Devouring This Year's Festive Features: The Good, The Bad and The So-Bad-It's-Good.

‘Tis the season to lounge on the couch and consume a tin of mince pies in front of a great film, a bad movie, or one that’s awesomely awful.

This year, a selection of new holiday movies aims to become part of our holiday traditions—potentially even finding a spot alongside enduring classics like Home Alone, Elf, Love Actually, and Die Hard (no arguments).

So, in a vital public service to distinguish the gems from the coal, and to get into the festive feeling, I binged as many new festive movies as possible in a single day.

First Up: The Jonas Brothers' Holiday Flick

Kicking off, optimistically, on a good foot. This release is the exclusive 2025 title on a famous website's list of the top 100 festive features of all time.

The Jonas Brothers are stranded in the UK after wrapping up their international trek and must make it back for Christmas. Their attempts are thwarted by an malevolent Father Christmas, who breaks into song to state they won’t get home until they “find their brotherly magic.”

The repartee between the squabbling siblings is amusing even for the casual viewer, while fans will certainly pick up on lots of in-jokes as they try to get back using all transportation available.

It’s a journey of epic proportions.

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

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄 for Jonas Brothers fans or 🎄🎄🎄 for their relatives who must sit through it.

Next: A Star in Panto

A-list actor Kiefer Sutherland appears as a celebrity tricked into a traditional British stage show.

“A what's a panto??” asks Sutherland’s “difficult” and aging action hero Brad Mack, who has hit a rough patch and whose representative has tricked him into thinking he’s starring in prestigious English theatre.

His Aladdin co-stars let him know he’s playing Buttons. “Oh no I’m not,” he insists angrily. It's easy to predict their reply. That is, unless you’re unfamiliar with traditional panto catchphrases.

There are some hilarious moments, some cockle-warming sub-plots, and the supporting actors is cracking, too.

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

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄🎄

Mid-Morning: Christmas Karma

A familiar face shows up at the start of this film, too, calling someone a mug for the second film in a row. Is this a new Christmas tradition?

This time, he’s a singing black cab driver who picks up Mr Sood, the latest spin 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 classic narrative unfolds as the tight-fisted Mr Sood is confronted by the spirits 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 charismatic and Nayyar’s portrayal is lifeless—a major flaw when he’s so central to everything.

Festive score: 🎄🎄

Noon: A BBC Special

Before lunch for a network's holiday special—which stars Guz Khan as a lovably grouchy guy who “avoids Christmas.”

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

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

Enjoyable but forgettable.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄

A Classy Netflix Romance

This is one of those Christmas films where the festive trappings are in the background—Christmas is the environment of the film rather than its raison d’etre—but it feels comfortable and seasonal all the same.

Ambitious executive Sydney (starring Minka Kelly) is sent to a French chateau to secure an acquisition for a sparkling wine company. En route, she meets a man in a literary haven who promises to show her Christmas in Paris.

An expert recently declared this is the best new Christmas film of the last several seasons. That’s a bit of a stretch, but it is a festive dalliance with a touch of class and gives the obligatory heartwarming sensation.

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

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄

Mid-Afternoon: Finding Father Christmas

Teenage 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 truth is somewhere, and Chris sets out to find it with the expert help of a group of well-known experts and celebrities.

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

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄

A Star-Studded Family Drama

Michelle Pfeiffer is the mother of a bickering American family who gather 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 stating: “They need to make a movie about the real champions of the holidays—moms.”

So that’s the concept, but in practice it’s really a jumble of those inspirations, at least until Pfeiffer’s character eventually comes into her own.

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄

6.43pm - A Scottish Christmas Secret

The day’s gone downhill, but fortunately here’s a new offering in the saturated market of formulaic, schmaltzy, badly acted—and utterly watchable—seasonal comfort food.

It’s a tale 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