Devouring This Year's Christmas Films: Highlights, Lowlights, and Unexpected Delights.

It is the season to slob out on the couch and consume a box of holiday pastries in front of a great film, a awful feature, or one that’s awesomely awful.

Once again, a crop of fresh seasonal stories aims to become part of our festive viewing—potentially even joining the ranks alongside enduring classics like Home Alone, Elf, Love Actually, and Die Hard (we won’t debate it).

Thus, in a helpful attempt to sort the crackers from the turkeys, and to find the holiday mood, I watched as many recent holiday releases as possible in a single day.

First Up: The Jonas Brothers' Holiday Flick

Beginning, ideally, on a positive note. This film is the sole 2025 title on a well-known aggregator's list of the greatest 100 holiday films of all time.

The Jonas Brothers are stranded in the UK after wrapping up their world tour and must get home for Christmas. Their efforts are hindered by an malevolent Father Christmas, who bursts into melody to declare they won’t get home until they “rediscover their sibling bond.”

The repartee between the squabbling siblings is entertaining even for the uninitiated, while fans will undoubtedly catch lots of references as they try to get back using all transportation available.

It’s a travelogue of mishaps.

It’s not an all-time classic, but is superb for devotees and a positive start to the day.

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

8.45am - Tinsel Town

Famous performer Kiefer Sutherland stars as a celebrity roped into a "panto".

“A panto-what??” asks Sutherland’s “temperamental” and aging lead Brad Mack, who has seen better days and whose agent has deceived him into thinking he’s performing in prestigious English theatre.

His pantomime fellow actors tell him he’s playing Buttons. “No I'm not,” he protests. It's easy to predict their response. That is, unless you’re not acquainted with traditional British theatre traditions.

There are some hilarious moments, some touching storylines, and the rest of the cast is excellent, too.

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

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄🎄

A New Spin on Scrooge

A familiar face appears at the start 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 encounters Mr Sood, the modern take 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 classic narrative unfolds as the stingy Mr Sood is haunted by the spirits 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 unfortunately he’s not very charismatic and Nayyar’s portrayal is lifeless—a problem when he’s so the focal point.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄

12.04pm - Stuffed

There's just enough time for a channel's Christmas comedy-drama—which stars Guz Khan as a endearingly grumpy man who “doesn’t really do Christmas.”

But after he is awarded 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 mix-up with his bonus, which should have been £800, and he has to devise a plan for how to return the remainder.

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 background—Christmas is the scene of the film rather than its core purpose—but it feels cosy and festive all the same.

Driven corporate star Sydney (played by Minka Kelly) is dispatched to a vineyard to do a deal for a champagne business. On the way, she meets a guy in a literary haven who offers to show her Christmas in Paris.

An expert recently declared this is the best new Christmas film of the recent era. That’s a bit of a stretch, but it is a festive dalliance with a touch of class and gives the necessary warm and fuzzy feels.

The scene with a lengthy discussion about Die Hard is particularly strong too.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄

A Charming Quest

Young Chris, played by Lenny Rush, continues to believe in Father Christmas, despite the persuasion of his dad (played by James Buckley) to tell him the reality.

The truth is somewhere, and Chris sets out to find it with the guidance of a group of well-known figures.

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

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄

4.39pm - Oh. What. Fun.

Michelle Pfeiffer is the matriarch of a quarrelling American family who come back together for the holidays—including fellow acclaimed actress Felicity Jones, Chloe Grace Moretz, Jason Schwartzman, and dad Denis Leary.

Pfeiffer starts by mentioning Christmas classics like National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, It’s A Wonderful Life and Home Alone, before stating: “They need to make a movie about the unsung heroes of the holidays—moms.”

So that’s the concept, but in reality it’s really a combination of those forerunner films, at least until Pfeiffer’s character eventually comes into her own.

Festive score: 🎄🎄

6.43pm - A Scottish Christmas Secret

The day’s gone downhill, but fortunately here’s a new addition in the crowded field of predictable, sentimental, cheesy—and highly entertaining—festive fodder.

It’s a story as familiar as can be: An American woman travels to a far-off wintery locale and ends up stumbling across romance.

In this case, Caprice Bourret plays a publisher