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

It is the time of year to slob out on the sofa and devour a packet of festive treats in front of a good movie, a awful feature, or one that’s awesomely awful.

This year, a crop of fresh holiday movies strives to join part of our festive viewing—potentially even finding a spot alongside enduring classics like Home Alone, Elf, Love Actually, and Die Hard (we won’t debate it).

Thus, in a noble effort to separate the winners from the losers, and to embrace the festive feeling, I watched as many recent Christmas films as possible in a single day.

7.17am - A Very Jonas Christmas Movie

Kicking off, optimistically, on a high. This is the sole 2025 title on a well-known aggregator's list of the greatest 100 festive features of all time.

The popular band find themselves stuck in the UK after wrapping up their world tour and must make it back for Christmas. Their attempts are thwarted by an malevolent Father Christmas, who sings to state they won’t get home until they “rekindle their familial spark.”

The banter between the arguing trio is enjoyable even for the uninitiated, while followers will undoubtedly notice lots of in-jokes as they endeavor to get back using all transportation available.

It’s a travelogue of mishaps.

It’s not legendary, but is excellent for fans and a positive start to the day.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄 for Jonas Brothers fans or 🎄🎄🎄 for their relatives who will have to sit through it.

Next: A Star in Panto

Famous performer Kiefer Sutherland stars as a movie actor cast a "panto".

“A panto-what?” asks Sutherland’s “difficult” and older star Brad Mack, who has seen better days and whose representative has tricked him into thinking he’s appearing in renowned British drama.

His Aladdin fellow actors tell him he’s playing Buttons. “Oh no I’m not,” he retorts. It's easy to predict their reply. Unless you’re not acquainted with traditional stage call-and-response.

There are some hilarious moments, some cockle-warming sub-plots, and the ensemble is brilliant, too.

It’s the type of film that would be a bit cheesy at another season, but is a great entertainment at Christmas.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄🎄

Mid-Morning: Christmas Karma

Danny Dyer pops up at the outset of this film, too, insulting someone 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 The Big Bang Theory’s Kunal Nayyar and Christmas Karma is directed by Bend It Like Beckham’s Gurinder Chadha. The familiar story develops 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 different from all the others, but regrettably he’s not very charismatic and Nayyar’s portrayal is flat—a major flaw when he’s so the focal point.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄

Noon: A BBC Special

There's just enough time for a major broadcaster's original festive film—which stars Guz Khan as a lovably grouchy guy who “isn't big on Christmas.”

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

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

Enjoyable but forgettable.

Festive score: 🎄🎄

1.12pm - Champagne Problems

This is one of those Christmas films where the tree, fairy lights and snow are in the background—Christmas is the scene of the film rather than its main point—but it feels cosy and festive all the same.

Ambitious executive Sydney (played by Minka Kelly) is sent to a vineyard to do a deal for a sparkling wine company. During her travels, she encounters a man in a book store who promises to show her the holidays in the City of Light.

A commentator recently claimed this is the finest new Christmas film of the recent era. That’s a bit of a overstatement, but it is a Christmas romance with a dash of elegance and gives the required warm and fuzzy feels.

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

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄

A Charming Quest

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

The secret is to be discovered, and Chris embarks on a quest to find it with the guidance of a team of well-known figures.

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

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄

4.39pm - Oh. What. Fun.

Michelle Pfeiffer is the head of a dysfunctional 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 opens by name-dropping holiday staples like National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, It’s A Wonderful Life and Home Alone, before stating: “They need to make a movie about the true heroes of the holidays—moms.”

So that’s the concept, but in reality it’s really a combination of those forerunner films, at least until Pfeiffer’s character eventually takes center stage.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄

Formulaic Fun

The day’s waned in quality, but happily here’s a new entry in the packed genre of formulaic, schmaltzy, badly acted—and strangely compelling—holiday fare.

It’s a narrative as familiar as can be: An American woman travels to a far-off wintery locale and ends up finding romance.

In this case, Caprice Bourret plays a publisher