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

It is the time of year to lounge on the sofa and devour a tin of holiday pastries in front of a terrific flick, a bad movie, or one that’s terrible yet terrific.

As always, a selection of fresh Christmas films hopes to be part of our holiday traditions—maybe even earning a place alongside enduring classics like Home Alone, Elf, Love Actually, and Die Hard (no arguments).

Therefore, in a noble effort to distinguish the gems from the coal, and to embrace the Christmas spirit, I watched as many recent festive movies as possible in a single day.

7.17am - A Very Jonas Christmas Movie

Beginning, optimistically, on a good foot. This film is the exclusive 2025 movie on a popular review site's list of the best 100 festive features of all time.

The Jonas Brothers find themselves trapped in the UK after wrapping up their international trek and must get home for Christmas. Their efforts are thwarted by an evil Santa, who breaks into song to announce they won’t get home until they “rekindle their familial spark.”

The banter between the squabbling siblings is enjoyable even for the non-fan, while followers will certainly catch lots of easter eggs as they try to get back using every mode of travel possible.

It’s a journey of epic proportions.

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

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

Late Morning: Tinsel Town

Famous performer Kiefer Sutherland has been cast as a celebrity cast a traditional British stage show.

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

His Aladdin fellow actors let him know he’s playing Buttons. “Absolutely not,” he insists angrily. It's easy to predict their retort. Except if you’re not acquainted with traditional panto catchphrases.

There are some great jokes, some cockle-warming sub-plots, and the rest of the cast is cracking, too.

It’s the sort of feature that would be a bit naff at a different time, but is a highly enjoyable at Christmas.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄🎄

10.19am - Christmas Karma

A familiar face pops up at the beginning of this film, too, delivering a signature line for the second film in a row. Might this become a fresh holiday staple?

This time, he’s a musical taxi operator who picks up Mr Sood, the modern take on Mr Scrooge from Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol.

Mr Sood is played by The Big Bang Theory’s Kunal Nayyar and Christmas Karma is directed by Bend It Like Beckham’s Gurinder Chadha. The well-known tale develops as the stingy Mr Sood is haunted by the apparitions of Christmas past, present and future, played by Hugh Bonneville, Billy Porter, and Boy George.

This cultural adaptation is at least different from all the others, but unfortunately he’s not very captivating and Nayyar’s acting is lifeless—a problem when he’s so the main character.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄

12.04pm - Stuffed

There’s time for a major broadcaster's original festive film—which stars Guz Khan as a endearingly grumpy man who “avoids Christmas.”

But after he is awarded an sizable holiday payout at work, his wife (played by Morgana Robinson) persuades him splurging the cash on a family trip 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 return the difference.

Enjoyable but forgettable.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄

1.12pm - Champagne Problems

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

High-powered businesswoman Sydney (played by Minka Kelly) is sent to a country estate to secure an acquisition for a sparkling wine company. On the way, she runs into a man in a literary haven who promises to show her Christmas in Paris.

A commentator recently claimed 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 hint of sophistication and gives the necessary warm and fuzzy feels.

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

Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄

Mid-Afternoon: Finding Father Christmas

Young Chris, played by Lenny Rush, continues to believe in Father Christmas, regardless of the attempts of his dad (played by James Buckley) to tell him the truth.

The truth is to be discovered, and Chris ventures forth to find it with the guidance of a group of well-known experts and celebrities.

It’s gentle but endearing, and good viewing while expecting Santa to visit.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄

Late Afternoon: Oh. What. Fun.

Michelle Pfeiffer is the head of a dysfunctional American family who come back together for the holidays—including other Oscar nominee Felicity Jones, Chloe Grace Moretz, Jason Schwartzman, and dad Denis Leary.

Pfeiffer opens by name-dropping holiday staples like National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, It’s A Wonderful Life and Home Alone, before saying: “They need to make a movie about the true heroes of the holidays—moms.”

So that’s what this is, but in execution it’s really a mash-up of those forerunner films, at least until Pfeiffer’s character eventually finds her strength.

Festive score: 🎄🎄

Evening: A Scottish Christmas Secret

The day’s taken a dip, but fortunately here’s a new addition in the crowded field of predictable, sentimental, cheesy—and highly entertaining—seasonal comfort food.

It’s a story as old as time: An American woman goes on a quest to a far-off wintery locale and ends up discovering romance.

In this case, Caprice Bourret plays a publisher