🔗 Share this article Marathon Viewing 2025's Holiday Movies: The Good, The Bad and The So-Bad-It's-Good. ‘Tis the season to relax on the couch and consume a tin of festive treats in front of a great film, a bad movie, or one that’s awesomely awful. Once again, a batch of fresh seasonal stories strives to join part of our festive viewing—potentially even joining the ranks alongside timeless staples like Home Alone, Elf, Love Actually, and Die Hard (we won’t debate it). Therefore, in a helpful attempt to distinguish the gems from the coal, and to find the holiday mood, I marathoned as many new holiday releases as possible in a single day. Early Morning: A Very Jonas Christmas Movie Kicking off, ideally, on a good foot. This is the only 2025 movie on a famous website's list of the greatest 100 festive features of all time. The musical trio find themselves stranded in the UK after wrapping up their world tour and must get home for Christmas. Their attempts are hampered by an villainous Saint Nick, who bursts into melody to announce they won’t get home until they “rediscover their brotherly magic.” The repartee between the arguing trio is amusing even for the uninitiated, while devotees will no doubt notice lots of references as they try to get back using all transportation available. It’s private planes, trains and automobiles. It’s not legendary, but is superb for devotees and a good start to the day. Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄 for Jonas Brothers fans or 🎄🎄🎄 for their relatives who must sit through it. Late Morning: Tinsel Town Famous performer Kiefer Sutherland appears as a movie actor roped into a "panto". “A what's a panto??” asks Sutherland’s “temperamental” and ageing 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 Aladdin cast-mates tell him he’s playing Buttons. “Absolutely not,” he insists angrily. You can guess their retort. Unless you’re ignorant of traditional British theatre traditions. There are some hilarious moments, some cockle-warming side stories, and the rest of the cast is brilliant, too. It’s the type of film that would be a bit naff at a different time, but is a highly enjoyable at Christmas. Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄🎄 10.19am - Christmas Karma An actor pops up at the start of this film, too, insulting someone for the second consecutive movie. Could this be a budding festive ritual? This time, he’s a crooning chauffeur who collects Mr Sood, the latest spin 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 Bend It Like Beckham’s Gurinder Chadha. The classic narrative progresses as the tight-fisted Mr Sood is confronted by the apparitions of Christmas past, present and future, played by Hugh Bonneville, Billy Porter, and Boy George. This cultural adaptation is at least different from all the others, but regrettably he’s not very charismatic and Nayyar’s portrayal is lifeless—a significant issue when he’s so central to everything. Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄 Lunchtime: Stuffed There's just enough time for a network's holiday special—which stars Guz Khan as a lovably grouchy guy who “avoids Christmas.” But after he is awarded an sizable holiday payout at work, his wife (starring Morgana Robinson) convinces him blowing the money on a vacation to Lapland. There’s just one snag—he finds out there was an mix-up with his bonus, which should have been £800, and he has to determine how to reimburse the difference. Pleasant yet unmemorable. Festive score: 🎄🎄 Early Afternoon: Champagne Problems This is one of those Christmas films where the festive trappings are in the background—Christmas is the setting of the film rather than its main point—but it feels cosy and festive all the same. High-powered businesswoman Sydney (starring Minka Kelly) is dispatched to a French chateau to do a deal for a sparkling wine company. En route, she runs into a man in a literary haven who offers to show her the holidays in the City of Light. A critic recently declared 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 required warm and fuzzy feels. The scene with a extended debate about Die Hard is particularly strong too. Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄 3.29pm - Finding Father Christmas Young Chris, played by Lenny Rush, continues to believe in Father Christmas, in spite of the attempts of his dad (starring James Buckley) to tell him otherwise. The truth is to be discovered, and Chris sets out to find it with the guidance of a team of well-known figures. It’s low-key but charming, and perfect viewing while expecting Santa to visit. Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄 4.39pm - 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 begins by referencing 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 true heroes 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 at last comes into her own. Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄 6.43pm - A Scottish Christmas Secret The day’s waned in quality, but thankfully here’s a new addition in the packed genre of predictable, sentimental, cheesy—and utterly watchable—holiday fare. It’s a narrative as old as time: An American woman travels to a picturesque cold country and ends up discovering romance. In this case, Caprice Bourret plays a publisher
