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

‘Tis the season to lounge on the couch and devour a box of holiday pastries in front of a great film, a poor film, or one that’s so bad it’s good.

As always, a batch of new holiday movies strives to join part of our seasonal watchlist—perhaps even finding a spot alongside enduring classics like Home Alone, Elf, Love Actually, and Die Hard (don’t start).

Thus, in a helpful attempt to separate the winners from the losers, and to get into the festive feeling, I marathoned as many recent festive movies as possible in a single day.

First Up: The Jonas Brothers' Holiday Flick

Starting, hopefully, on a high. This is the sole 2025 title on a famous website's list of the greatest 100 Christmas movies of all time.

The Jonas Brothers end up stuck in the UK after finishing their world tour and must make it back for Christmas. Their attempts are hindered by an evil Santa, who bursts into melody to announce they won’t get home until they “find their sibling bond.”

The repartee between the squabbling siblings is entertaining even for the casual viewer, while fans will undoubtedly pick up on lots of in-jokes as they endeavor to get back using all transportation available.

It’s a journey of epic proportions.

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

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

Late Morning: Tinsel Town

Hollywood star Kiefer Sutherland has been cast as a Hollywood star tricked into a pantomime.

“A what's a panto??” asks Sutherland’s “hard-to-work-with” and ageing action hero Brad Mack, who has fallen on hard times and whose manager has misled him into thinking he’s performing in high-class London stage.

His pantomime co-stars let him know he’s playing Buttons. “No I'm not,” he insists angrily. You can guess their response. Except if you’re ignorant of traditional panto catchphrases.

There are some hilarious moments, some heartwarming sub-plots, and the ensemble is cracking, too.

It’s the sort of feature that would be a bit tacky at any other time of year, but is a highly enjoyable at Christmas.

Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄🎄

Mid-Morning: Christmas Karma

A familiar face appears at the beginning of this film, too, calling someone a mug for the second film in a row. Is this a fresh holiday staple?

This time, he’s a musical taxi operator who encounters Mr Sood, the latest spin 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 classic narrative develops as the miserly Mr Sood is confronted 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 distinct from all the others, but regrettably he’s not very charismatic and Nayyar’s performance is wooden—a significant issue when he’s so central to everything.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄

12.04pm - Stuffed

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

But after he receives an large festive windfall 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 difference.

Enjoyable but forgettable.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄

Early Afternoon: Champagne Problems

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

Driven corporate star Sydney (starring Minka Kelly) is assigned to a country estate to do a deal for a champagne business. During her travels, she encounters a guy in a book store who offers to show her the holidays in the City of Light.

An expert recently declared this is the best new Christmas film of the last several seasons. That’s a bit of a overstatement, but it is a festive dalliance with a dash of elegance and gives the required heartwarming sensation.

The scene with a extended debate about Die Hard is notable too.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄

Mid-Afternoon: Finding Father Christmas

Sixteen-year-old Chris, played by Lenny Rush, refuses to stop believing in Father Christmas, despite the efforts of his dad (played by James Buckley) to tell him the reality.

The truth is out there, and Chris ventures forth to find it with the guidance of a panel of well-known scientists and personalities.

It’s understated but charming, and ideal viewing while anticipating Santa to visit.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄

Late Afternoon: Oh. What. Fun.

Michelle Pfeiffer is the mother of a dysfunctional American family who gather 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 saying: “They need to make a movie about the unsung heroes of the holidays—moms.”

So that’s the concept, but in execution it’s really a mash-up of those inspirations, at least until Pfeiffer’s character eventually comes into her own.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄

Evening: A Scottish Christmas Secret

The day’s waned in quality, but fortunately here’s a new addition in the crowded field of predictable, sentimental, cheesy—and strangely compelling—festive fodder.

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

In this case, Caprice Bourret plays a publisher