Binge-Watching 2025's Holiday Movies: Highlights, Lowlights, and Unexpected Delights.

It is the season to relax on the sofa and demolish a tin of mince pies in front of a great film, a poor film, or one that’s terrible yet terrific.

As always, a batch of fresh seasonal stories hopes to be part of our seasonal watchlist—maybe even joining the ranks alongside timeless staples like Home Alone, Elf, Love Actually, and Die Hard (we won’t debate it).

Therefore, in a vital public service to distinguish the gems from the coal, and to find the Christmas spirit, I marathoned as many new festive movies as possible in a single day.

Early Morning: A Very Jonas Christmas Movie

Beginning, hopefully, on a high. This film is the exclusive 2025 entry 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 concluding their global concert series and must get home for Christmas. Their efforts are hampered by an villainous Saint Nick, who bursts into melody to declare they won’t get home until they “rediscover their brotherly magic.”

The banter between the squabbling siblings is enjoyable even for the non-fan, while devotees will certainly catch lots of references as they attempt to get back using all transportation available.

It’s private planes, trains and automobiles.

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

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

Next: A Star in Panto

A-list actor Kiefer Sutherland appears as a Hollywood star tricked into a pantomime.

“A panto-what??” asks Sutherland’s “difficult” and ageing star Brad Mack, who has fallen on hard times and whose agent has tricked him into thinking he’s performing in prestigious English theatre.

His pantomime cast-mates inform him he’s playing Buttons. “No I'm not,” he retorts. You can guess their response. Unless you’re unfamiliar with traditional panto catchphrases.

There are some hilarious moments, some cockle-warming sub-plots, and the supporting actors 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

A familiar face pops up at the start of this film, too, insulting someone for the next movie straight. Is this a new Christmas tradition?

This time, he’s a musical taxi operator who encounters Mr Sood, the modern take 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 well-known tale unfolds as the stingy Mr Sood is haunted by the ghosts of Christmas yesterday, today, and tomorrow, played by Hugh Bonneville, Billy Porter, and Boy George.

This South Asian reinterpretation is at least different from all the others, but unfortunately he’s not very compelling and Nayyar’s portrayal is flat—a significant issue when he’s so the main character.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄

Noon: A BBC Special

Before lunch for a major broadcaster's Christmas comedy-drama—which stars Guz Khan as a endearingly grumpy man who “isn't big on Christmas.”

But after he is awarded an £8,000 Christmas bonus at work, his wife (starring Morgana Robinson) talks him into spending the sum on a holiday to Lapland.

There’s just one problem—he finds out there was an mix-up with his bonus, which should have been £800, and he has to devise a plan for how to reimburse the excess.

Enjoyable but forgettable.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄

Early Afternoon: Champagne Problems

This is one of those Christmas films where the festive trappings are in the background—Christmas is the setting of the film rather than its main point—but it feels warm and holiday-like all the same.

Ambitious executive 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 book store who vows to show her Christmas in Paris.

An expert recently declared this is the top new Christmas film of the last several seasons. 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 detailed conversation about Die Hard is very good too.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄

Mid-Afternoon: Finding Father Christmas

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

The answer is to be discovered, and Chris embarks on a quest to find it with the expert help of a group of well-known figures.

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

Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄

A Star-Studded Family Drama

Michelle Pfeiffer is the matriarch of a bickering American family who reunite for the holidays—including other acclaimed actress Felicity Jones, Chloe Grace Moretz, Jason Schwartzman, and dad Denis Leary.

Pfeiffer starts by mentioning Christmas classics like National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, It’s A Wonderful Life and Home Alone, before stating: “They need to make a movie about the unsung heroes of the holidays—moms.”

So that’s what this is, but in execution it’s really a jumble of those inspirations, at least until Pfeiffer’s character finally takes center stage.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄

Evening: A Scottish Christmas Secret

The day’s taken a dip, but happily here’s a new offering in the saturated market of cliched, saccharine, over-the-top—and highly entertaining—festive fodder.

It’s a story as familiar as can be: An American woman journeys to a far-off wintery locale and ends up discovering romance.

In this case, Caprice Bourret plays a publisher