Binge-Watching 2025's Holiday Movies: The Hits, The Misses, and The Guilty Pleasures.

It is the season to lounge on the sofa and demolish a packet of mince pies in front of a great film, a poor film, or one that’s so bad it’s good.

Once again, a batch of fresh seasonal stories hopes to be part of our seasonal watchlist—perhaps even finding a spot alongside beloved favorites like Home Alone, Elf, Love Actually, and Die Hard (we won’t debate it).

So, in a noble effort to separate the winners from the losers, and to embrace the festive feeling, I binged as many recent Christmas films as possible in a single day.

Early Morning: A Very Jonas Christmas Movie

Starting, hopefully, on a good foot. This film is the sole 2025 entry on a popular review site's list of the best 100 holiday films of all time.

The musical trio are stranded in the UK after finishing their international trek and must get home for Christmas. Their endeavors are thwarted by an malevolent Father Christmas, who bursts into melody to announce they won’t get home until they “rediscover their brotherly magic.”

The repartee between the squabbling siblings is entertaining even for the uninitiated, while devotees will no doubt pick up on lots of easter eggs as they attempt to get back using every mode of travel possible.

It’s a journey of epic proportions.

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

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄 for Jonas Brothers fans or 🎄🎄🎄 for their family members who will have to sit through it.

Late Morning: Tinsel Town

Famous performer Kiefer Sutherland stars as a celebrity cast a traditional British stage show.

“A panto-what??” asks Sutherland’s “hard-to-work-with” and older star Brad Mack, who has fallen on hard times and whose agent has deceived him into thinking he’s appearing in renowned British drama.

His Aladdin cast-mates let him know he’s playing Buttons. “Oh no I’m not,” he insists angrily. One can imagine their retort. Unless you’re ignorant of traditional stage call-and-response.

There are some great jokes, some heartwarming storylines, and the ensemble is cracking, too.

It’s the kind of movie that would be a bit cheesy at a different time, but is a great entertainment at Christmas.

Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄🎄

A New Spin on Scrooge

Danny Dyer pops up at the outset of this film, too, calling someone a mug for the second film in a row. Could this be a new Christmas tradition?

This time, he’s a crooning chauffeur who picks up 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 Bend It Like Beckham’s Gurinder Chadha. The familiar story progresses as the miserly Mr Sood is visited 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 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

Before lunch for a channel's holiday special—which stars Guz Khan as a endearingly grumpy man who “isn't big on Christmas.”

But after he receives an large festive windfall at work, his wife (played by Morgana Robinson) talks him into splurging the cash on a holiday to Lapland.

There’s just one issue—he discovers there was an mix-up with his bonus, which should have been £800, and he has to devise a plan for how to return the difference.

Fun while it lasts but not lasting.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄

A Classy Netflix Romance

This is one of those Christmas films where the festive trappings are in the backdrop—Christmas is the scene 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 dispatched to a French chateau to negotiate a purchase for a champagne business. En route, she encounters a guy in a bookshop who offers to show her the holidays in the City of Light.

A critic recently stated this is the top new Christmas film of the past few years. That’s a bit of a overstatement, but it is a festive dalliance with a hint of sophistication and gives the required cozy feelings.

The scene with a detailed conversation about Die Hard is notable too.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄

3.29pm - Finding Father Christmas

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

The truth is out there, and Chris sets out to find it with the expert help of a panel of well-known scientists and personalities.

It’s gentle but sweet, and perfect viewing while waiting for Santa to visit.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄

4.39pm - Oh. What. Fun.

Michelle Pfeiffer is the matriarch of a quarrelling American family who reunite for the holidays—including fellow acclaimed actress 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 declaring: “They need to make a movie about the true heroes of the holidays—moms.”

So that’s what this is, but in reality it’s really a combination of those aforementioned movies, at least until Pfeiffer’s character finally takes center stage.

Festive score: 🎄🎄

Evening: A Scottish Christmas Secret

The day’s waned in quality, but fortunately here’s a new offering in the saturated market of predictable, sentimental, cheesy—and strangely compelling—holiday fare.

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