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

It is the time of year to relax on the couch and consume a box of holiday pastries in front of a great film, a awful feature, or one that’s terrible yet terrific.

As always, a batch of new Christmas films strives to join part of our holiday traditions—potentially even joining the ranks alongside beloved favorites like Home Alone, Elf, Love Actually, and Die Hard (no arguments).

So, in a vital public service to distinguish the gems from the coal, and to embrace the holiday mood, I binged as many fresh Christmas films as possible in a single day.

Early Morning: A Very Jonas Christmas Movie

Kicking off, hopefully, on a positive note. This is the only 2025 title on a well-known aggregator's list of the best 100 holiday films of all time.

The Jonas Brothers find themselves trapped in the UK after concluding their international trek and must make it back for Christmas. Their attempts are hindered by an malevolent Father Christmas, who sings to announce they won’t get home until they “rediscover their sibling bond.”

The repartee between the bickering brothers is amusing even for the casual viewer, while fans will undoubtedly notice lots of references 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 superb for fans and a good 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

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

“A panto-what?” asks Sutherland’s “hard-to-work-with” and ageing lead Brad Mack, who has fallen on hard times and whose representative has tricked him into thinking he’s appearing in high-class London stage.

His pantomime cast-mates tell him he’s playing Buttons. “No I'm not,” he retorts. You can guess their response. That is, unless you’re ignorant of traditional British theatre traditions.

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

It’s the sort of feature that would be a bit tacky at a different time, but is a highly enjoyable at Christmas.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄🎄

Mid-Morning: Christmas Karma

An actor shows up at the beginning of this film, too, insulting someone for the second film in a row. Is this a budding festive ritual?

This time, he’s a singing black cab driver who picks up Mr Sood, the modern take 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 Bend It Like Beckham’s Gurinder Chadha. The familiar story progresses as the miserly Mr Sood is confronted 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 unfortunately he’s not very compelling and Nayyar’s portrayal is wooden—a problem when he’s so the main character.

Festive score: 🎄🎄

Noon: A BBC Special

There’s time for a channel's original festive film—which stars Guz Khan as a charmingly cantankerous character who “isn't big on Christmas.”

But after he gets an large festive windfall at work, his wife (portrayed by Morgana Robinson) convinces him blowing the money 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 devise a plan for how to return the remainder.

Fun while it lasts but not lasting.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄

Early Afternoon: Champagne Problems

This is one of those Christmas films where the festive trappings are in the setting—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 (starring Minka Kelly) is sent to a country estate to secure an acquisition for a sparkling wine company. During her travels, she runs into a fellow in a book store who promises 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 exaggeration, but it is a festive dalliance with a hint of sophistication and gives the necessary warm and fuzzy feels.

The scene with a detailed conversation about Die Hard is notable too.

Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄

3.29pm - Finding Father Christmas

Young Chris, played by Lenny Rush, continues to believe in Father Christmas, regardless of the efforts of his dad (starring James Buckley) to tell him the truth.

The truth is somewhere, and Chris embarks on a quest to find it with the expert help of a team of well-known experts and celebrities.

It’s gentle but charming, and perfect viewing while waiting for Santa to visit.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄

A Star-Studded Family Drama

Michelle Pfeiffer is the head of a quarrelling American family who gather for the holidays—including fellow Oscar nominee Felicity Jones, Chloe Grace Moretz, Jason Schwartzman, and dad Denis Leary.

Pfeiffer opens by name-dropping 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 forerunner films, at least until Pfeiffer’s character finally takes center stage.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄

Formulaic Fun

The day’s gone downhill, but happily here’s a new offering in the crowded field of cliched, saccharine, over-the-top—and highly entertaining—festive fodder.

It’s a narrative as old as time: An American woman goes on a quest to a picturesque cold country and ends up discovering romance.

In this case, Caprice Bourret plays a publisher