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

It is the season to relax on the couch and devour a packet of festive treats in front of a good movie, a poor film, or one that’s terrible yet terrific.

This year, a selection of latest Christmas films aims to become part of our holiday traditions—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 vital public service to separate the winners from the losers, and to find the Christmas spirit, I binged as many fresh holiday releases as possible in a single day.

Early Morning: A Very Jonas Christmas Movie

Starting, ideally, on a positive note. This is the only 2025 title on a famous website's list of the top 100 festive features of all time.

The Jonas Brothers end up stuck in the UK after finishing their international trek and must return for Christmas. Their efforts are thwarted by an malevolent Father Christmas, who breaks into song to declare they won’t get home until they “rekindle their brotherly magic.”

The banter between the squabbling siblings is enjoyable even for the uninitiated, while devotees will certainly catch lots of references as they try to get back using any means of transport necessary.

It’s a travelogue of mishaps.

It’s not a timeless masterpiece, but is superb for devotees and a solid start to the day.

Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄 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 has been cast as a Hollywood star tricked into a "panto".

“A what's a panto??” asks Sutherland’s “temperamental” and older lead Brad Mack, who has hit a rough patch and whose representative has misled him into thinking he’s starring in high-class London stage.

His Aladdin co-stars tell him he’s playing Buttons. “Oh no I’m not,” he protests. It's easy to predict their reply. That is, unless you’re unfamiliar with traditional British theatre traditions.

There are some great jokes, some touching side stories, and the ensemble is brilliant, too.

It’s the type of film that would be a bit cheesy at a different time, but is a great entertainment at Christmas.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄🎄

A New Spin on Scrooge

An actor appears at the start of this film, too, delivering a signature line for the next movie straight. Is this a new Christmas tradition?

This time, he’s a singing black cab driver who collects 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 familiar story develops as the stingy Mr Sood is confronted by the apparitions of Christmas past, present and future, played by Hugh Bonneville, Billy Porter, and Boy George.

This cultural adaptation is at least distinct from all the others, but regrettably he’s not very compelling and Nayyar’s portrayal is flat—a significant issue when he’s so central to everything.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄

Lunchtime: Stuffed

There’s time for a channel's original festive film—which stars Guz Khan as a charmingly cantankerous character who “avoids Christmas.”

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

There’s just one problem—he discovers there was an mix-up 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.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄

1.12pm - Champagne Problems

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

Ambitious executive Sydney (played by Minka Kelly) is dispatched to a vineyard to negotiate a purchase for a sparkling wine company. During her travels, she encounters a man in a bookshop who offers to show her the holidays in the City of Light.

A commentator recently stated this is the best new Christmas film of the past few years. That’s a bit of a stretch, but it is a festive dalliance with a touch of class and gives the required warm and fuzzy feels.

The scene with a extended debate about Die Hard is notable too.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄

3.29pm - Finding Father Christmas

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

The truth is out there, and Chris embarks on a quest to find it with the guidance of a group of well-known figures.

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

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄

4.39pm - Oh. What. Fun.

Michelle Pfeiffer is the mother of a dysfunctional American family who gather for the holidays—including fellow Oscar nominee Felicity Jones, Chloe Grace Moretz, Jason Schwartzman, and dad Denis Leary.

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

So that’s the concept, but in practice it’s really a jumble of those inspirations, at least until Pfeiffer’s character at last takes center stage.

Festive score: 🎄🎄

Formulaic Fun

The day’s gone downhill, but thankfully here’s a new offering in the saturated market of predictable, sentimental, cheesy—and strangely compelling—seasonal comfort food.

It’s a tale as old as time: An American woman travels to a picturesque cold country and ends up finding romance.

In this case, Caprice Bourret plays a publisher