Marathon Viewing 2025's Holiday Movies: Highlights, Lowlights, and Unexpected Delights.

‘Tis the season to slob out on the sofa and devour a tin of festive treats in front of a good movie, a bad movie, or one that’s awesomely awful.

This year, a selection of new seasonal stories aims to become part of our festive viewing—potentially even joining the ranks alongside beloved favorites like Home Alone, Elf, Love Actually, and Die Hard (we won’t debate it).

Therefore, in a helpful attempt to distinguish the gems from the coal, and to find the holiday mood, I marathoned as many recent Christmas films as possible in a single day.

First Up: The Jonas Brothers' Holiday Flick

Starting, optimistically, on a high. This is the only 2025 movie on a popular review site's list of the top 100 festive features of all time.

The Jonas Brothers are trapped in the UK after concluding their world tour and must get home for Christmas. Their attempts are thwarted by an malevolent Father Christmas, who breaks into song to announce they won’t get home until they “rediscover their sibling bond.”

The repartee between the squabbling siblings is entertaining even for the non-fan, while fans will no doubt catch lots of references as they endeavor to get back using every mode of travel possible.

It’s a travelogue of mishaps.

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

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

Late Morning: Tinsel Town

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

“A panto-what?” asks Sutherland’s “hard-to-work-with” and ageing star Brad Mack, who has fallen on hard times and whose manager has tricked him into thinking he’s performing in high-class London stage.

His pantomime cast-mates let him know he’s playing Buttons. “Absolutely not,” he insists angrily. You can guess their retort. That is, unless you’re not acquainted with traditional stage call-and-response.

There are some very funny lines, some heartwarming side stories, and the supporting actors is cracking, too.

It’s the kind of movie that would be a bit tacky at another season, but is a lot of fun at Christmas.

Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄🎄

Mid-Morning: Christmas Karma

Danny Dyer shows up at the beginning of this film, too, delivering a signature line for the next movie straight. Could this be a new Christmas tradition?

This time, he’s a musical taxi operator who encounters Mr Sood, the modern take 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 director of Gurinder Chadha. The familiar story progresses as the tight-fisted Mr Sood is visited by the ghosts of Christmas yesterday, today, and tomorrow, played by Hugh Bonneville, Billy Porter, and Boy George.

This South Asian reinterpretation is at least distinct from all the others, but unfortunately he’s not very captivating and Nayyar’s portrayal is flat—a problem when he’s so the focal point.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄

Noon: A BBC Special

Before lunch for a channel's Christmas comedy-drama—which stars Guz Khan as a charmingly cantankerous character who “isn't big on Christmas.”

But after he receives an sizable holiday payout at work, his wife (portrayed by Morgana Robinson) talks him into splurging the cash on a vacation to Lapland.

There’s just one issue—he discovers there was an mistake with his bonus, which should have been £800, and he has to determine how to pay back the difference.

Enjoyable but forgettable.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄

A Classy Netflix Romance

This is one of those Christmas films where the tree, fairy lights and snow are in the backdrop—Christmas is the setting of the film rather than its main point—but it feels warm and holiday-like all the same.

Ambitious executive Sydney (starring Minka Kelly) is dispatched to a country estate to do a deal for a champagne business. En route, she runs into a man in a book store who offers to show her the holidays in the City of Light.

An expert recently stated this is the finest new Christmas film of the recent era. That’s a bit of a exaggeration, but it is a festive dalliance with a dash of elegance and gives the necessary heartwarming sensation.

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

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄

A Charming Quest

Teenage Chris, played by Lenny Rush, refuses to stop believing in Father Christmas, in spite of the efforts of his dad (starring James Buckley) to tell him the reality.

The secret is to be discovered, and Chris sets out to find it with the assistance of a group of well-known experts and celebrities.

It’s gentle but sweet, and good viewing while waiting for Santa to visit.

Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄

Late Afternoon: Oh. What. Fun.

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

Pfeiffer begins by referencing classic festive films like National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, It’s A Wonderful Life and Home Alone, before stating: “They need to make a movie about the true heroes of the holidays—moms.”

So that’s what this is, but in reality it’s really a combination of those aforementioned movies, at least until Pfeiffer’s character finally takes center stage.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄

Formulaic Fun

The day’s taken a dip, but fortunately here’s a new entry in the saturated market of cliched, saccharine, over-the-top—and strangely compelling—holiday fare.

It’s a tale as old as time: An American woman travels to a distant snowy land and ends up stumbling across romance.

In this case, Caprice Bourret plays a publisher