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

It is the time of year to relax on the couch and demolish a packet of holiday pastries in front of a great film, a awful feature, or one that’s so bad it’s good.

This year, a batch of latest holiday movies strives to join part of our holiday traditions—maybe even joining the ranks alongside enduring classics like Home Alone, Elf, Love Actually, and Die Hard (no arguments).

Therefore, in a helpful attempt to distinguish the gems from the coal, and to get into the Christmas spirit, I marathoned as many new holiday releases as possible in a single day.

7.17am - A Very Jonas Christmas Movie

Kicking off, optimistically, on a good foot. This is the exclusive 2025 entry on a well-known aggregator's list of the top 100 festive features of all time.

The popular band end up trapped in the UK after finishing their world tour and must make it back for Christmas. Their endeavors are thwarted by an evil Santa, who breaks into song to state they won’t get home until they “rekindle their familial spark.”

The repartee between the bickering brothers is amusing even for the casual viewer, while followers will no doubt pick up on lots of references as they endeavor to get back using every mode of travel possible.

It’s private planes, trains and automobiles.

It’s not an all-time classic, but is excellent for fans and a solid start to the day.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄 for Jonas Brothers fans or 🎄🎄🎄 for their family members who are obliged to sit through it.

Late Morning: Tinsel Town

Famous performer Kiefer Sutherland has been cast as a celebrity tricked into a pantomime.

“A what's a panto??” asks Sutherland’s “hard-to-work-with” and older lead Brad Mack, who has hit a rough patch and whose agent has misled him into thinking he’s performing in prestigious English theatre.

His pantomime cast-mates inform him he’s playing Buttons. “Oh no I’m not,” he retorts. It's easy to predict their reply. That is, unless you’re unfamiliar with traditional British theatre traditions.

There are some very funny lines, some heartwarming side stories, and the rest of the cast is brilliant, too.

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

Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄🎄

10.19am - Christmas Karma

An actor appears at the beginning of this film, too, insulting someone for the second consecutive movie. Might this become a budding festive ritual?

This time, he’s a crooning chauffeur who picks up Mr Sood, the newest interpretation 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 confronted by the apparitions of Christmas yesterday, today, and tomorrow, played by Hugh Bonneville, Billy Porter, and Boy George.

This cultural adaptation is at least unique from all the others, but sadly he’s not very charismatic and Nayyar’s acting is wooden—a significant issue when he’s so the focal point.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄

12.04pm - Stuffed

There’s time for a network's Christmas comedy-drama—which stars Guz Khan as a endearingly grumpy man who “avoids Christmas.”

But after he gets an sizable holiday payout at work, his wife (starring Morgana Robinson) persuades him blowing the money on a family trip to Lapland.

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

Fun while it lasts but not lasting.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄

A Classy Netflix Romance

This is one of those holiday movies where the festive trappings are in the background—Christmas is the scene of the film rather than its raison d’etre—but it feels warm and holiday-like all the same.

Ambitious executive Sydney (played by Minka Kelly) is assigned to a vineyard to do a deal for a champagne business. On the way, she meets a man in a book store who vows to show her Christmas in Paris.

A critic recently declared this is the top new Christmas film of the last several seasons. That’s a bit of a stretch, but it is a Christmas romance with a hint of sophistication and gives the required cozy feelings.

The scene with a lengthy discussion about Die Hard is very good too.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄

Mid-Afternoon: Finding Father Christmas

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

The truth is out there, and Chris embarks on a quest to find it with the assistance of a panel of well-known scientists and personalities.

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

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄

4.39pm - Oh. What. Fun.

Michelle Pfeiffer is the matriarch of a bickering American family who gather for the holidays—including fellow Oscar nominee 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 real champions of the holidays—moms.”

So that’s the premise, but in practice it’s really a combination of those forerunner films, at least until Pfeiffer’s character eventually finds her strength.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄

6.43pm - A Scottish Christmas Secret

The day’s gone downhill, but thankfully here’s a new entry in the packed genre of cliched, saccharine, over-the-top—and utterly watchable—festive fodder.

It’s a narrative as well-worn: An American woman journeys to a distant snowy land and ends up stumbling across romance.

In this case, Caprice Bourret plays a publisher