🔗 Share this article Devouring The Latest Festive Features: The Hits, The Misses, and The Guilty Pleasures. It is the time of year to relax on the couch and demolish a box of mince pies in front of a good movie, a bad movie, or one that’s so bad it’s good. As always, a batch of new seasonal stories strives to join part of our festive viewing—maybe even earning a place alongside enduring classics like Home Alone, Elf, Love Actually, and Die Hard (we won’t debate it). Therefore, in a helpful attempt to separate the winners from the losers, and to get into the holiday mood, I watched as many recent festive movies as possible in a single day. 7.17am - A Very Jonas Christmas Movie Beginning, ideally, on a high. This is the only 2025 movie on a well-known aggregator's list of the greatest 100 Christmas movies of all time. The Jonas Brothers find themselves stranded in the UK after finishing their international trek and must get home for Christmas. Their endeavors are hindered by an malevolent Father Christmas, who bursts into melody to state they won’t get home until they “find their brotherly magic.” The back-and-forth between the bickering brothers is entertaining even for the casual viewer, while fans will certainly pick up on lots of easter eggs as they endeavor to get back using any means of transport necessary. It’s private planes, trains and automobiles. It’s not a timeless masterpiece, but is great for fans and a positive start to the day. Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄 for Jonas Brothers fans or 🎄🎄🎄 for their relatives who are obliged to sit through it. Late Morning: Tinsel Town Famous performer Kiefer Sutherland has been cast as a celebrity tricked into a pantomime. “A what's a panto??” asks Sutherland’s “difficult” and aging lead Brad Mack, who has hit a rough patch and whose agent has tricked him into thinking he’s appearing in high-class London stage. His pantomime fellow actors inform him he’s playing Buttons. “Oh no I’m not,” he retorts. One can imagine their reply. Unless you’re unfamiliar with traditional stage call-and-response. There are some great jokes, some touching side stories, and the ensemble is excellent, too. It’s the sort of feature that would be a bit tacky at any other time of year, but is a highly enjoyable at Christmas. Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄🎄 Mid-Morning: Christmas Karma Danny Dyer shows up at the beginning of this film, too, delivering a signature line for the second consecutive movie. Is this a budding festive ritual? This time, he’s a musical taxi operator who picks up Mr Sood, the newest interpretation 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 the director of Gurinder Chadha. The familiar story unfolds as the stingy Mr Sood is haunted by the apparitions of Christmas past, present and future, played by Hugh Bonneville, Billy Porter, and Boy George. This cultural adaptation is at least unique from all the others, but regrettably he’s not very compelling and Nayyar’s acting is wooden—a problem when he’s so central to everything. Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄 Lunchtime: Stuffed There’s time for a major broadcaster's original festive film—which stars Guz Khan as a endearingly grumpy man who “avoids Christmas.” But after he is awarded an £8,000 Christmas bonus at work, his wife (portrayed by Morgana Robinson) talks him into spending the sum on a vacation to Lapland. There’s just one problem—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. Pleasant yet unmemorable. Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄 Early Afternoon: Champagne Problems This is one of those holiday movies where the tree, fairy lights and snow are in the backdrop—Christmas is the scene of the film rather than its raison d’etre—but it feels warm and holiday-like all the same. Driven corporate star Sydney (starring Minka Kelly) is sent to a French chateau to secure an acquisition for a champagne business. En route, she runs into a guy in a bookshop who offers to show her a festive Paris. A critic recently stated this is the finest new Christmas film of the last several seasons. That’s a bit of a stretch, but it is a Christmas romance with a touch of class and gives the necessary heartwarming sensation. The scene with a lengthy discussion about Die Hard is notable too. Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄 3.29pm - Finding Father Christmas Young Chris, played by Lenny Rush, continues to believe in Father Christmas, in spite of the persuasion of his dad (starring James Buckley) to tell him the reality. The answer is to be discovered, and Chris embarks on a quest to find it with the assistance of a panel of well-known experts and celebrities. It’s low-key but charming, and perfect viewing while waiting for Santa to visit. Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄 Late Afternoon: Oh. What. Fun. Michelle Pfeiffer is the mother of a dysfunctional American family who come back together for the holidays—including other acclaimed actress Felicity Jones, Chloe Grace Moretz, Jason Schwartzman, and dad Denis Leary. Pfeiffer begins by referencing 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 concept, but in practice it’s really a mash-up of those inspirations, at least until Pfeiffer’s character finally takes center stage. Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄 6.43pm - A Scottish Christmas Secret The day’s waned in quality, but thankfully here’s a new addition in the saturated market of formulaic, schmaltzy, badly acted—and strangely compelling—seasonal comfort food. It’s a story as old as time: An American woman journeys to a far-off wintery locale and ends up finding romance. In this case, Caprice Bourret plays a publisher
