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

It is the season to slob out on the sofa and consume a packet of holiday pastries in front of a terrific flick, a awful feature, or one that’s so bad it’s good.

This year, a selection of fresh seasonal stories hopes to be part of our festive viewing—maybe even joining the ranks alongside beloved favorites like Home Alone, Elf, Love Actually, and Die Hard (we won’t debate it).

Thus, in a noble effort to sort the crackers from the turkeys, and to find the Christmas spirit, I binged as many fresh festive movies as possible in a single day.

First Up: The Jonas Brothers' Holiday Flick

Beginning, optimistically, on a high. This film is the exclusive 2025 entry on a well-known aggregator's list of the top 100 festive features of all time.

The popular band find themselves trapped in the UK after wrapping up their global concert series and must get home for Christmas. Their efforts are hampered by an villainous Saint Nick, who sings to declare they won’t get home until they “rediscover their brotherly magic.”

The banter between the arguing trio is enjoyable even for the uninitiated, while fans will no doubt notice lots of easter eggs as they endeavor to get back using all transportation available.

It’s private planes, trains and automobiles.

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

Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄 for Jonas Brothers fans or 🎄🎄🎄 for their loved ones who will have to sit through it.

8.45am - Tinsel Town

A-list actor Kiefer Sutherland appears as a Hollywood star roped into a "panto".

“A what's a panto??” asks Sutherland’s “hard-to-work-with” and ageing lead Brad Mack, who has hit a rough patch and whose agent has tricked him into thinking he’s performing in renowned British drama.

His pantomime cast-mates let him know he’s playing Buttons. “No I'm not,” he retorts. You can guess their reply. Except if you’re not acquainted with traditional stage call-and-response.

There are some hilarious moments, some heartwarming side stories, and the ensemble is excellent, too.

It’s the type of film that would be a bit tacky at another season, but is a lot of fun at Christmas.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄🎄

A New Spin on Scrooge

Danny Dyer shows up at the beginning of this film, too, insulting someone for the second consecutive movie. Could this be a new Christmas tradition?

This time, he’s a crooning chauffeur who picks up Mr Sood, the latest spin 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 well-known tale progresses as the miserly Mr Sood is visited by the ghosts of Christmas yesterday, today, and tomorrow, played by Hugh Bonneville, Billy Porter, and Boy George.

This Indian Scrooge is at least unique from all the others, but sadly he’s not very charismatic and Nayyar’s acting is lifeless—a major flaw when he’s so the focal point.

Festive score: 🎄🎄

Noon: A BBC Special

Before lunch for a network'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) talks him into splurging the cash on a holiday to Lapland.

There’s just one issue—he learns there was an mistake with his bonus, which should have been £800, and he has to devise a plan for how to pay back the remainder.

Enjoyable but forgettable.

Festive score: 🎄🎄

1.12pm - Champagne Problems

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

High-powered businesswoman Sydney (played by Minka Kelly) is dispatched to a vineyard to secure an acquisition for a champagne business. En route, she encounters a fellow in a bookshop who promises to show her a festive Paris.

An expert recently claimed this is the top new Christmas film of the recent era. That’s a bit of a exaggeration, but it is a holiday love story with a touch of class and gives the necessary heartwarming sensation.

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

Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄

Mid-Afternoon: Finding Father Christmas

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

The truth is to be discovered, and Chris sets out to find it with the guidance of a group of well-known experts and celebrities.

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

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄

Late Afternoon: Oh. What. Fun.

Michelle Pfeiffer is the matriarch of a dysfunctional American family who come back together for the holidays—including other acclaimed actress 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 the premise, but in execution it’s really a jumble of those aforementioned movies, 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 happily here’s a new entry in the crowded field of formulaic, schmaltzy, badly acted—and utterly watchable—festive fodder.

It’s a story as familiar as can be: An American woman goes on a quest to a distant snowy land and ends up stumbling across romance.

In this case, Caprice Bourret plays a publisher