Devouring 2025's Festive Features: Highlights, Lowlights, and Unexpected Delights.

‘Tis the time of year to slob out on the couch and devour a tin of mince pies in front of a terrific flick, a awful feature, or one that’s so bad it’s good.

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

Thus, in a helpful attempt to separate the winners from the losers, and to get into the Christmas spirit, I watched as many recent festive movies as possible in a single day.

Early Morning: A Very Jonas Christmas Movie

Kicking off, optimistically, on a high. This is the sole 2025 entry on a famous website's list of the greatest 100 festive features of all time.

The Jonas Brothers find themselves stranded in the UK after wrapping up their world tour and must return for Christmas. Their endeavors are hampered by an malevolent Father Christmas, who breaks into song to declare they won’t get home until they “rekindle their brotherly magic.”

The back-and-forth between the bickering brothers is enjoyable even for the casual viewer, while devotees will no doubt pick up on lots of easter eggs as they endeavor to get back using all transportation available.

It’s a travelogue of mishaps.

It’s not legendary, but is excellent 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.

Late Morning: Tinsel Town

Famous performer Kiefer Sutherland has been cast as a movie actor cast a pantomime.

“A panto-what??” asks Sutherland’s “difficult” and aging lead Brad Mack, who has fallen on hard times and whose manager has misled him into thinking he’s appearing in prestigious English theatre.

His Aladdin cast-mates tell him he’s playing Buttons. “Oh no I’m not,” he insists angrily. One can imagine their retort. Except if you’re unfamiliar with traditional panto catchphrases.

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

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

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄🎄

A New Spin on Scrooge

Danny Dyer shows up at the start of this film, too, delivering a signature line for the second consecutive movie. Might this become a budding festive ritual?

This time, he’s a crooning chauffeur who picks up 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 the director of Gurinder Chadha. The classic narrative develops 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 South Asian reinterpretation is at least unique from all the others, but regrettably he’s not very compelling and Nayyar’s acting is lifeless—a significant issue when he’s so central to everything.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄

12.04pm - Stuffed

There’s time for a network's Christmas comedy-drama—which stars Guz Khan as a charmingly cantankerous character who “isn't big on Christmas.”

But after he gets an sizable holiday payout at work, his wife (played by Morgana Robinson) persuades him spending the sum on a vacation to Lapland.

There’s just one snag—he learns there was an mistake with his bonus, which should have been £800, and he has to devise a plan for how to reimburse the remainder.

Enjoyable but forgettable.

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 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 sent to a vineyard to secure an acquisition for a champagne business. During her travels, she meets a fellow in a book store who promises to show her a festive Paris.

A critic recently declared this is the finest new Christmas film of the past few years. That’s a bit of a overstatement, but it is a holiday love story with a touch of class and gives the necessary warm and fuzzy feels.

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

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄

A Charming Quest

Young Chris, played by Lenny Rush, refuses to stop believing in Father Christmas, despite the attempts of his dad (starring James Buckley) to tell him otherwise.

The secret is to be discovered, and Chris ventures forth to find it with the expert help of a team of well-known scientists and personalities.

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

Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄

Late Afternoon: Oh. What. Fun.

Michelle Pfeiffer is the mother 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 declaring: “They need to make a movie about the true heroes of the holidays—moms.”

So that’s the premise, but in practice it’s really a mash-up of those inspirations, at least until Pfeiffer’s character finally comes into her own.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄

Evening: A Scottish Christmas Secret

The day’s waned in quality, but fortunately here’s a new entry in the crowded field of predictable, sentimental, cheesy—and strangely compelling—festive fodder.

It’s a tale as well-worn: 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