Devouring 2025's Christmas Films: Highlights, Lowlights, and Unexpected Delights.

It is the season to lounge on the sofa and devour a box of mince pies in front of a great film, a awful feature, or one that’s so bad it’s good.

Once again, a batch of latest Christmas films aims to become part of our seasonal watchlist—potentially even finding a spot alongside beloved favorites like Home Alone, Elf, Love Actually, and Die Hard (don’t start).

Thus, in a noble effort to sort the crackers from the turkeys, and to embrace the Christmas spirit, I watched as many recent Christmas films as possible in a single day.

First Up: The Jonas Brothers' Holiday Flick

Starting, ideally, on a good foot. This is the exclusive 2025 title on a famous website's list of the top 100 festive features of all time.

The musical trio end up trapped in the UK after wrapping up their international trek and must return for Christmas. Their endeavors are hampered by an evil Santa, who sings to declare they won’t get home until they “rediscover their familial spark.”

The banter between the bickering brothers is entertaining even for the casual viewer, while fans will undoubtedly pick up on lots of in-jokes as they attempt to get back using any means of transport necessary.

It’s a travelogue of mishaps.

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

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄 for Jonas Brothers fans or 🎄🎄🎄 for their relatives who must sit through it.

Late Morning: Tinsel Town

Hollywood star Kiefer Sutherland stars as a celebrity roped into a pantomime.

“A what's a panto??” asks Sutherland’s “temperamental” and older star Brad Mack, who has hit a rough patch and whose representative has misled him into thinking he’s appearing in prestigious English theatre.

His pantomime co-stars let him know he’s playing Buttons. “Absolutely not,” he protests. It's easy to predict their reply. Unless you’re unfamiliar with traditional panto catchphrases.

There are some very funny lines, some cockle-warming storylines, and the supporting actors is cracking, too.

It’s the kind of movie that would be a bit naff at any other time of year, but is a great entertainment at Christmas.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄🎄

Mid-Morning: Christmas Karma

An actor appears at the beginning of this film, too, calling someone a mug for the second film in a row. Might this become a new Christmas tradition?

This time, he’s a singing black cab driver 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 Bend It Like Beckham’s Gurinder Chadha. The familiar story develops as the stingy Mr Sood is haunted by the apparitions of Christmas yesterday, today, and tomorrow, played by Hugh Bonneville, Billy Porter, and Boy George.

This Indian Scrooge is at least distinct from all the others, but regrettably he’s not very charismatic and Nayyar’s acting is flat—a significant issue when he’s so the main character.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄

Noon: A BBC Special

There's just enough time for a network's holiday special—which stars Guz Khan as a endearingly grumpy man who “doesn’t really do Christmas.”

But after he gets an £8,000 Christmas bonus 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 discovers there was an mistake with his bonus, which should have been £800, and he has to figure out how to return the difference.

Fun while it lasts but not lasting.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄

A Classy Netflix Romance

This is one of those Christmas films where the decorations and snow are in the backdrop—Christmas is the environment of the film rather than its core purpose—but it feels cosy and festive all the same.

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

A commentator 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 holiday love story with a touch of class and gives the obligatory warm and fuzzy feels.

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

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄

A Charming Quest

Teenage Chris, played by Lenny Rush, continues to believe in Father Christmas, in spite of the persuasion of his dad (starring James Buckley) to tell him otherwise.

The truth is somewhere, and Chris sets out to find it with the assistance of a panel of well-known figures.

It’s low-key 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 reunite 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 saying: “They need to make a movie about the unsung heroes of the holidays—moms.”

So that’s the premise, but in reality it’s really a mash-up of those aforementioned movies, at least until Pfeiffer’s character at last takes center stage.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄

6.43pm - A Scottish Christmas Secret

The day’s waned in quality, but thankfully here’s a new addition in the crowded field of cliched, saccharine, over-the-top—and strangely compelling—festive fodder.

It’s a story as well-worn: An American woman travels to a far-off wintery locale and ends up discovering romance.

In this case, Caprice Bourret plays a publisher