Devouring The Latest Christmas Films: Highlights, Lowlights, and Unexpected Delights.

It is the season to lounge on the couch and demolish a tin of holiday pastries in front of a good movie, a poor film, or one that’s awesomely awful.

Once again, a batch of new holiday movies aims to become part of our festive viewing—maybe even earning a place alongside enduring classics like Home Alone, Elf, Love Actually, and Die Hard (don’t start).

So, in a noble effort to sort the crackers from the turkeys, and to find the festive feeling, I watched as many fresh festive movies as possible in a single day.

Early Morning: A Very Jonas Christmas Movie

Beginning, hopefully, on a high. This release is the exclusive 2025 title on a popular review site's list of the best 100 festive features of all time.

The Jonas Brothers are stranded in the UK after wrapping up their global concert series and must get home for Christmas. Their attempts are hampered by an evil Santa, who bursts into melody to announce they won’t get home until they “find their familial spark.”

The banter between the bickering brothers is entertaining even for the casual viewer, while devotees will undoubtedly catch lots of references as they try to get back using all transportation available.

It’s a journey of epic proportions.

It’s not an all-time classic, but is superb for fans and a good start to the day.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄 for Jonas Brothers fans or 🎄🎄🎄 for their relatives who will have to sit through it.

8.45am - Tinsel Town

A-list actor Kiefer Sutherland stars as a Hollywood star tricked into a traditional British stage show.

“A panto-what??” asks Sutherland’s “hard-to-work-with” and older lead Brad Mack, who has fallen on hard times and whose agent has misled him into thinking he’s starring in prestigious English theatre.

His Aladdin fellow actors let him know he’s playing Buttons. “Absolutely not,” he protests. It's easy to predict their retort. That is, unless you’re unfamiliar with traditional British theatre traditions.

There are some hilarious moments, some heartwarming side stories, and the ensemble is brilliant, too.

It’s the sort of feature that would be a bit cheesy at a different time, but is a highly enjoyable at Christmas.

Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄🎄

10.19am - Christmas Karma

Danny Dyer pops up at the start of this film, too, delivering a signature line for the next movie straight. Could this be a budding festive ritual?

This time, he’s a crooning chauffeur who encounters Mr Sood, the newest interpretation 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 develops as the tight-fisted Mr Sood is haunted by the spirits 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 captivating and Nayyar’s portrayal is lifeless—a problem when he’s so central to everything.

Festive score: 🎄🎄

12.04pm - Stuffed

Before lunch for a network's original festive film—which stars Guz Khan as a lovably grouchy guy who “isn't big on Christmas.”

But after he receives 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 issue—he learns there was an error with his bonus, which should have been £800, and he has to figure out how to pay back the remainder.

Enjoyable but forgettable.

Festive score: 🎄🎄

1.12pm - Champagne Problems

This is one of those holiday movies where the decorations and snow are in the setting—Christmas is the scene of the film rather than its core purpose—but it feels comfortable and seasonal all the same.

High-powered businesswoman Sydney (starring Minka Kelly) is assigned to a vineyard to secure an acquisition for a champagne business. On the way, she runs into a fellow in a book store who promises to show her a festive Paris.

An expert recently claimed this is the top new Christmas film of the recent era. That’s a bit of a overstatement, but it is a festive dalliance with a dash of elegance and gives the required heartwarming sensation.

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

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄

3.29pm - Finding Father Christmas

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

The answer is to be discovered, and Chris sets out to find it with the assistance of a panel of well-known scientists and personalities.

It’s gentle but sweet, and good viewing while anticipating Santa to visit.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄

4.39pm - Oh. What. Fun.

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

Pfeiffer starts by mentioning holiday staples like National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, It’s A Wonderful Life and Home Alone, before declaring: “They need to make a movie about the real champions of the holidays—moms.”

So that’s the concept, but in reality it’s really a combination of those forerunner films, at least until Pfeiffer’s character eventually takes center stage.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄

Formulaic Fun

The day’s waned in quality, but fortunately here’s a new offering in the packed genre of formulaic, schmaltzy, badly acted—and highly entertaining—festive fodder.

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