Devouring 2025's Holiday Movies: The Good, The Bad and The So-Bad-It's-Good.

It is the season to relax on the couch and devour a packet of mince pies in front of a good movie, a awful feature, or one that’s awesomely awful.

Once again, a batch of fresh Christmas films hopes to be part of our holiday traditions—perhaps even earning a place alongside beloved favorites like Home Alone, Elf, Love Actually, and Die Hard (we won’t debate it).

Thus, in a helpful attempt to distinguish the gems from the coal, and to get into the festive feeling, I watched as many fresh Christmas films as possible in a single day.

Early Morning: A Very Jonas Christmas Movie

Beginning, hopefully, on a positive note. This is the only 2025 title on a popular review site's list of the top 100 Christmas movies of all time.

The musical trio find themselves stuck in the UK after concluding their international trek and must get home for Christmas. Their efforts are thwarted by an villainous Saint Nick, who breaks into song to declare they won’t get home until they “rekindle their sibling bond.”

The back-and-forth between the bickering brothers is entertaining even for the non-fan, while devotees will no doubt notice lots of in-jokes as they try to get back using every mode of travel possible.

It’s a journey of epic proportions.

It’s not legendary, but is great for fans and a solid start to the day.

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

8.45am - Tinsel Town

Famous performer Kiefer Sutherland appears as a movie actor tricked into a pantomime.

“A what's a panto??” asks Sutherland’s “temperamental” and ageing star Brad Mack, who has hit a rough patch and whose agent has tricked him into thinking he’s performing in high-class London stage.

His Aladdin fellow actors tell him he’s playing Buttons. “No I'm not,” he retorts. One can imagine their reply. That is, unless you’re ignorant of traditional stage call-and-response.

There are some hilarious moments, 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 highly enjoyable at Christmas.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄🎄

10.19am - Christmas Karma

Danny Dyer appears at the start of this film, too, insulting someone for the second film in a row. Is this a fresh holiday staple?

This time, he’s a singing black cab driver who encounters Mr Sood, the newest interpretation on Mr Scrooge from Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol.

Mr Sood is played by The Big Bang Theory’s Kunal Nayyar and Christmas Karma is directed by the filmmaker behind Gurinder Chadha. The well-known tale progresses as the miserly Mr Sood is confronted by the apparitions of Christmas past, present and future, played by Hugh Bonneville, Billy Porter, and Boy George.

This Indian Scrooge is at least unique from all the others, but unfortunately he’s not very compelling and Nayyar’s acting is lifeless—a significant issue when he’s so the main character.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄

Lunchtime: Stuffed

There’s time for a network's original festive film—which stars Guz Khan as a charmingly cantankerous character who “doesn’t really do Christmas.”

But after he is awarded an large festive windfall at work, his wife (portrayed by Morgana Robinson) persuades him blowing the money on a family trip to Lapland.

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

Enjoyable but forgettable.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄

1.12pm - Champagne Problems

This is one of those holiday movies where the tree, fairy lights and snow are in the background—Christmas is the scene of the film rather than its core purpose—but it feels cosy and festive all the same.

High-powered businesswoman Sydney (starring Minka Kelly) is assigned to a country estate to secure an acquisition for a sparkling wine company. En route, she encounters a man in a bookshop who promises to show her a festive Paris.

A critic recently declared this is the top new Christmas film of the recent era. That’s a bit of a stretch, but it is a festive dalliance with a touch of class and gives the obligatory heartwarming sensation.

The scene with a extended debate about Die Hard is notable too.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄

3.29pm - Finding Father Christmas

Teenage Chris, played by Lenny Rush, holds onto his belief in Father Christmas, despite the attempts of his dad (starring James Buckley) to tell him otherwise.

The answer is out there, and Chris ventures forth to find it with the guidance of a group of well-known figures.

It’s gentle but charming, and good viewing while expecting Santa to visit.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄

Late Afternoon: Oh. What. Fun.

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

Pfeiffer opens by name-dropping holiday staples like National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, It’s A Wonderful Life and Home Alone, before stating: “They need to make a movie about the unsung heroes of the holidays—moms.”

So that’s the concept, but in execution it’s really a combination of those inspirations, at least until Pfeiffer’s character at last finds her strength.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄

6.43pm - A Scottish Christmas Secret

The day’s gone downhill, but happily here’s a new offering in the saturated market of formulaic, schmaltzy, badly acted—and utterly watchable—seasonal comfort food.

It’s a story as well-worn: An American woman travels to a picturesque cold country and ends up finding romance.

In this case, Caprice Bourret plays a publisher