Devouring 2025's Holiday Movies: The Hits, The Misses, and The Guilty Pleasures.
It is the time of year to relax on the couch and demolish a tin of holiday pastries in front of a good movie, a poor film, or one that’s so bad it’s good.
This year, a selection of new Christmas films hopes to be part of our seasonal watchlist—maybe even earning a place alongside timeless staples like Home Alone, Elf, Love Actually, and Die Hard (we won’t debate it).
Therefore, in a noble effort to distinguish the gems from the coal, and to embrace the holiday mood, I marathoned as many new Christmas films as possible in a single day.
Early Morning: A Very Jonas Christmas Movie
Beginning, hopefully, on a positive note. This film is the only 2025 movie on a famous website's list of the best 100 Christmas movies of all time.
The musical trio find themselves stranded in the UK after finishing their world tour and must make it back for Christmas. Their endeavors are thwarted by an villainous Saint Nick, who breaks into song to state they won’t get home until they “find their brotherly magic.”
The repartee between the squabbling siblings is enjoyable even for the casual viewer, while devotees will undoubtedly notice lots of easter eggs as they try to get back using any means of transport necessary.
It’s private planes, trains and automobiles.
It’s not a timeless masterpiece, but is excellent for fans and a positive start to the day.
Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄 for Jonas Brothers fans or 🎄🎄🎄 for their loved ones who are obliged to sit through it.
Next: A Star in Panto
A-list actor Kiefer Sutherland appears as a movie actor roped into a traditional British stage show.
“A panto-what??” asks Sutherland’s “temperamental” and aging star Brad Mack, who has hit a rough patch and whose agent has tricked him into thinking he’s performing in prestigious English theatre.
His pantomime fellow actors inform him he’s playing Buttons. “Absolutely not,” he insists angrily. You can guess their retort. Except if you’re unfamiliar with traditional stage call-and-response.
There are some great jokes, some touching sub-plots, and the ensemble is excellent, too.
It’s the type of film that would be a bit naff at a different time, but is a highly enjoyable at Christmas.
Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄🎄
A New Spin on Scrooge
A familiar face pops up at the start of this film, too, insulting someone for the second consecutive movie. Could this be a fresh holiday staple?
This time, he’s a crooning chauffeur who encounters 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 filmmaker behind Gurinder Chadha. The familiar story develops as the tight-fisted Mr Sood is visited by the spirits 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 regrettably he’s not very compelling and Nayyar’s portrayal is wooden—a significant issue when he’s so the focal point.
Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄
12.04pm - Stuffed
There’s time for a network's holiday special—which stars Guz Khan as a charmingly cantankerous character who “isn't big on Christmas.”
But after he gets an large festive windfall at work, his wife (starring Morgana Robinson) persuades him splurging the cash on a holiday to Lapland.
There’s just one problem—he finds out 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 remainder.
Enjoyable but forgettable.
Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄
1.12pm - Champagne Problems
This is one of those holiday movies where the decorations and snow are in the backdrop—Christmas is the environment of the film rather than its main point—but it feels comfortable and seasonal all the same.
Ambitious executive Sydney (starring Minka Kelly) is assigned to a country estate to do a deal for a sparkling wine company. En route, she encounters a man in a bookshop who promises to show her the holidays in the City of Light.
An expert recently declared this is the finest new Christmas film of the past few years. That’s a bit of a exaggeration, but it is a Christmas romance with a dash of elegance and gives the required heartwarming sensation.
The scene with a lengthy discussion about Die Hard is very good too.
Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄
A Charming Quest
Sixteen-year-old 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 out there, and Chris embarks on a quest to find it with the guidance of a team of well-known experts and celebrities.
It’s low-key but sweet, and perfect viewing while anticipating Santa to visit.
Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄
Late Afternoon: Oh. What. Fun.
Michelle Pfeiffer is the head of a dysfunctional American family who reunite for the holidays—including other Oscar nominee Felicity Jones, Chloe Grace Moretz, Jason Schwartzman, and dad Denis Leary.
Pfeiffer starts by mentioning 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 real champions of the holidays—moms.”
So that’s the concept, but in practice it’s really a combination of those aforementioned movies, at least until Pfeiffer’s character at last comes into her own.
Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄
6.43pm - A Scottish Christmas Secret
The day’s waned in quality, but happily here’s a new addition in the crowded field of predictable, sentimental, cheesy—and utterly watchable—seasonal comfort food.
It’s a tale as familiar as can be: An American woman journeys to a far-off wintery locale and ends up stumbling across romance.
In this case, Caprice Bourret plays a publisher