Marathon Viewing This Year's Festive Features: The Good, The Bad and The So-Bad-It's-Good.

It is the time of year to lounge on the couch and demolish a packet of holiday pastries in front of a good movie, a awful feature, or one that’s awesomely awful.

As always, a batch of fresh Christmas films aims to become part of our festive viewing—maybe even joining the ranks alongside enduring classics like Home Alone, Elf, Love Actually, and Die Hard (don’t start).

Therefore, in a noble effort to distinguish the gems from the coal, and to find the festive feeling, I binged as many new festive movies as possible in a single day.

Early Morning: A Very Jonas Christmas Movie

Starting, hopefully, on a high. This release is the only 2025 entry on a popular review site's list of the top 100 holiday films of all time.

The Jonas Brothers end up stuck in the UK after concluding their world tour and must get home for Christmas. Their endeavors are thwarted by an malevolent Father Christmas, who bursts into melody to declare they won’t get home until they “find their brotherly magic.”

The banter between the squabbling siblings is amusing even for the uninitiated, while fans will undoubtedly catch lots of in-jokes as they endeavor to get back using any means of transport necessary.

It’s private planes, trains and automobiles.

It’s not legendary, but is great for fans and a good start to the day.

Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄 for Jonas Brothers fans or 🎄🎄🎄 for their relatives who are obliged to sit through it.

Next: A Star in Panto

Famous performer Kiefer Sutherland stars as a Hollywood star tricked into a "panto".

“A panto-what??” asks Sutherland’s “difficult” and ageing star Brad Mack, who has seen better days and whose manager has tricked him into thinking he’s performing in prestigious English theatre.

His pantomime cast-mates tell him he’s playing Buttons. “Oh no I’m not,” he insists angrily. It's easy to predict their response. That is, unless you’re unfamiliar with traditional British theatre traditions.

There are some great jokes, some heartwarming sub-plots, and the ensemble is brilliant, too.

It’s the kind of movie that would be a bit naff at any other time of year, but is a lot of fun at Christmas.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄🎄

Mid-Morning: Christmas Karma

Danny Dyer appears at the beginning of this film, too, insulting someone for the second consecutive movie. Is this a budding festive ritual?

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 a star of Kunal Nayyar and Christmas Karma is directed by the filmmaker behind Gurinder Chadha. The well-known tale unfolds as the miserly Mr Sood is confronted 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 distinct from all the others, but unfortunately he’s not very compelling and Nayyar’s acting is flat—a major flaw when he’s so the focal point.

Festive score: 🎄🎄

12.04pm - Stuffed

There's just enough time for a network's original festive film—which stars Guz Khan as a endearingly grumpy man who “doesn’t really do Christmas.”

But after he receives an sizable holiday payout at work, his wife (portrayed by Morgana Robinson) convinces him spending the sum on a holiday to Lapland.

There’s just one problem—he finds out there was an error with his bonus, which should have been £800, and he has to determine how to reimburse the difference.

Pleasant yet unmemorable.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄

Early Afternoon: Champagne Problems

This is one of those Christmas films where the festive trappings are in the background—Christmas is the scene of the film rather than its core purpose—but it feels warm and holiday-like all the same.

High-powered businesswoman Sydney (starring Minka Kelly) is dispatched to a French chateau to secure an acquisition for a sparkling wine company. On the way, she encounters a man in a bookshop who offers to show her a festive Paris.

A critic recently declared this is the top new Christmas film of the recent era. That’s a bit of a overstatement, 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 particularly strong too.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄

Mid-Afternoon: Finding Father Christmas

Sixteen-year-old Chris, played by Lenny Rush, continues to believe in Father Christmas, despite the attempts of his dad (played by James Buckley) to tell him the truth.

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

It’s low-key but endearing, and good viewing while waiting for Santa to visit.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄

4.39pm - Oh. What. Fun.

Michelle Pfeiffer is the matriarch of a bickering American family who reunite for the holidays—including other Oscar nominee Felicity Jones, Chloe Grace Moretz, Jason Schwartzman, and dad Denis Leary.

Pfeiffer starts by mentioning 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 unsung heroes of the holidays—moms.”

So that’s the concept, but in execution it’s really a combination of those inspirations, at least until Pfeiffer’s character at last takes center stage.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄

Formulaic Fun

The day’s gone downhill, but happily here’s a new entry in the crowded field of predictable, sentimental, cheesy—and utterly watchable—festive fodder.

It’s a story as well-worn: An American woman travels to a distant snowy land and ends up discovering romance.

In this case, Caprice Bourret plays a publisher