love Actually, and Die Hard (don’t start).
So, in a noble effort to sort the crackers from the turkeys, and to embrace the festive feeling, I marathoned as many fresh holiday releases as possible in a single day.
First Up: The Jonas Brothers' Holiday Flick
Kicking off, hopefully, on a positive note. This film is the exclusive 2025 movie on a famous website's list of the top 100 Christmas movies of all time.
The popular band end up stuck in the UK after concluding their world tour and must return for Christmas. Their efforts are thwarted by an malevolent Father Christmas, who breaks into song to announce they won’t get home until they “find their familial spark.”
The back-and-forth between the bickering brothers is enjoyable even for the uninitiated, while followers will undoubtedly catch lots of in-jokes as they try to get back using any means of transport necessary.
It’s private planes, trains and automobiles.
It’s not an all-time classic, but is excellent for fans and a positive start to the day.
Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄 for Jonas Brothers fans or 🎄🎄🎄 for their loved ones who must sit through it.
8.45am - Tinsel Town
Famous performer Kiefer Sutherland has been cast as a Hollywood star cast a pantomime.
“A panto-what?” asks Sutherland’s “temperamental” and ageing action hero Brad Mack, who has hit a rough patch and whose manager has tricked him into thinking he’s appearing in renowned British drama.
His Aladdin fellow actors tell him he’s playing Buttons. “Absolutely not,” he retorts. You can guess their retort. That is, unless you’re unfamiliar with traditional panto catchphrases.
There are some very funny lines, some touching side stories, and the rest of the cast is brilliant, too.
It’s the sort of feature that would be a bit cheesy at another season, but is a lot of fun at Christmas.
Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄🎄
A New Spin on Scrooge
A familiar face pops up at the outset of this film, too, delivering a signature line for the second consecutive movie. Could this be a fresh holiday staple?
This time, he’s a musical taxi operator who collects Mr Sood, the modern take 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 Bend It Like Beckham’s Gurinder Chadha. The familiar story progresses as the miserly Mr Sood is haunted by the ghosts of Christmas yesterday, today, and tomorrow, played by Hugh Bonneville, Billy Porter, and Boy George.
This cultural adaptation is at least unique from all the others, but regrettably he’s not very compelling and Nayyar’s performance is flat—a major flaw when he’s so the main character.
Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄
12.04pm - Stuffed
There's just enough time for a channel's original festive film—which stars Guz Khan as a endearingly grumpy man who “isn't big on Christmas.”
But after he gets an large festive windfall at work, his wife (played by Morgana Robinson) convinces him spending the sum on a family trip to Lapland.
There’s just one snag—he learns there was an mix-up with his bonus, which should have been £800, and he has to determine how to reimburse the excess.
Fun while it lasts but not lasting.
Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄
Early Afternoon: Champagne Problems
This is one of those holiday movies where the tree, fairy lights and snow are in the background—Christmas is the setting of the film rather than its raison d’etre—but it feels warm and holiday-like all the same.
Ambitious executive Sydney (starring Minka Kelly) is assigned to a vineyard to do a deal for a sparkling wine company. During her travels, she meets a fellow in a book store who offers to show her Christmas in Paris.
A commentator recently declared this is the best new Christmas film of the past few years. That’s a bit of a exaggeration, but it is a festive dalliance with a touch of class and gives the obligatory heartwarming sensation.
The scene with a lengthy discussion about Die Hard is notable too.
Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄
A Charming Quest
Young 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 to be discovered, and Chris sets out to find it with the assistance of a panel of well-known experts and celebrities.
It’s understated but endearing, and ideal viewing while expecting Santa to visit.
Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄
Late Afternoon: Oh. What. Fun.
Michelle Pfeiffer is the matriarch of a dysfunctional 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 the premise, but in execution it’s really a jumble of those forerunner films, at least until Pfeiffer’s character at last takes center stage.
Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄
Evening: A Scottish Christmas Secret
The day’s taken a dip, but fortunately here’s a new addition in the crowded field of formulaic, schmaltzy, badly acted—and highly entertaining—seasonal comfort food.
It’s a story as old as time: An American woman journeys to a far-off wintery locale and ends up discovering romance.
In this case, Caprice Bourret plays a publisher
