Marathon Viewing 2025's Holiday Movies: The Good, The Bad and The So-Bad-It's-Good.

It is the time of year to slob out on the sofa and demolish a packet of mince pies in front of a great film, a awful feature, or one that’s awesomely awful.

This year, a crop of new seasonal stories aims to become part of our festive viewing—maybe even finding a spot alongside beloved favorites like Home Alone, Elf, Love Actually, and Die Hard (don’t start).

So, in a noble effort to sort the crackers from the turkeys, and to find the holiday mood, I marathoned as many recent Christmas films as possible in a single day.

Early Morning: A Very Jonas Christmas Movie

Kicking off, hopefully, on a high. This film is the only 2025 entry on a popular review site's list of the best 100 holiday films of all time.

The musical trio find themselves trapped in the UK after finishing their international trek and must make it back for Christmas. Their attempts are thwarted by an malevolent Father Christmas, who bursts into melody to declare they won’t get home until they “rekindle their familial spark.”

The repartee between the bickering brothers is enjoyable even for the uninitiated, while followers will certainly notice lots of easter eggs as they attempt to get back using every mode of travel possible.

It’s a travelogue of mishaps.

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

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

8.45am - Tinsel Town

Hollywood star Kiefer Sutherland appears as a celebrity tricked into a "panto".

“A panto-what??” asks Sutherland’s “temperamental” and older action hero Brad Mack, who has hit a rough patch and whose representative has deceived him into thinking he’s starring in renowned British drama.

His Aladdin co-stars inform him he’s playing Buttons. “Oh no I’m not,” he retorts. It's easy to predict their reply. Except if you’re unfamiliar with traditional panto catchphrases.

There are some very funny lines, some heartwarming storylines, and the supporting actors is excellent, too.

It’s the sort of feature that would be a bit tacky at any other time of year, but is a lot of fun at Christmas.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄🎄

10.19am - Christmas Karma

An actor pops up at the beginning of this film, too, insulting someone for the second consecutive movie. Is this a fresh holiday staple?

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 the director of Gurinder Chadha. The well-known tale progresses as the stingy Mr Sood is haunted by the apparitions of Christmas yesterday, today, and tomorrow, played by Hugh Bonneville, Billy Porter, and Boy George.

This Indian Scrooge is at least different from all the others, but regrettably he’s not very compelling and Nayyar’s performance is flat—a major flaw when he’s so the main character.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄

Lunchtime: Stuffed

There’s time for a channel's Christmas comedy-drama—which stars Guz Khan as a charmingly cantankerous character who “doesn’t really do Christmas.”

But after he gets an £8,000 Christmas bonus at work, his wife (portrayed by Morgana Robinson) persuades him spending the sum on a family trip to Lapland.

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

Pleasant yet unmemorable.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄

1.12pm - Champagne Problems

This is one of those holiday movies where the festive trappings are in the backdrop—Christmas is the setting 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 sent to a French chateau to secure an acquisition for a champagne business. On the way, she runs into a guy in a bookshop who promises to show her Christmas in Paris.

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 holiday love story with a dash of elegance and gives the necessary heartwarming sensation.

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

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄

Mid-Afternoon: Finding Father Christmas

Sixteen-year-old Chris, played by Lenny Rush, refuses to stop believing in Father Christmas, regardless of the persuasion of his dad (starring James Buckley) to tell him the truth.

The truth is to be discovered, and Chris embarks on a quest to find it with the expert help of a team of well-known scientists and personalities.

It’s gentle but endearing, and ideal viewing while expecting Santa to visit.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄

Late Afternoon: Oh. What. Fun.

Michelle Pfeiffer is the head of a quarrelling American family who gather 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 the concept, but in practice it’s really a mash-up of those forerunner films, at least until Pfeiffer’s character finally finds her strength.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄

Evening: A Scottish Christmas Secret

The day’s waned in quality, but thankfully here’s a new offering in the saturated market of cliched, saccharine, over-the-top—and strangely compelling—holiday fare.

It’s a narrative as old as time: An American woman journeys to a distant snowy land and ends up discovering romance.

In this case, Caprice Bourret plays a publisher