Marathon Viewing The Latest Festive Features: Highlights, Lowlights, and Unexpected Delights.
‘Tis the season to lounge on the sofa and consume a packet of festive treats in front of a terrific flick, a awful feature, or one that’s awesomely awful.
Once again, a selection of fresh seasonal stories strives to join part of our holiday traditions—maybe even finding a spot alongside enduring classics like Home Alone, Elf, Love Actually, and Die Hard (don’t start).
So, in a noble effort to separate the winners from the losers, and to get into the holiday mood, I binged as many recent festive movies as possible in a single day.
First Up: The Jonas Brothers' Holiday Flick
Kicking off, hopefully, on a positive note. This is the exclusive 2025 title on a well-known aggregator's list of the top 100 festive features of all time.
The popular band are stranded in the UK after finishing their world tour and must return for Christmas. Their efforts are hindered by an evil Santa, who sings to declare they won’t get home until they “find their sibling bond.”
The banter between the bickering brothers is entertaining even for the casual viewer, while devotees will undoubtedly pick up on lots of easter eggs as they try to get back using any means of transport necessary.
It’s a travelogue of mishaps.
It’s not legendary, but is superb for devotees and a positive start to the day.
Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄 for Jonas Brothers fans or 🎄🎄🎄 for their family members who are obliged to sit through it.
8.45am - Tinsel Town
A-list actor Kiefer Sutherland has been cast as a celebrity tricked into a traditional British stage show.
“A panto-what?” asks Sutherland’s “difficult” and older lead Brad Mack, who has hit a rough patch and whose agent has tricked him into thinking he’s performing in renowned British drama.
His pantomime co-stars tell him he’s playing Buttons. “Absolutely not,” he retorts. You can guess their retort. That is, unless you’re unfamiliar with traditional panto catchphrases.
There are some hilarious moments, some touching sub-plots, and the rest of the cast is excellent, too.
It’s the sort of feature that would be a bit naff at any other time of year, but is a highly enjoyable at Christmas.
Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄🎄
Mid-Morning: Christmas Karma
A familiar face shows up at the beginning of this film, too, calling someone a mug for the next movie straight. Might this become a fresh holiday staple?
This time, he’s a crooning chauffeur who picks up Mr Sood, the latest spin 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 filmmaker behind Gurinder Chadha. The well-known tale develops as the miserly Mr Sood is haunted by the apparitions 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 unfortunately he’s not very compelling and Nayyar’s performance is wooden—a significant issue when he’s so the focal point.
Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄
Lunchtime: Stuffed
There's just enough time for a major broadcaster's Christmas comedy-drama—which stars Guz Khan as a charmingly cantankerous character who “avoids Christmas.”
But after he gets an £8,000 Christmas bonus at work, his wife (played by Morgana Robinson) convinces him spending the sum on a holiday to Lapland.
There’s just one problem—he discovers there was an mix-up with his bonus, which should have been £800, and he has to determine how to pay back the remainder.
Fun while it lasts but not lasting.
Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄
1.12pm - Champagne Problems
This is one of those Christmas films where the decorations and snow are in the setting—Christmas is the environment of the film rather than its main point—but it feels warm and holiday-like all the same.
Ambitious executive Sydney (played by Minka Kelly) is sent to a country estate to secure an acquisition for a sparkling wine company. On the way, she meets a man in a literary haven who promises to show her Christmas in Paris.
An expert recently stated this is the finest new Christmas film of the past few years. That’s a bit of a stretch, but it is a holiday love story with a dash of elegance and gives the obligatory cozy feelings.
The scene with a lengthy discussion about Die Hard is very good too.
Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄
Mid-Afternoon: Finding Father Christmas
Sixteen-year-old Chris, played by Lenny Rush, refuses to stop believing in Father Christmas, in spite of the attempts of his dad (starring James Buckley) to tell him the reality.
The answer is out there, and Chris sets out to find it with the assistance of a team of well-known experts and celebrities.
It’s gentle but charming, and good viewing while expecting Santa to visit.
Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄
Late Afternoon: Oh. What. Fun.
Michelle Pfeiffer is the mother of a dysfunctional American family who come back together for the holidays—including fellow acclaimed actress 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 reality it’s really a mash-up of those forerunner films, at least until Pfeiffer’s character at last finds her strength.
Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄
Evening: A Scottish Christmas Secret
The day’s taken a dip, but happily here’s a new entry in the crowded field of formulaic, schmaltzy, badly acted—and highly entertaining—holiday fare.
It’s a tale as well-worn: An American woman travels to a distant snowy land and ends up stumbling across romance.
In this case, Caprice Bourret plays a publisher
