Binge-Watching 2025's Holiday Movies: Highlights, Lowlights, and Unexpected Delights.

‘Tis the season to slob out on the couch and devour a tin of mince pies in front of a great film, a bad movie, or one that’s so bad it’s good.

As always, a crop of new holiday movies strives to join part of our holiday traditions—maybe even joining the ranks alongside timeless staples like Home Alone, Elf, Love Actually, and Die Hard (no arguments).

Therefore, in a noble effort to distinguish the gems from the coal, and to find the Christmas spirit, I binged as many recent festive movies as possible in a single day.

First Up: The Jonas Brothers' Holiday Flick

Beginning, ideally, on a high. This release is the sole 2025 entry on a well-known aggregator's list of the best 100 festive features of all time.

The popular band end up stranded in the UK after concluding their global concert series and must make it back for Christmas. Their attempts are thwarted by an villainous Saint Nick, who sings to state they won’t get home until they “find their brotherly magic.”

The repartee between the arguing trio is entertaining even for the uninitiated, while followers will no doubt pick up on lots of in-jokes as they endeavor to get back using any means of transport necessary.

It’s a journey of epic proportions.

It’s not a timeless masterpiece, but is excellent 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.

8.45am - Tinsel Town

Famous performer Kiefer Sutherland stars as a Hollywood star roped into a "panto".

“A panto-what?” asks Sutherland’s “temperamental” and older star Brad Mack, who has fallen on hard times and whose representative has tricked him into thinking he’s performing in prestigious English theatre.

His pantomime cast-mates let him know he’s playing Buttons. “Absolutely not,” he retorts. It's easy to predict their response. Except if you’re not acquainted with traditional panto catchphrases.

There are some great jokes, some cockle-warming storylines, and the supporting actors is brilliant, too.

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

Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄🎄

Mid-Morning: Christmas Karma

An actor appears at the start of this film, too, delivering a signature line for the next movie straight. Might this become a budding festive ritual?

This time, he’s a crooning chauffeur who encounters Mr Sood, the newest interpretation 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 tight-fisted Mr Sood is visited by the apparitions of Christmas past, present and future, played by Hugh Bonneville, Billy Porter, and Boy George.

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

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄

Lunchtime: Stuffed

There's just enough time for a network's Christmas comedy-drama—which stars Guz Khan as a endearingly grumpy man who “avoids Christmas.”

But after he gets an large festive windfall at work, his wife (portrayed by Morgana Robinson) persuades him spending the sum on a holiday to Lapland.

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

Enjoyable but forgettable.

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 warm and holiday-like all the same.

High-powered businesswoman Sydney (played by Minka Kelly) is assigned to a country estate to do a deal for a champagne business. En route, she encounters a fellow in a bookshop who promises to show her the holidays in the City of Light.

A critic recently stated this is the top new Christmas film of the recent era. That’s a bit of a exaggeration, 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 particularly strong too.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄

3.29pm - Finding Father Christmas

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

The answer is somewhere, and Chris sets out to find it with the expert help of a team of well-known figures.

It’s understated but sweet, and perfect viewing while expecting Santa to visit.

Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄

A Star-Studded Family Drama

Michelle Pfeiffer is the mother of a dysfunctional American family who come back together for the holidays—including other 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 real champions of the holidays—moms.”

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

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄

Evening: A Scottish Christmas Secret

The day’s taken a dip, but happily here’s a new addition in the saturated market of formulaic, schmaltzy, badly acted—and highly entertaining—holiday fare.

It’s a story as well-worn: An American woman journeys to a far-off wintery locale and ends up finding romance.

In this case, Caprice Bourret plays a publisher