Last year I did a Christmas Special that involved purely watching cheesey Christmas films, namely those often awful, occasionally funny, sometimes heart-warming Hallmark films. I decided to do it again this year, and I can see it becoming a yearly tradition, so check out the often awful, occasionally funny, sometimes heart-warming films I watched this year!

Each film has a ‘Holiday Fun Rating’. This rating doesn’t necessarily reflect the quality of the film but rather its ‘holiday spirit’ and the Christmas-themed enjoyment to be had from it.

Champagne Problems
Director: Mark Steven Johnson
Synopsis: Sydney (Minka Kelly) is sent to France by her boss to acquire a champagne business. While staying in Paris, she meets Hugo (Tom Wozniczka) and has a whirlwind romance, a romance that starts to fall apart the moment she discovers he is the heir to the champagne business.
Verdict: Christmas in Paris: cliche? Yes. Worth it? YES. What I liked most about this film is that while the characters have some depth, it doesn’t overshadow the story that we’re here to see. Having said that, the story is, unlike the champagne, a bit flat. Kelly is often wooden in her performance, but she and Wozniczka have good chemistry.
Holiday Fun Rating: 3/5

Christmas Above the Clouds
Director: Peter Benson
Synopsis: An uptight, bah-humbug CEO takes a flight to Australia, but the in-flight entertainment includes the ghosts of her Christmases past, present and future.
Verdict: A modern-retelling of A Christmas Carol, it has its moments but is just a run-of-the-mill rehash of the classic Dickens tale. You might be better off watching a direct version of the story (I recommend The Muppet Christmas Carol).
Holiday Fun Rating: 2.5/5

The Christmas Bookshop
Director: Marco Deufemia
Synopsis: A sceptical Christmas “expert” goes up against a bookstore owner to see who has the better Christmas style.
Verdict: I won’t lie, I zoned out a lot during this film. The performances were not good and the story was boring. Put it on in the background whilst you’re cooking/working/scrolling if you must watch it at all.
Holiday Fun Rating: 1.5/5

Christmas Under the Northern Lights
Director: Ernie Barbarash
Synopsis: A woman goes to her mother’s hometown to sell her old house and with a desire to see the Aurora Borealis, and she ends up meeting a charming local tour guide.
Verdict: It’s cutesy and the leads aren’t too sickly sweet or annoying, but it doesn’t really stand out from the crowd of its genre. It’s nice that it is aimed at an older audience because a lot of these films feature adults around mid-thirties or younger, so older audiences might get more enjoyment from this one.
Holiday Fun Rating: 2.5/5

Jingle Bell Heist
Director: Michael Fimognari
Synopsis: A small-time thief and an ex-con team up to rob one of the richest men in London.
Verdict: I actually had some fun with this one. It wasn’t too over-the-top (probably because everyone bar the female lead is British, not American) and I quite liked the main characters’ backgrounds. The London-at-Christmas setting also brings some magical holiday joy.
Holiday Fun Rating: 4/5

A Merry Little Ex-mas
Director: Steve Carr
Synopsis: Kate (Alicia Silverstone) and Everett (Oliver Hudson) “consciously uncouple” right before the holidays but decide they will still spend it together with their children. When both Kate and Everett introduce new partners, each starts to realise that maybe they’re not quite done with their relationship.
Verdict: Perhaps this is one for those about twenty years older than me, because I couldn’t relate to much of it and so didn’t find it very interesting. It has some super cringe characters, not least a guy who is obsessed with Harry Potter, but it does have some fun tongue-in-cheek moments (literally and figuratively).
Holiday Fun Rating: 3.5/5

My Secret Santa
Director: Mike Rohl
Synopsis: In order to pay for her daughter’s snowboarding school, single mum Taylor (Alexandra Breckenridge) takes on a job as Santa, pretending to be male, but finds herself falling for charming rich playboy Matthew (Ryan Eggold).
Verdict: This one is super fun thanks to Breckenridge’s Mrs Doubtfire-inspired performance. As much as the romance plot plays its part, Taylor’s story is fairly decent and gives the film more depth than perhaps most Christmas films have.
Holiday Fun Rating: 4/5

She’s Making a List
Director: Stacey N. Harding
Synopsis: Isabel (Lacey Chabert) works for a company that create Santa’s Naughty and Nice lists, but after meeting young girl Charlie (Cadence Compton) and her father Jason (Andrew Walker), she starts to realise that ‘Naughty’ and ‘Nice’ isn’t as black and white as she thought.
Verdict: Lacey Chabert has become the unofficial queen of Christmas romance films, and this is one of her better ones thanks to its thoughtful messaging. This one is probably best for the single mums and dads of the world.
Holiday Fun Rating: 3/5

Tinsel Town
Director: Chris Foggin
Synopsis: Hollywood action star Brad ‘Mac’ McDonald’s career is on a downward slope, and he has no choice but to join a Christmas panto in Yorkshire, England.
Verdict: What on Earth are Kierfer Sutherland and Rebel Wilson doing in Yorkshire!? It’s as bizarre as it sounds (as is Wilson’s attempt at a Yorkshire accent). It’s not a terrible premise, but it has a very weird casting.
Holiday Fun Rating: 2.5/5

A Very Jonas Christmas Movie
Director: Jessica Yu
Synopsis: The JoBros go on a wild adventure around Europe as they try to make their way home from London to America in time for Christmas.
Verdict: This is one of those that will be exactly what you expect it to be, meaning if you’re a Jonas Brothers fan you’ll probably enjoy it and appreciate their chemistry and songs, but if you’re not, you likely won’t get much out of it, although they aren’t too bad at the comedy.
Holiday Fun Rating: 3.5/5