‘Tis the season to relax on the couch and consume a tin of festive treats in front of a great film, a bad movie, or one that’s awesomely awful. Once again, a batch of fresh seasonal stories strives to join part of our festive viewing—potentially even joining the ranks alongside timeless staples like Home Alone, Elf, Love Actually, and Die Hard (we won’t debate it). Therefore, in a helpful attempt to distinguish the gems from the coal, and to find the holiday mood, I marathoned as many new holiday releases as possible in a single day. Early Morning: A Very Jonas Christmas Movie Kicking off, ideally, on a good foot. This is the only 2025 movie on a famous website's list of the greatest 100 festive features of all time. The musical trio find themselves stranded in the UK after wrapping up their world tour and must get home for Christmas. Their attempts are hampered by an villainous Saint Nick, who bursts into melody to announce they won’t get home until they “rediscover their brotherly magic.” The repartee between the arguing trio is amusing even for the uninitiated, while devotees will no doubt notice lots of references as they try to get back using all transportation available. It’s private planes, trains and automobiles. It’s not legendary, but is superb for devotees and a good start to the day. Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄 for Jonas Brothers fans or 🎄🎄🎄 for their relatives who must sit through it. Late Morning: Tinsel Town Famous performer Kiefer Sutherland appears as a movie actor roped into a "panto". “A what's a panto??” asks Sutherland’s “temperamental” and ageing 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 Aladdin cast-mates tell him he’s playing Buttons. “Absolutely not,” he insists angrily. You can guess their retort. Unless you’re ignorant of traditional British theatre traditions. There are some hilarious moments, some cockle-warming side stories, and the rest of the cast is brilliant, too. It’s the type of film that would be a bit naff at a different time, but is a highly enjoyable at Christmas. Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄🎄 10.19am - Christmas Karma An actor pops up at the start of this film, too, insulting someone for the second consecutive movie. Could this be a budding festive ritual? This time, he’s a crooning chauffeur who collects Mr Sood, the latest spin 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 Bend It Like Beckham’s Gurinder Chadha. The classic narrative progresses as the tight-fisted Mr Sood is confronted by the apparitions of Christmas past, present and future, played by Hugh Bonneville, Billy Porter, and Boy George. This cultural adaptation is at least different from all the others, but regrettably he’s not very charismatic and Nayyar’s portrayal is lifeless—a significant issue when he’s so central to everything. Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄 Lunchtime: Stuffed There's just enough time for a network's holiday special—which stars Guz Khan as a lovably grouchy guy who “avoids Christmas.” But after he is awarded an sizable holiday payout at work, his wife (starring Morgana Robinson) convinces him blowing the money on a vacation to Lapland. There’s just one snag—he finds out there was an mix-up with his bonus, which should have been £800, and he has to determine how to reimburse the difference. Pleasant yet unmemorable. Festive score: 🎄🎄 Early Afternoon: Champagne Problems This is one of those Christmas films where the festive trappings are in the background—Christmas is the setting of the film rather than its main point—but it feels cosy and festive all the same. High-powered businesswoman Sydney (starring Minka Kelly) is dispatched to a French chateau to do a deal for a sparkling wine company. En route, she runs into a man in a literary haven who offers to show her the holidays in the City of Light. A critic recently declared 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 required warm and fuzzy feels. The scene with a extended debate about Die Hard is particularly strong too. Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄 3.29pm - Finding Father Christmas Young Chris, played by Lenny Rush, continues to believe in Father Christmas, in spite of the attempts of his dad (starring James Buckley) to tell him otherwise. The truth is to be discovered, and Chris sets out to find it with the guidance of a team of well-known figures. It’s low-key but charming, and perfect viewing while expecting Santa to visit. Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄 4.39pm - 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 begins by referencing 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 true heroes 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 at last comes into her own. Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄 6.43pm - A Scottish Christmas Secret The day’s waned in quality, but thankfully here’s a new addition in the packed genre of predictable, sentimental, cheesy—and utterly watchable—holiday fare. It’s a narrative as old as time: An American woman travels to a picturesque cold country and ends up discovering romance. In this case, Caprice Bourret plays a publisher