Devouring 2025's Festive Features: The Hits, The Misses, and The Guilty Pleasures.

‘Tis the season to lounge on the sofa and demolish a tin of mince pies in front of a good movie, a awful feature, or one that’s so bad it’s good.

This year, a crop of new holiday movies strives to join part of our seasonal watchlist—potentially even earning a place alongside timeless staples like Home Alone, Elf, Love Actually, and Die Hard (don’t start).

Thus, in a helpful attempt to distinguish the gems from the coal, and to find the holiday mood, I marathoned as many new festive movies as possible in a single day.

First Up: The Jonas Brothers' Holiday Flick

Starting, optimistically, on a good foot. This is the only 2025 title on a famous website's list of the top 100 Christmas movies of all time.

The Jonas Brothers find themselves trapped in the UK after wrapping up their global concert series and must return for Christmas. Their efforts are thwarted by an villainous Saint Nick, who breaks into song to declare they won’t get home until they “rediscover their brotherly magic.”

The banter between the squabbling siblings is enjoyable even for the casual viewer, while fans will no doubt pick up on lots of references as they endeavor to get back using any means of transport necessary.

It’s a travelogue of mishaps.

It’s not a timeless masterpiece, but is great for fans and a positive start to the day.

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

Next: A Star in Panto

A-list actor Kiefer Sutherland appears as a Hollywood star tricked into a "panto".

“A panto-what?” asks Sutherland’s “hard-to-work-with” and older lead Brad Mack, who has hit a rough patch and whose agent has misled him into thinking he’s performing in high-class London stage.

His pantomime cast-mates tell him he’s playing Buttons. “Oh no I’m not,” he retorts. It's easy to predict their response. That is, unless you’re ignorant of traditional stage call-and-response.

There are some great jokes, some cockle-warming storylines, and the supporting actors is cracking, too.

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

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄🎄

10.19am - Christmas Karma

An actor shows up at the start of this film, too, delivering a signature line for the second consecutive movie. Might this become a new Christmas tradition?

This time, he’s a crooning chauffeur who encounters 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 well-known tale unfolds as the tight-fisted Mr Sood is visited by the spirits of Christmas yesterday, today, and tomorrow, played by Hugh Bonneville, Billy Porter, and Boy George.

This Indian Scrooge is at least unique from all the others, but unfortunately he’s not very compelling and Nayyar’s portrayal is wooden—a problem when he’s so the main character.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄

Noon: A BBC Special

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

But after he is awarded an sizable holiday payout at work, his wife (starring Morgana Robinson) persuades him blowing the money on a family trip to Lapland.

There’s just one issue—he finds out there was an mistake with his bonus, which should have been £800, and he has to devise a plan for how to reimburse the excess.

Enjoyable but forgettable.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄

Early Afternoon: Champagne Problems

This is one of those Christmas films where the decorations and snow are in the backdrop—Christmas is the scene of the film rather than its raison d’etre—but it feels comfortable and seasonal all the same.

Ambitious executive Sydney (played by Minka Kelly) is sent to a French chateau to negotiate a purchase for a champagne business. On the way, she runs into a man in a bookshop who vows to show her a festive Paris.

An expert recently declared this is the top new Christmas film of the last several seasons. That’s a bit of a stretch, but it is a Christmas romance with a hint of sophistication and gives the obligatory cozy feelings.

The scene with a lengthy discussion about Die Hard is very good too.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄

3.29pm - Finding Father Christmas

Young Chris, played by Lenny Rush, holds onto his belief in Father Christmas, despite the persuasion of his dad (played by James Buckley) to tell him otherwise.

The answer is out there, and Chris sets out to find it with the assistance of a team of well-known figures.

It’s low-key but sweet, and ideal viewing while anticipating Santa to visit.

Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄

A Star-Studded Family Drama

Michelle Pfeiffer is the mother of a bickering American family who gather for the holidays—including fellow acclaimed actress 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 declaring: “They need to make a movie about the real champions of the holidays—moms.”

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

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄

Evening: A Scottish Christmas Secret

The day’s taken a dip, but happily here’s a new entry in the crowded field of formulaic, schmaltzy, badly acted—and utterly watchable—seasonal comfort food.

It’s a story 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