Devouring This Year's Christmas Films: The Good, The Bad and The So-Bad-It's-Good.

It is the season to lounge on the couch and demolish a packet of mince pies in front of a great film, a poor film, or one that’s awesomely awful.

As always, a batch of latest seasonal stories hopes to be part of our festive viewing—potentially even joining the ranks alongside enduring classics like Home Alone, Elf, Love Actually, and Die Hard (no arguments).

Therefore, in a vital public service to separate the winners from the losers, and to embrace the festive feeling, I binged as many fresh festive movies as possible in a single day.

First Up: The Jonas Brothers' Holiday Flick

Beginning, hopefully, on a high. This film is the exclusive 2025 title on a well-known aggregator's list of the top 100 festive features of all time.

The popular band find themselves trapped in the UK after wrapping up their global concert series and must make it back for Christmas. Their attempts are thwarted by an malevolent Father Christmas, who bursts into melody to declare 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 devotees will undoubtedly catch lots of easter eggs as they try to get back using any means of transport necessary.

It’s a travelogue of mishaps.

It’s not a timeless masterpiece, but is great for devotees and a good start to the day.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄 for Jonas Brothers fans or 🎄🎄🎄 for their loved ones who are obliged to sit through it.

Next: A Star in Panto

Hollywood star Kiefer Sutherland has been cast as a celebrity tricked into a traditional British stage show.

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

His pantomime co-stars tell him he’s playing Buttons. “Absolutely not,” he retorts. It's easy to predict their response. Unless you’re not acquainted with traditional British theatre traditions.

There are some great jokes, some cockle-warming storylines, and the ensemble is excellent, too.

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

Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄🎄

10.19am - Christmas Karma

An actor pops up at the outset of this film, too, insulting someone for the second consecutive movie. Might this become a new Christmas tradition?

This time, he’s a crooning chauffeur 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 Bend It Like Beckham’s Gurinder Chadha. The well-known tale progresses as the tight-fisted Mr Sood is haunted by the apparitions of Christmas yesterday, today, and tomorrow, played by Hugh Bonneville, Billy Porter, and Boy George.

This cultural adaptation is at least unique from all the others, but unfortunately he’s not very captivating and Nayyar’s performance is flat—a significant issue when he’s so central to everything.

Festive score: 🎄🎄

12.04pm - Stuffed

There’s time for a major broadcaster's Christmas comedy-drama—which stars Guz Khan as a endearingly grumpy man who “avoids Christmas.”

But after he gets an large festive windfall at work, his wife (portrayed by Morgana Robinson) persuades him spending the sum on a vacation to Lapland.

There’s just one snag—he finds out there was an mix-up with his bonus, which should have been £800, and he has to figure out how to return the excess.

Pleasant yet unmemorable.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄

Early Afternoon: Champagne Problems

This is one of those holiday movies where the festive trappings are in the backdrop—Christmas is the setting of the film rather than its main point—but it feels warm and holiday-like all the same.

Ambitious executive Sydney (played by Minka Kelly) is assigned to a French chateau to secure an acquisition for a champagne business. En route, she encounters a fellow in a book store who vows to show her Christmas in Paris.

A critic 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 dash of elegance and gives the necessary warm and fuzzy feels.

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

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄

Mid-Afternoon: Finding Father Christmas

Sixteen-year-old Chris, played by Lenny Rush, refuses to stop believing in Father Christmas, regardless of the attempts of his dad (played by James Buckley) to tell him the reality.

The answer is out there, and Chris embarks on a quest to find it with the guidance of a team of well-known experts and celebrities.

It’s understated but endearing, and ideal viewing while anticipating Santa to visit.

Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄

4.39pm - Oh. What. Fun.

Michelle Pfeiffer is the mother of a quarrelling American family who reunite for the holidays—including fellow 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 stating: “They need to make a movie about the true heroes of the holidays—moms.”

So that’s the concept, but in reality it’s really a jumble of those forerunner films, at least until Pfeiffer’s character at last takes center stage.

Festive score: 🎄🎄

6.43pm - A Scottish Christmas Secret

The day’s gone downhill, but thankfully here’s a new entry in the packed genre of predictable, sentimental, cheesy—and highly entertaining—festive fodder.

It’s a narrative as well-worn: An American woman goes on a quest to a picturesque cold country and ends up stumbling across romance.

In this case, Caprice Bourret plays a publisher