Marathon Viewing 2025's Festive Features: The Hits, The Misses, and The Guilty Pleasures.

‘Tis the time of year to relax on the sofa and devour a tin of mince pies in front of a great film, a bad movie, or one that’s terrible yet terrific.

This year, a batch of fresh seasonal stories strives to join part of our holiday traditions—perhaps even earning a place alongside enduring classics like Home Alone, Elf, Love Actually, and Die Hard (we won’t debate it).

Therefore, in a noble effort to separate the winners from the losers, and to get into the festive feeling, I marathoned as many recent festive movies as possible in a single day.

First Up: The Jonas Brothers' Holiday Flick

Kicking off, ideally, on a high. This release is the sole 2025 entry on a well-known aggregator's list of the greatest 100 holiday films of all time.

The popular band find themselves stranded in the UK after concluding their global concert series and must get home for Christmas. Their attempts are hindered by an evil Santa, who breaks into song to declare they won’t get home until they “rekindle their sibling bond.”

The back-and-forth between the bickering brothers is amusing even for the casual viewer, while fans will undoubtedly notice lots of in-jokes as they try to get back using all transportation available.

It’s a travelogue of mishaps.

It’s not legendary, but is great for devotees and a positive start to the day.

Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄 for Jonas Brothers fans or 🎄🎄🎄 for their family members who are obliged to sit through it.

Late Morning: Tinsel Town

Hollywood star Kiefer Sutherland stars as a celebrity roped into a pantomime.

“A panto-what?” asks Sutherland’s “temperamental” and older star Brad Mack, who has seen better days and whose agent has misled him into thinking he’s appearing in renowned British drama.

His pantomime co-stars inform him he’s playing Buttons. “Oh no I’m not,” he protests. It's easy to predict their response. That is, unless you’re not acquainted with traditional stage call-and-response.

There are some very funny lines, some heartwarming side stories, and the supporting actors is brilliant, too.

It’s the type of film that would be a bit naff at another season, but is a lot of fun at Christmas.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄🎄

10.19am - Christmas Karma

Danny Dyer shows up at the beginning of this film, too, calling someone a mug for the second consecutive movie. Could this be a budding festive ritual?

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 an actor from Kunal Nayyar and Christmas Karma is directed by the filmmaker behind Gurinder Chadha. The well-known tale develops as the stingy Mr Sood is confronted 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 different from all the others, but regrettably he’s not very captivating and Nayyar’s performance is wooden—a significant issue when he’s so central to everything.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄

Noon: A BBC Special

There's just enough time for a major broadcaster's original festive film—which stars Guz Khan as a charmingly cantankerous character who “avoids Christmas.”

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

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

Fun while it lasts but not lasting.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄

Early Afternoon: Champagne Problems

This is one of those Christmas films where the tree, fairy lights and snow are in the setting—Christmas is the setting of the film rather than its main point—but it feels warm and holiday-like all the same.

Driven corporate star Sydney (played by Minka Kelly) is assigned to a French chateau to secure an acquisition for a sparkling wine company. On the way, she runs into a fellow in a book store who vows to show her Christmas in Paris.

A commentator recently stated this is the finest new Christmas film of the past few years. That’s a bit of a exaggeration, but it is a festive dalliance with a dash of elegance and gives the necessary warm and fuzzy feels.

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

Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄

A Charming Quest

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

The answer is to be discovered, and Chris sets out to find it with the expert help of a panel of well-known scientists and personalities.

It’s low-key but charming, and ideal viewing while expecting Santa to visit.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄

4.39pm - Oh. What. Fun.

Michelle Pfeiffer is the matriarch of a dysfunctional American family who come back together for the holidays—including other Oscar nominee Felicity Jones, Chloe Grace Moretz, Jason Schwartzman, and dad Denis Leary.

Pfeiffer opens by name-dropping Christmas classics like National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, It’s A Wonderful Life and Home Alone, before saying: “They need to make a movie about the true heroes of the holidays—moms.”

So that’s the premise, but in reality it’s really a combination of those forerunner films, at least until Pfeiffer’s character eventually finds her strength.

Festive score: 🎄🎄

Formulaic Fun

The day’s gone downhill, but fortunately here’s a new offering in the crowded field of cliched, saccharine, over-the-top—and utterly watchable—holiday fare.

It’s a story as familiar as can be: An American woman goes on a quest to a distant snowy land and ends up stumbling across romance.

In this case, Caprice Bourret plays a publisher