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 box of holiday pastries in front of a good movie, a poor film, or one that’s so bad it’s good.

This year, a crop of latest Christmas films strives to join part of our festive viewing—perhaps even joining the ranks alongside enduring classics like Home Alone, Elf, Love Actually, and Die Hard (don’t start).

Thus, in a vital public service to separate the winners from the losers, and to get into the holiday mood, I marathoned as many fresh festive movies as possible in a single day.

Early Morning: A Very Jonas Christmas Movie

Beginning, optimistically, on a good foot. This is the exclusive 2025 entry on a well-known aggregator's list of the top 100 festive features of all time.

The popular band find themselves stuck in the UK after wrapping up their world tour and must make it back for Christmas. Their endeavors are hampered by an villainous Saint Nick, who bursts into melody to state they won’t get home until they “find their sibling bond.”

The back-and-forth between the arguing trio is enjoyable even for the uninitiated, while fans will certainly catch lots of references 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 great for fans and a good start to the day.

Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄 for Jonas Brothers fans or 🎄🎄🎄 for their relatives who must sit through it.

Late Morning: Tinsel Town

A-list actor Kiefer Sutherland appears as a Hollywood star cast a pantomime.

“A panto-what?” asks Sutherland’s “temperamental” and ageing star Brad Mack, who has fallen on hard times and whose representative has deceived him into thinking he’s appearing in renowned British drama.

His Aladdin cast-mates tell him he’s playing Buttons. “No I'm not,” he insists angrily. You can guess their reply. That is, unless you’re ignorant of traditional British theatre traditions.

There are some very funny lines, some touching sub-plots, and the rest of the cast is cracking, too.

It’s the kind of movie that would be a bit cheesy at a different time, but is a highly enjoyable at Christmas.

Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄🎄

10.19am - Christmas Karma

Danny Dyer appears at the beginning of this film, too, calling someone a mug for the next movie straight. Is this a new Christmas tradition?

This time, he’s a musical taxi operator who encounters 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 familiar story progresses as the tight-fisted Mr Sood is confronted by the ghosts of Christmas yesterday, today, and tomorrow, played by Hugh Bonneville, Billy Porter, and Boy George.

This Indian Scrooge is at least unique from all the others, but regrettably he’s not very compelling and Nayyar’s portrayal is lifeless—a major flaw when he’s so central to everything.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄

Noon: A BBC Special

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

But after he receives an sizable holiday payout at work, his wife (starring Morgana Robinson) convinces him spending the sum on a holiday to Lapland.

There’s just one issue—he learns there was an error with his bonus, which should have been £800, and he has to determine how to reimburse the excess.

Enjoyable but forgettable.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄

A Classy Netflix Romance

This is one of those holiday movies where the festive trappings are in the backdrop—Christmas is the scene of the film rather than its raison d’etre—but it feels cosy and festive all the same.

High-powered businesswoman Sydney (played by Minka Kelly) is sent to a country estate to secure an acquisition for a sparkling wine company. During her travels, she encounters a man in a bookshop who offers to show her the holidays in the City of Light.

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

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

Holiday verdict: 🎄🎄🎄

A Charming Quest

Sixteen-year-old Chris, played by Lenny Rush, continues to believe in Father Christmas, despite the efforts of his dad (played by James Buckley) to tell him the reality.

The truth is out there, and Chris embarks on a quest to find it with the assistance of a group of well-known figures.

It’s understated but charming, and perfect viewing while expecting Santa to visit.

Festive score: 🎄🎄🎄

4.39pm - Oh. What. Fun.

Michelle Pfeiffer is the head of a quarrelling American family who come back together for the holidays—including fellow Oscar nominee 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 execution it’s really a combination of those aforementioned movies, at least until Pfeiffer’s character at last comes into her own.

Christmas tree rating: 🎄🎄

Formulaic Fun

The day’s gone downhill, but happily here’s a new addition in the saturated market of cliched, saccharine, over-the-top—and strangely compelling—festive fodder.

It’s a narrative as old as time: An American woman travels to a distant snowy land and ends up finding romance.

In this case, Caprice Bourret plays a publisher