Marathon Viewing This Year's Festive Features: Highlights, Lowlights, and Unexpected Delights.
‘Tis the season to slob out on the couch and devour a tin of holiday pastries in front of a good movie, a poor film, or one that’s awesomely awful.
Once again, a selection of latest seasonal stories hopes to be part of our festive viewing—potentially even earning a place alongside enduring classics like Home Alone, Elf, Love Actually, and Die Hard (no arguments).
So, in a noble effort to separate the winners from the losers, and to find the Christmas spirit, I marathoned as many fresh Christmas films as possible in a single day.
Early Morning: A Very Jonas Christmas Movie
Starting, optimistically, on a good foot. This is the sole 2025 title on a well-known aggregator's list of the greatest 100 Christmas movies of all time.
The Jonas Brothers are trapped in the UK after finishing their global concert series and must get home for Christmas. Their attempts are thwarted by an villainous Saint Nick, who breaks into song to declare they won’t get home until they “rekindle their brotherly magic.”
The back-and-forth between the squabbling siblings is amusing even for the uninitiated, while followers will no doubt pick up on lots of in-jokes as they try to get back using any means of transport necessary.
It’s a journey of epic proportions.
It’s not legendary, but is excellent for fans and a good start to the day.
Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄 for Jonas Brothers fans or 🎄🎄🎄 for their family members who will have to sit through it.
Late Morning: Tinsel Town
A-list actor Kiefer Sutherland appears as a celebrity roped into a pantomime.
“A panto-what??” asks Sutherland’s “temperamental” and aging lead Brad Mack, who has hit a rough patch and whose representative has tricked him into thinking he’s appearing in high-class London stage.
His pantomime fellow actors tell him he’s playing Buttons. “Oh no I’m not,” he protests. One can imagine their response. 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 excellent, too.
It’s the sort of feature that would be a bit naff at another season, but is a lot of fun at Christmas.
Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄🎄
A New Spin on Scrooge
Danny Dyer shows up at the start of this film, too, calling someone a mug for the next movie straight. Is this a new Christmas tradition?
This time, he’s a crooning chauffeur who encounters Mr Sood, the modern take 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 the director of Gurinder Chadha. The well-known tale develops as the tight-fisted Mr Sood is confronted by the ghosts of Christmas past, present and future, played by Hugh Bonneville, Billy Porter, and Boy George.
This South Asian reinterpretation is at least distinct from all the others, but regrettably he’s not very captivating and Nayyar’s portrayal is lifeless—a significant issue when he’s so the focal point.
Festive score: 🎄🎄
Lunchtime: Stuffed
There's just enough time for a major broadcaster's holiday special—which stars Guz Khan as a lovably grouchy guy who “isn't big on Christmas.”
But after he gets an £8,000 Christmas bonus at work, his wife (starring Morgana Robinson) talks him into spending the sum on a family trip to Lapland.
There’s just one problem—he finds out there was an mix-up with his bonus, which should have been £800, and he has to devise a plan for how to pay back the remainder.
Pleasant yet unmemorable.
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 cosy and festive all the same.
Driven corporate star Sydney (played by Minka Kelly) is assigned to a French chateau to do a deal for a sparkling wine company. En route, she runs into a fellow in a book store who vows to show her the holidays in the City of Light.
An expert recently declared this is the finest new Christmas film of the recent era. That’s a bit of a exaggeration, but it is a festive dalliance with a touch of class and gives the required warm and fuzzy feels.
The scene with a detailed conversation about Die Hard is very good too.
Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄
A Charming Quest
Sixteen-year-old Chris, played by Lenny Rush, refuses to stop believing in Father Christmas, in spite of the efforts of his dad (played by James Buckley) to tell him the reality.
The secret is to be discovered, and Chris sets out to find it with the assistance of a team of well-known experts and celebrities.
It’s gentle but endearing, and perfect viewing while anticipating Santa to visit.
Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄
4.39pm - Oh. What. Fun.
Michelle Pfeiffer is the matriarch of a dysfunctional American family who reunite for the holidays—including other acclaimed actress Felicity Jones, Chloe Grace Moretz, Jason Schwartzman, and dad Denis Leary.
Pfeiffer begins by referencing classic festive films like National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, It’s A Wonderful Life and Home Alone, before declaring: “They need to make a movie about the true heroes of the holidays—moms.”
So that’s what this is, but in practice it’s really a combination of those inspirations, at least until Pfeiffer’s character at last finds her strength.
Festive score: 🎄🎄
6.43pm - A Scottish Christmas Secret
The day’s gone downhill, but thankfully here’s a new addition in the crowded field of cliched, saccharine, over-the-top—and highly entertaining—holiday fare.
It’s a tale as well-worn: An American woman travels to a picturesque cold country and ends up stumbling across romance.
In this case, Caprice Bourret plays a publisher
