Devouring 2025's Christmas Films: The Hits, The Misses, and The Guilty Pleasures.

‘Tis the season to relax on the couch and devour a packet of festive treats in front of a great film, a awful feature, or one that’s terrible yet terrific.

This year, a selection of latest Christmas films hopes to be part of our festive viewing—potentially even finding a spot alongside timeless staples like Home Alone, Elf, Love Actually, and Die Hard (we won’t debate it).

Thus, in a vital public service to distinguish the gems from the coal, and to embrace the holiday mood, I marathoned as many fresh holiday releases as possible in a single day.

Early Morning: A Very Jonas Christmas Movie

Kicking off, ideally, on a positive note. This is the sole 2025 entry on a popular review site's list of the best 100 Christmas movies of all time.

The Jonas Brothers are stuck in the UK after wrapping up their world tour and must return for Christmas. Their endeavors are thwarted by an evil Santa, who breaks into song to declare they won’t get home until they “find their familial spark.”

The repartee between the squabbling siblings is amusing even for the uninitiated, while followers will no doubt pick up on lots of in-jokes as they attempt to get back using every mode of travel possible.

It’s private planes, trains and automobiles.

It’s not legendary, but is superb for devotees 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

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

“A panto-what?” asks Sutherland’s “temperamental” and ageing star Brad Mack, who has seen better days and whose manager has tricked him into thinking he’s performing in prestigious English theatre.

His pantomime co-stars tell him he’s playing Buttons. “Absolutely not,” he protests. It's easy to predict their reply. That is, unless you’re ignorant of traditional stage call-and-response.

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

It’s the kind of movie that would be a bit tacky at another season, but is a highly enjoyable at Christmas.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄🎄

Mid-Morning: Christmas Karma

An actor pops up at the beginning of this film, too, delivering a signature line for the next movie straight. Might this become a fresh holiday staple?

This time, he’s a crooning chauffeur who encounters Mr Sood, the latest spin 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 Bend It Like Beckham’s Gurinder Chadha. The well-known tale develops as the miserly Mr Sood is confronted by the ghosts 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 charismatic and Nayyar’s acting is lifeless—a problem when he’s so the focal point.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄

12.04pm - Stuffed

Before lunch for a major broadcaster'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 (played by Morgana Robinson) convinces 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 determine how to return the remainder.

Pleasant yet unmemorable.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄

1.12pm - 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 raison d’etre—but it feels warm and holiday-like all the same.

Ambitious executive Sydney (played by Minka Kelly) is assigned to a French chateau to secure an acquisition for a sparkling wine company. En route, she meets a fellow in a book store who vows to show her the holidays in the City of Light.

A commentator recently claimed this is the best new Christmas film of the recent era. That’s a bit of a stretch, but it is a Christmas romance with a hint of sophistication and gives the necessary warm and fuzzy feels.

The scene with a lengthy discussion about Die Hard is particularly strong too.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄

A Charming Quest

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

The secret is to be discovered, and Chris embarks on a quest to find it with the guidance of a panel of well-known scientists and personalities.

It’s understated but charming, and ideal viewing while waiting for Santa to visit.

Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄

A Star-Studded Family Drama

Michelle Pfeiffer is the mother of a bickering American family who reunite for the holidays—including other acclaimed actress Felicity Jones, Chloe Grace Moretz, Jason Schwartzman, and dad Denis Leary.

Pfeiffer starts by mentioning classic festive films 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 mash-up of those forerunner films, at least until Pfeiffer’s character eventually takes center stage.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄

6.43pm - A Scottish Christmas Secret

The day’s taken a dip, but happily here’s a new addition in the saturated market of predictable, sentimental, cheesy—and strangely compelling—festive fodder.

It’s a narrative as familiar as can be: An American woman goes on a quest to a distant snowy land and ends up discovering romance.

In this case, Caprice Bourret plays a publisher