Marathon Viewing The Latest Festive Features: The Hits, The Misses, and The Guilty Pleasures.
‘Tis the time of year to relax on the couch and devour a tin of festive treats in front of a good movie, a bad movie, or one that’s terrible yet terrific.
Once again, a crop of fresh seasonal stories aims to become part of our holiday traditions—perhaps even joining the ranks alongside enduring classics like Home Alone, Elf, Love Actually, and Die Hard (no arguments).
Therefore, in a helpful attempt to distinguish the gems from the coal, and to get into the festive feeling, I marathoned as many recent holiday releases as possible in a single day.
7.17am - A Very Jonas Christmas Movie
Kicking off, ideally, on a high. This release is the only 2025 title on a popular review site's list of the top 100 holiday films of all time.
The popular band end up stranded in the UK after concluding their world tour and must return for Christmas. Their attempts are hampered by an malevolent Father Christmas, who breaks into song to declare they won’t get home until they “rediscover their sibling bond.”
The repartee between the arguing trio is amusing even for the non-fan, while fans will undoubtedly notice lots of in-jokes as they endeavor to get back using all transportation available.
It’s private planes, trains and automobiles.
It’s not an all-time classic, but is great for fans and a positive start to the day.
Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄 for Jonas Brothers fans or 🎄🎄🎄 for their relatives who will have to sit through it.
Next: A Star in Panto
Famous performer Kiefer Sutherland has been cast as a movie actor tricked into a "panto".
“A what's a panto??” asks Sutherland’s “temperamental” and older action hero Brad Mack, who has fallen on hard times and whose representative has tricked him into thinking he’s performing in renowned British drama.
His pantomime cast-mates inform him he’s playing Buttons. “Absolutely not,” he protests. You can guess their retort. Unless you’re unfamiliar with traditional stage call-and-response.
There are some hilarious moments, some cockle-warming side stories, and the rest of the cast is excellent, too.
It’s the sort of feature that would be a bit cheesy at a different time, but is a lot of fun at Christmas.
Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄🎄
10.19am - Christmas Karma
An actor pops up at the outset of this film, too, calling someone a mug for the next movie straight. Might this become a new Christmas tradition?
This time, he’s a singing black cab driver who picks up Mr Sood, the newest interpretation 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 filmmaker behind Gurinder Chadha. The familiar story progresses as the tight-fisted 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 sadly he’s not very captivating and Nayyar’s portrayal is lifeless—a significant issue when he’s so the main character.
Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄
12.04pm - Stuffed
Before lunch for a channel's original festive film—which stars Guz Khan as a lovably grouchy guy who “isn't big on Christmas.”
But after he receives an £8,000 Christmas bonus at work, his wife (starring Morgana Robinson) convinces him blowing the money on a holiday to Lapland.
There’s just one issue—he finds out there was an error with his bonus, which should have been £800, and he has to devise a plan for how to pay back the difference.
Enjoyable but forgettable.
Festive score: 🎄🎄
1.12pm - Champagne Problems
This is one of those holiday movies where the festive trappings are in the background—Christmas is the environment 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 secure an acquisition for a champagne business. En route, she runs into a guy in a literary haven who promises to show her Christmas in Paris.
A critic recently stated this is the finest new Christmas film of the last several seasons. That’s a bit of a overstatement, but it is a festive dalliance with a hint of sophistication and gives the obligatory heartwarming sensation.
The scene with a extended debate about Die Hard is notable too.
Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄
Mid-Afternoon: Finding Father Christmas
Sixteen-year-old Chris, played by Lenny Rush, holds onto his belief in Father Christmas, in spite of the efforts of his dad (starring James Buckley) to tell him the reality.
The truth 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 low-key but sweet, and good viewing while expecting Santa to visit.
Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄
A Star-Studded Family Drama
Michelle Pfeiffer is the matriarch of a dysfunctional American family who reunite for the holidays—including fellow 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 saying: “They need to make a movie about the unsung heroes of the holidays—moms.”
So that’s what this is, but in practice it’s really a jumble of those forerunner films, at least until Pfeiffer’s character eventually takes center stage.
Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄
Formulaic Fun
The day’s taken a dip, but thankfully here’s a new offering in the saturated market of cliched, saccharine, over-the-top—and strangely compelling—festive fodder.
It’s a tale as old as time: An American woman goes on a quest to a far-off wintery locale and ends up discovering romance.
In this case, Caprice Bourret plays a publisher
