Devouring 2025's Holiday Movies: The Good, The Bad and The So-Bad-It's-Good.

‘Tis the season to lounge on the couch and consume a packet of holiday pastries in front of a good movie, a poor film, or one that’s awesomely awful.

This year, a selection of latest holiday movies hopes to be part of our festive viewing—perhaps even joining the ranks alongside timeless staples like Home Alone, Elf, Love Actually, and Die Hard (we won’t debate it).

So, in a vital public service to sort the crackers from the turkeys, and to find the festive feeling, I marathoned as many fresh Christmas films as possible in a single day.

7.17am - A Very Jonas Christmas Movie

Kicking off, hopefully, on a high. This release is the sole 2025 movie on a popular review site's list of the top 100 holiday films of all time.

The musical trio find themselves stranded in the UK after finishing their world tour and must make it back for Christmas. Their endeavors are hindered by an malevolent Father Christmas, who breaks into song to state they won’t get home until they “rekindle their familial spark.”

The back-and-forth between the bickering brothers is amusing even for the non-fan, while followers will no doubt catch lots of in-jokes as they try to get back using any means of transport necessary.

It’s a journey of epic proportions.

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

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

8.45am - Tinsel Town

Famous performer Kiefer Sutherland appears as a celebrity tricked into a pantomime.

“A panto-what?” asks Sutherland’s “hard-to-work-with” and ageing star Brad Mack, who has hit a rough patch and whose manager has deceived him into thinking he’s performing in high-class London stage.

His pantomime cast-mates tell him he’s playing Buttons. “Absolutely not,” he insists angrily. One can imagine their reply. Unless you’re ignorant of traditional panto catchphrases.

There are some great jokes, 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 naff at any other time of year, but is a highly enjoyable at Christmas.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄🎄

Mid-Morning: Christmas Karma

Danny Dyer shows up at the beginning of this film, too, insulting someone for the second film in a row. Is this a new Christmas tradition?

This time, he’s a musical taxi operator who collects Mr Sood, the newest interpretation 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 classic narrative unfolds as the miserly Mr Sood is visited by the ghosts of Christmas past, present and future, played by Hugh Bonneville, Billy Porter, and Boy George.

This South Asian reinterpretation is at least different from all the others, but regrettably he’s not very compelling and Nayyar’s performance is lifeless—a major flaw when he’s so the main character.

Festive score: 🎄🎄

Noon: A BBC Special

There's just enough time for a network's original festive film—which stars Guz Khan as a lovably grouchy guy who “avoids Christmas.”

But after he is awarded 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 problem—he discovers there was an mistake with his bonus, which should have been £800, and he has to determine how to reimburse the remainder.

Enjoyable but forgettable.

Festive score: 🎄🎄

A Classy Netflix Romance

This is one of those holiday movies where the tree, fairy lights and snow are in the setting—Christmas is the setting of the film rather than its raison d’etre—but it feels comfortable and seasonal all the same.

Ambitious executive Sydney (played by Minka Kelly) is dispatched to a country estate to secure an acquisition for a champagne business. On the way, she meets a guy in a book store who offers to show her the holidays in the City of Light.

An expert recently claimed this is the best 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 obligatory warm and fuzzy feels.

The scene with a detailed conversation about Die Hard is very good too.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄

A Charming Quest

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

The secret is out there, and Chris sets out to find it with the guidance of a panel of well-known experts and celebrities.

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

Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄

A Star-Studded Family Drama

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

Pfeiffer opens by name-dropping classic festive films 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 inspirations, at least until Pfeiffer’s character eventually finds her strength.

Festive score: 🎄🎄

6.43pm - A Scottish Christmas Secret

The day’s gone downhill, but fortunately here’s a new offering in the packed genre of cliched, saccharine, over-the-top—and highly entertaining—holiday fare.

It’s a narrative as old as time: An American woman journeys to a far-off wintery locale and ends up stumbling across romance.

In this case, Caprice Bourret plays a publisher