Binge-Watching This Year's Holiday Movies: The Good, The Bad and The So-Bad-It's-Good.

It is the time of year to lounge on the couch and consume a tin of holiday pastries in front of a great film, a awful feature, or one that’s terrible yet terrific.

Once again, a batch of latest holiday movies 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).

Thus, in a noble effort to sort the crackers from the turkeys, and to get into the holiday mood, I watched as many new festive movies as possible in a single day.

7.17am - A Very Jonas Christmas Movie

Starting, optimistically, on a good foot. This is the exclusive 2025 entry on a well-known aggregator's list of the best 100 Christmas movies of all time.

The musical trio find themselves stuck in the UK after wrapping up their world tour and must return for Christmas. Their attempts are hampered by an evil Santa, who breaks into song to announce they won’t get home until they “rekindle their sibling bond.”

The repartee between the squabbling siblings is amusing even for the non-fan, while devotees will certainly notice 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 great for fans and a positive start to the day.

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

Late Morning: Tinsel Town

Hollywood star Kiefer Sutherland stars as a celebrity cast a traditional British stage show.

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

His Aladdin fellow actors inform him he’s playing Buttons. “Oh no I’m not,” he protests. You can guess their response. Except if you’re ignorant of traditional stage call-and-response.

There are some hilarious moments, some heartwarming storylines, and the ensemble is cracking, too.

It’s the kind of movie that would be a bit tacky at a different time, but is a highly enjoyable at Christmas.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄🎄

A New Spin on Scrooge

A familiar face shows up at the start of this film, too, insulting someone for the next movie straight. Might this become a fresh holiday staple?

This time, he’s a singing black cab driver who collects Mr Sood, the latest spin 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 filmmaker behind Gurinder Chadha. The well-known tale unfolds as the stingy Mr Sood is haunted by the spirits of Christmas yesterday, today, and tomorrow, played by Hugh Bonneville, Billy Porter, and Boy George.

This cultural adaptation is at least different from all the others, but sadly he’s not very charismatic and Nayyar’s performance is flat—a major flaw when he’s so central to everything.

Festive score: 🎄🎄

Lunchtime: Stuffed

There's just enough time for a channel's holiday special—which stars Guz Khan as a endearingly grumpy man who “doesn’t really do Christmas.”

But after he receives an £8,000 Christmas bonus at work, his wife (played by Morgana Robinson) talks him into splurging the cash on a holiday to Lapland.

There’s just one issue—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 remainder.

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 core purpose—but it feels comfortable and seasonal all the same.

Driven corporate star Sydney (starring Minka Kelly) is assigned to a French chateau to negotiate a purchase for a champagne business. On the way, she encounters a guy in a bookshop who vows to show her a festive Paris.

An expert recently claimed this is the best new Christmas film of the past few years. That’s a bit of a stretch, but it is a Christmas romance with a dash of elegance and gives the obligatory cozy feelings.

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

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄

A Charming Quest

Sixteen-year-old Chris, played by Lenny Rush, holds onto his belief in Father Christmas, regardless of the attempts of his dad (played by James Buckley) to tell him the truth.

The secret is out there, and Chris sets out to find it with the expert help of a team of well-known experts and celebrities.

It’s gentle but endearing, and ideal viewing while waiting for Santa to visit.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄

4.39pm - Oh. What. Fun.

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

Pfeiffer opens by name-dropping 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 true heroes of the holidays—moms.”

So that’s the premise, but in reality it’s really a mash-up of those forerunner films, at least until Pfeiffer’s character finally takes center stage.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄

Evening: A Scottish Christmas Secret

The day’s gone downhill, but happily here’s a new offering in the packed genre of predictable, sentimental, cheesy—and strangely compelling—festive fodder.

It’s a narrative as old as time: An American woman journeys to a far-off wintery locale and ends up finding romance.

In this case, Caprice Bourret plays a publisher