Binge-Watching 2025's Festive Features: The Hits, The Misses, and The Guilty Pleasures.

It is the time of year to slob out on the couch and devour a tin of holiday pastries in front of a terrific flick, a awful feature, or one that’s so bad it’s good.

This year, a batch of fresh holiday movies aims to become part of our seasonal watchlist—maybe even earning a place alongside enduring classics like Home Alone, Elf, Love Actually, and Die Hard (we won’t debate it).

Thus, in a helpful attempt to distinguish the gems from the coal, and to get into the Christmas spirit, I marathoned as many recent holiday releases as possible in a single day.

First Up: The Jonas Brothers' Holiday Flick

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

The Jonas Brothers are trapped in the UK after wrapping up their international trek and must make it back for Christmas. Their endeavors are hampered by an evil Santa, who bursts into melody to declare they won’t get home until they “rekindle their brotherly magic.”

The back-and-forth between the squabbling siblings is amusing even for the casual viewer, while devotees will no doubt notice lots of in-jokes as they endeavor to get back using every mode of travel possible.

It’s a travelogue of mishaps.

It’s not legendary, but is superb 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.

8.45am - Tinsel Town

A-list actor Kiefer Sutherland appears as a Hollywood star tricked into a traditional British stage show.

“A panto-what??” asks Sutherland’s “hard-to-work-with” and older action hero Brad Mack, who has hit a rough patch and whose representative has tricked him into thinking he’s appearing in renowned British drama.

His Aladdin co-stars let him know he’s playing Buttons. “Oh no I’m not,” he retorts. You can guess their reply. That is, unless you’re unfamiliar with traditional panto catchphrases.

There are some great jokes, some heartwarming side stories, and the ensemble is cracking, too.

It’s the sort of feature that would be a bit cheesy at any other time of year, but is a highly enjoyable at Christmas.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄🎄

10.19am - Christmas Karma

An actor shows up at the outset of this film, too, delivering a signature line for the second film in a row. Could this be a budding festive ritual?

This time, he’s a musical taxi operator who collects Mr Sood, the modern take 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 Bend It Like Beckham’s Gurinder Chadha. The classic narrative progresses as the miserly Mr Sood is visited 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 distinct from all the others, but regrettably he’s not very captivating and Nayyar’s performance is wooden—a significant issue when he’s so the focal point.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄

12.04pm - Stuffed

There's just enough time for a major broadcaster's original festive film—which stars Guz Khan as a lovably grouchy guy 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 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 return the remainder.

Pleasant yet unmemorable.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄

1.12pm - Champagne Problems

This is one of those Christmas films where the festive trappings are in the backdrop—Christmas is the environment 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 secure an acquisition for a champagne business. On the way, she encounters a guy in a literary haven who vows to show her a festive Paris.

A critic recently declared this is the best new Christmas film of the past few years. That’s a bit of a stretch, but it is a Christmas romance with a dash of elegance and gives the necessary cozy feelings.

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

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄

3.29pm - Finding Father Christmas

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

The truth is out there, and Chris ventures forth to find it with the expert help of a group of well-known experts and celebrities.

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

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄

4.39pm - Oh. What. Fun.

Michelle Pfeiffer is the mother of a quarrelling American family who reunite for the holidays—including fellow acclaimed actress 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 what this is, but in reality it’s really a jumble of those forerunner films, at least until Pfeiffer’s character at last comes into her own.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄

6.43pm - A Scottish Christmas Secret

The day’s taken a dip, but happily here’s a new addition in the saturated market of predictable, sentimental, cheesy—and strangely compelling—holiday fare.

It’s a story as familiar as can be: An American woman journeys to a distant snowy land and ends up finding romance.

In this case, Caprice Bourret plays a publisher