Marathon Viewing 2025's Festive Features: The Hits, The Misses, and The Guilty Pleasures.
‘Tis the season to slob out on the couch and demolish a box of mince pies in front of a terrific flick, a poor film, or one that’s terrible yet terrific.
As always, a selection of latest Christmas films aims to become part of our holiday traditions—perhaps even finding a spot alongside timeless staples like Home Alone, Elf, Love Actually, and Die Hard (no arguments).
Therefore, in a vital public service to distinguish the gems from the coal, and to find the holiday mood, I binged as many new holiday releases as possible in a single day.
Early Morning: A Very Jonas Christmas Movie
Kicking off, ideally, on a high. This release is the only 2025 movie on a popular review site's list of the best 100 festive features of all time.
The popular band end up stuck in the UK after concluding their international trek and must make it back for Christmas. Their endeavors are hindered by an malevolent Father Christmas, who bursts into melody to announce they won’t get home until they “rekindle their familial spark.”
The back-and-forth between the bickering brothers is amusing even for the uninitiated, while devotees will no doubt notice lots of easter eggs as they try to get back using every mode of travel possible.
It’s a journey of epic proportions.
It’s not a timeless masterpiece, but is superb for devotees and a positive start to the day.
Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄 for Jonas Brothers fans or 🎄🎄🎄 for their family members who are obliged to sit through it.
8.45am - Tinsel Town
Famous performer Kiefer Sutherland stars as a Hollywood star tricked into a pantomime.
“A panto-what??” asks Sutherland’s “temperamental” and ageing star Brad Mack, who has fallen on hard times and whose representative has misled him into thinking he’s performing in high-class London stage.
His pantomime cast-mates inform him he’s playing Buttons. “Absolutely not,” he retorts. You can guess their retort. Except if you’re unfamiliar with traditional stage call-and-response.
There are some very funny lines, some cockle-warming side stories, and the ensemble is excellent, too.
It’s the kind of movie that would be a bit naff at another season, but is a great entertainment at Christmas.
Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄🎄
Mid-Morning: Christmas Karma
Danny Dyer shows up at the outset of this film, too, delivering a signature line for the second film in a row. Could this be a new Christmas tradition?
This time, he’s a singing black cab driver who collects 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 familiar story unfolds as the miserly Mr Sood is haunted by the spirits of Christmas yesterday, today, and tomorrow, played by Hugh Bonneville, Billy Porter, and Boy George.
This South Asian reinterpretation is at least distinct from all the others, but unfortunately he’s not very compelling and Nayyar’s portrayal is flat—a significant issue when he’s so central to everything.
Festive score: 🎄🎄
Noon: A BBC Special
There’s time for a major broadcaster's holiday special—which stars Guz Khan as a endearingly grumpy man who “avoids Christmas.”
But after he receives an £8,000 Christmas bonus at work, his wife (starring Morgana Robinson) convinces him spending the sum on a vacation to Lapland.
There’s just one issue—he learns there was an mistake with his bonus, which should have been £800, and he has to figure out how to reimburse the excess.
Pleasant yet unmemorable.
Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄
Early Afternoon: Champagne Problems
This is one of those holiday movies where the decorations and snow are in the setting—Christmas is the setting of the film rather than its raison d’etre—but it feels comfortable and seasonal all the same.
Driven corporate star Sydney (starring Minka Kelly) is assigned to a vineyard to secure an acquisition for a champagne business. During her travels, she runs into a man in a book store who offers to show her the holidays in the City of Light.
A commentator recently claimed this is the finest new Christmas film of the last several seasons. That’s a bit of a overstatement, but it is a holiday love story with a hint of sophistication and gives the necessary warm and fuzzy feels.
The scene with a lengthy discussion about Die Hard is particularly strong too.
Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄
Mid-Afternoon: Finding Father Christmas
Young Chris, played by Lenny Rush, holds onto his belief in Father Christmas, despite the persuasion of his dad (starring James Buckley) to tell him the truth.
The truth is out there, and Chris sets out to find it with the guidance of a team of well-known experts and celebrities.
It’s understated but endearing, and good viewing while expecting Santa to visit.
Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄
Late Afternoon: Oh. What. Fun.
Michelle Pfeiffer is the matriarch of a dysfunctional 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 opens by name-dropping holiday staples like National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, It’s A Wonderful Life and Home Alone, before saying: “They need to make a movie about the unsung heroes of the holidays—moms.”
So that’s the premise, but in reality it’s really a jumble of those forerunner films, at least until Pfeiffer’s character finally finds her strength.
Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄
6.43pm - A Scottish Christmas Secret
The day’s taken a dip, but happily here’s a new addition in the crowded field of cliched, saccharine, over-the-top—and highly entertaining—holiday fare.
It’s a story as old as time: An American woman goes on a quest to a distant snowy land and ends up finding romance.
In this case, Caprice Bourret plays a publisher