It is the time of year to relax on the couch and demolish a box of mince pies in front of a good movie, a bad movie, or one that’s so bad it’s good. As always, a batch of new seasonal stories strives to join part of our festive viewing—maybe even earning a place alongside enduring classics like Home Alone, Elf, Love Actually, and Die Hard (we won’t debate it). Therefore, in a helpful attempt to separate the winners from the losers, and to get into the holiday mood, I watched as many recent festive movies as possible in a single day. 7.17am - A Very Jonas Christmas Movie Beginning, ideally, on a high. This is the only 2025 movie on a well-known aggregator's list of the greatest 100 Christmas movies of all time. The Jonas Brothers find themselves stranded in the UK after finishing their international trek and must get home for Christmas. Their endeavors are hindered by an malevolent Father Christmas, who bursts into melody to state they won’t get home until they “find their brotherly magic.” The back-and-forth between the bickering brothers is entertaining even for the casual viewer, while fans will certainly pick up on lots of easter eggs as they endeavor to get back using any means of transport necessary. It’s private planes, trains and automobiles. It’s not a timeless masterpiece, but is great for fans and a positive start to the day. Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄 for Jonas Brothers fans or 🎄🎄🎄 for their relatives who are obliged to sit through it. Late Morning: Tinsel Town Famous performer Kiefer Sutherland has been cast as a celebrity tricked into a pantomime. “A what's a panto??” asks Sutherland’s “difficult” and aging lead Brad Mack, who has hit a rough patch and whose agent has tricked him into thinking he’s appearing in high-class London stage. His pantomime fellow actors inform him he’s playing Buttons. “Oh no I’m not,” he retorts. One can imagine their reply. Unless you’re unfamiliar with traditional stage call-and-response. There are some great jokes, some touching side stories, and the ensemble is excellent, too. It’s the sort of feature that would be a bit tacky at any other time of year, but is a highly enjoyable at Christmas. Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄🎄 Mid-Morning: Christmas Karma Danny Dyer shows up at the beginning of this film, too, delivering a signature line for the second consecutive movie. Is this a budding festive ritual? This time, he’s a musical taxi operator who picks up Mr Sood, the newest interpretation 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 the director of Gurinder Chadha. The familiar story unfolds as the stingy Mr Sood is haunted by the apparitions of Christmas past, present and future, played by Hugh Bonneville, Billy Porter, and Boy George. This cultural adaptation is at least unique from all the others, but regrettably he’s not very compelling and Nayyar’s acting is wooden—a problem when he’s so central to everything. Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄 Lunchtime: Stuffed There’s time for a major broadcaster's original festive film—which stars Guz Khan as a endearingly grumpy man who “avoids Christmas.” But after he is awarded an £8,000 Christmas bonus at work, his wife (portrayed by Morgana Robinson) talks him into spending the sum on a vacation to Lapland. There’s just one problem—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. Pleasant yet unmemorable. Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄 Early Afternoon: Champagne Problems This is one of those holiday movies where the tree, fairy lights and snow are in the backdrop—Christmas is the scene of the film rather than its raison d’etre—but it feels warm and holiday-like all the same. Driven corporate star Sydney (starring Minka Kelly) is sent to a French chateau to secure an acquisition for a champagne business. En route, she runs into a guy in a bookshop who offers to show her a festive Paris. A critic recently stated this is the finest new Christmas film of the last several seasons. That’s a bit of a stretch, but it is a Christmas romance with a touch of class and gives the necessary heartwarming sensation. The scene with a lengthy discussion about Die Hard is notable too. Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄 3.29pm - Finding Father Christmas Young Chris, played by Lenny Rush, continues to believe in Father Christmas, in spite of the persuasion of his dad (starring James Buckley) to tell him the reality. The answer is to be discovered, and Chris embarks on a quest to find it with the assistance of a panel of well-known experts and celebrities. It’s low-key but charming, and perfect viewing while waiting for Santa to visit. Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄 Late Afternoon: Oh. What. Fun. Michelle Pfeiffer is the mother of a dysfunctional American family who come back together for the holidays—including other acclaimed actress Felicity Jones, Chloe Grace Moretz, Jason Schwartzman, and dad Denis Leary. Pfeiffer begins by referencing 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 concept, but in practice it’s really a mash-up of those inspirations, at least until Pfeiffer’s character finally takes center stage. Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄 6.43pm - A Scottish Christmas Secret The day’s waned in quality, but thankfully here’s a new addition in the saturated market of formulaic, schmaltzy, badly acted—and strangely compelling—seasonal comfort food. It’s a story as old as time: An American woman journeys to a far-off wintery locale and ends up finding romance. In this case, Caprice Bourret plays a publisher