Devouring The Latest Holiday Movies: 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 festive treats in front of a great film, a poor film, or one that’s awesomely awful.
As always, a crop of latest holiday movies strives to join part of our holiday traditions—potentially even joining the ranks alongside enduring classics like Home Alone, Elf, Love Actually, and Die Hard (don’t start).
So, in a vital public service to separate the winners from the losers, and to get into the holiday mood, I watched as many fresh holiday releases as possible in a single day.
7.17am - A Very Jonas Christmas Movie
Starting, optimistically, on a good foot. This release is the sole 2025 movie on a famous website's list of the greatest 100 festive features of all time.
The Jonas Brothers find themselves stranded in the UK after concluding their world tour and must get home for Christmas. Their endeavors are thwarted by an evil Santa, who bursts into melody to declare they won’t get home until they “rediscover their familial spark.”
The back-and-forth between the arguing trio is amusing even for the non-fan, while followers will no doubt pick up on lots of easter eggs as they attempt to get back using any means of transport necessary.
It’s private planes, trains and automobiles.
It’s not legendary, but is superb for fans and a solid start to the day.
Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄 for Jonas Brothers fans or 🎄🎄🎄 for their family members who will have to sit through it.
Late Morning: Tinsel Town
Famous performer Kiefer Sutherland appears as a celebrity cast a pantomime.
“A what's a panto??” asks Sutherland’s “hard-to-work-with” and older star Brad Mack, who has fallen on hard times and whose representative has deceived him into thinking he’s appearing in prestigious English theatre.
His Aladdin fellow actors let him know he’s playing Buttons. “No I'm not,” he insists angrily. One can imagine their retort. Except if you’re ignorant of traditional panto catchphrases.
There are some very funny lines, some touching storylines, and the supporting actors is brilliant, too.
It’s the sort of feature that would be a bit naff at another season, but is a great entertainment at Christmas.
Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄🎄
10.19am - Christmas Karma
Danny Dyer pops up at the outset of this film, too, calling someone a mug for the second film in a row. Could this be a new Christmas tradition?
This time, he’s a crooning chauffeur who encounters 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 filmmaker behind Gurinder Chadha. The familiar story develops as the stingy Mr Sood is haunted by the ghosts 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 charismatic and Nayyar’s acting is lifeless—a major flaw when he’s so the main character.
Festive score: 🎄🎄
Lunchtime: Stuffed
Before lunch for a channel's Christmas comedy-drama—which stars Guz Khan as a lovably grouchy guy who “isn't big on Christmas.”
But after he is awarded an large festive windfall at work, his wife (played by Morgana Robinson) persuades him spending the sum on a family trip to Lapland.
There’s just one snag—he finds out there was an mistake with his bonus, which should have been £800, and he has to devise a plan for how to pay back the excess.
Pleasant yet unmemorable.
Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄
Early Afternoon: Champagne Problems
This is one of those Christmas films where the tree, fairy lights and snow are in the backdrop—Christmas is the scene of the film rather than its core purpose—but it feels cosy and festive all the same.
High-powered businesswoman Sydney (starring Minka Kelly) is dispatched to a vineyard to secure an acquisition for a champagne business. During her travels, she runs into a fellow in a book store who offers to show her a festive Paris.
A commentator recently claimed 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 touch of class and gives the necessary heartwarming sensation.
The scene with a lengthy discussion about Die Hard is particularly strong too.
Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄
3.29pm - Finding Father Christmas
Teenage Chris, played by Lenny Rush, refuses to stop believing in Father Christmas, regardless of the attempts of his dad (played by James Buckley) to tell him otherwise.
The truth is somewhere, and Chris ventures forth to find it with the assistance of a team of well-known scientists and personalities.
It’s low-key but sweet, and perfect viewing while expecting Santa to visit.
Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄
Late Afternoon: Oh. What. Fun.
Michelle Pfeiffer is the mother of a bickering American family who reunite 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 stating: “They need to make a movie about the unsung heroes of the holidays—moms.”
So that’s the premise, but in execution it’s really a jumble of those inspirations, at least until Pfeiffer’s character eventually takes center stage.
Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄
Evening: A Scottish Christmas Secret
The day’s waned in quality, but happily here’s a new addition in the packed genre of formulaic, schmaltzy, badly acted—and strangely compelling—festive fodder.
It’s a story as well-worn: An American woman journeys to a picturesque cold country and ends up finding romance.
In this case, Caprice Bourret plays a publisher