Binge-Watching The Latest Festive Features: Highlights, Lowlights, and Unexpected Delights.
It is the season to relax on the sofa and devour a packet of holiday pastries in front of a great film, a bad movie, or one that’s terrible yet terrific.
This year, a crop of new seasonal stories strives to join part of our holiday traditions—potentially even earning a place alongside timeless staples like Home Alone, Elf, Love Actually, and Die Hard (we won’t debate it).
So, in a vital public service to sort the crackers from the turkeys, and to embrace the festive feeling, I watched as many new Christmas films as possible in a single day.
First Up: The Jonas Brothers' Holiday Flick
Starting, hopefully, on a high. This film is the exclusive 2025 movie on a well-known aggregator's list of the top 100 holiday films of all time.
The musical trio end up trapped in the UK after concluding their international trek and must make it back for Christmas. Their efforts are hampered by an malevolent Father Christmas, who bursts into melody to declare they won’t get home until they “find their brotherly magic.”
The back-and-forth between the arguing trio is entertaining even for the uninitiated, while devotees will certainly notice lots of easter eggs as they try to get back using all transportation available.
It’s a travelogue of mishaps.
It’s not legendary, but is excellent for devotees and a solid start to the day.
Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄 for Jonas Brothers fans or 🎄🎄🎄 for their family members who must sit through it.
Late Morning: Tinsel Town
A-list actor Kiefer Sutherland stars as a celebrity tricked into a traditional British stage show.
“A panto-what??” asks Sutherland’s “hard-to-work-with” and aging lead Brad Mack, who has fallen on hard times and whose representative has misled him into thinking he’s starring in high-class London stage.
His pantomime cast-mates inform him he’s playing Buttons. “Absolutely not,” he retorts. One can imagine their reply. Unless you’re unfamiliar with traditional stage call-and-response.
There are some very funny lines, some cockle-warming side stories, and the ensemble is excellent, too.
It’s the type of film that would be a bit cheesy at any other time of year, but is a great entertainment at Christmas.
Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄🎄
A New Spin on Scrooge
A familiar face appears at the start of this film, too, insulting someone for the next movie straight. 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 the director of Gurinder Chadha. The familiar story progresses as the tight-fisted Mr Sood is confronted by the apparitions of Christmas yesterday, today, and tomorrow, played by Hugh Bonneville, Billy Porter, and Boy George.
This Indian Scrooge is at least distinct from all the others, but sadly he’s not very compelling and Nayyar’s performance is lifeless—a significant issue when he’s so the main character.
Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄
Noon: A BBC Special
Before lunch for a network'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 £8,000 Christmas bonus at work, his wife (portrayed by Morgana Robinson) persuades him spending the sum on a vacation 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 figure out how to pay back the excess.
Pleasant yet unmemorable.
Festive score: 🎄🎄
Early Afternoon: Champagne Problems
This is one of those Christmas films where the festive trappings are in the backdrop—Christmas is the setting of the film rather than its main point—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 runs into a man in a bookshop who vows to show her a festive Paris.
A critic recently stated this is the best new Christmas film of the recent era. That’s a bit of a overstatement, but it is a Christmas romance with a dash of elegance and gives the obligatory heartwarming sensation.
The scene with a lengthy discussion about Die Hard is very good too.
Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄
3.29pm - Finding Father Christmas
Sixteen-year-old Chris, played by Lenny Rush, refuses to stop believing in Father Christmas, despite the persuasion of his dad (starring James Buckley) to tell him the reality.
The answer is out there, and Chris embarks on a quest to find it with the guidance of a team of well-known scientists and personalities.
It’s low-key but endearing, and perfect viewing while anticipating Santa to visit.
Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄
4.39pm - Oh. What. Fun.
Michelle Pfeiffer is the head of a dysfunctional American family who gather 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 stating: “They need to make a movie about the real champions of the holidays—moms.”
So that’s the premise, but in execution it’s really a jumble of those aforementioned movies, at least until Pfeiffer’s character eventually finds her strength.
Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄
Evening: A Scottish Christmas Secret
The day’s taken a dip, but fortunately here’s a new entry in the saturated market of formulaic, schmaltzy, badly acted—and strangely compelling—holiday fare.
It’s a narrative as well-worn: An American woman journeys to a picturesque cold country and ends up stumbling across romance.
In this case, Caprice Bourret plays a publisher