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

It is the season to slob out on the sofa and consume a packet of holiday pastries in front of a good movie, a poor film, or one that’s so bad it’s good.

Once again, a selection of latest Christmas films aims to become part of our holiday traditions—maybe even joining the ranks alongside beloved favorites like Home Alone, Elf, Love Actually, and Die Hard (don’t start).

Therefore, in a helpful attempt to distinguish the gems from the coal, and to get into the Christmas spirit, I marathoned as many new Christmas films as possible in a single day.

7.17am - A Very Jonas Christmas Movie

Starting, hopefully, on a high. This film is the exclusive 2025 title on a well-known aggregator's list of the greatest 100 Christmas movies of all time.

The Jonas Brothers end up stranded in the UK after finishing their international trek and must get home for Christmas. Their efforts are thwarted by an malevolent Father Christmas, who sings to announce they won’t get home until they “rekindle their sibling bond.”

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

It’s a journey of epic proportions.

It’s not legendary, but is excellent for devotees and a good start to the day.

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

Next: A Star in Panto

A-list actor Kiefer Sutherland appears as a Hollywood star roped into a "panto".

“A what's a panto??” asks Sutherland’s “hard-to-work-with” and aging star Brad Mack, who has seen better days and whose representative has tricked him into thinking he’s appearing in high-class London stage.

His pantomime cast-mates inform him he’s playing Buttons. “Oh no I’m not,” he retorts. You can guess their response. Unless you’re unfamiliar with traditional stage call-and-response.

There are some very funny lines, some heartwarming sub-plots, and the ensemble is brilliant, too.

It’s the kind of movie that would be a bit tacky at any other time of year, but is a lot of fun at Christmas.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄🎄

10.19am - Christmas Karma

An actor appears at the start of this film, too, insulting someone for the second film in a row. Could this be a fresh holiday staple?

This time, he’s a singing black cab driver who picks up 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 Bend It Like Beckham’s Gurinder Chadha. The well-known tale unfolds as the miserly Mr Sood is confronted by the spirits of Christmas yesterday, today, and tomorrow, played by Hugh Bonneville, Billy Porter, and Boy George.

This South Asian reinterpretation is at least different from all the others, but sadly he’s not very compelling and Nayyar’s performance is lifeless—a major flaw when he’s so central to everything.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄

Lunchtime: Stuffed

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

But after he gets 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 issue—he finds out there was an mix-up with his bonus, which should have been £800, and he has to determine how to pay back the difference.

Fun while it lasts but not lasting.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄

A Classy Netflix Romance

This is one of those holiday movies where the festive trappings are in the setting—Christmas is the environment of the film rather than its core purpose—but it feels comfortable and seasonal all the same.

High-powered businesswoman Sydney (starring Minka Kelly) is sent to a French chateau to negotiate a purchase for a sparkling wine company. During her travels, she encounters a guy in a literary haven who offers to show her Christmas in Paris.

A commentator recently declared 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 hint of sophistication and gives the obligatory heartwarming sensation.

The scene with a detailed conversation about Die Hard is very good too.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄

3.29pm - Finding Father Christmas

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

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

It’s understated but charming, and good viewing while anticipating Santa to visit.

Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄

4.39pm - Oh. What. Fun.

Michelle Pfeiffer is the matriarch 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 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 combination of those forerunner films, at least until Pfeiffer’s character finally comes into her own.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄

Formulaic Fun

The day’s taken a dip, but thankfully here’s a new entry in the saturated market of cliched, saccharine, over-the-top—and utterly watchable—festive fodder.

It’s a story as familiar as can be: An American woman goes on a quest to a far-off wintery locale and ends up finding romance.

In this case, Caprice Bourret plays a publisher