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All of Netflix’s Christmas movies, ranked

From the lumps of coal to bundles of cheer

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One of the few success stories on linear cable these days is the Hallmark Channel’s annual Christmas takeover , where the channel only shows its sappy, conventional, shockingly conservative original Christmas movies from Halloween until New Year’s Day. Last year, 50 million viewers tuned into it at one time or another.

But Netflix is actively out to disrupt the TV game in virtually all sectors of programming, including the realm of syrupy holiday entertainment. The streaming service got into the original-Christmas-movie game in 2017. While Hallmark’s movies follow a strict formula, Netflix has been smart enough to branch out into more genres, including animation, teen films, and even something akin to an action movie. But don’t worry: Motion Picture Corporation of America, a major feeder in Hallmark’s Christmas deluge, is also making Netflix movies that are well within the Hallmark formula.

Here are all Netflix’s original movies, ranked from worst to best. Christmas-themed scripted miniseries like Dash & Lily (well worth your time) and reality series like the baking competition Sugar Rush aren’t included, and neither are the movies Netflix licenses, but which also air on other platforms. There’s something on this list for everyone — it’s just that some of these somethings are much better than others.

21. El Camino Christmas (2017)

Sometimes when watching a Hallmark Christmas movie, you think, “Hmm. What if we took all these tropes, but made them dark ? That would be cool.” You could get a guy coming to a small town, but it’s in arid Nevada instead of snowy Maine. He’s searching for his long-lost father, but it turns out the guy’s a no-good drunk. You could get a kid who learns the miracle of Christmas, but he’s autistic, and the anti-vaxxer miracle is, he learns how to talk. There could be a small-business owner who needs to improve his business, but it’s a convenience store and there’s a hostage standoff in the mini-mart on Christmas Eve.

Yes, most of El Camino Christmas is a hold-up drama with crooked cops and mistaken identities. It’s as if someone at Netflix said, “Can we do all that, but … it’s Christmas?” And the filmmakers said, “Sure!” The only good thing about this is the cast, including Jessica Alba, Jimmy O. Yang, Tim Allen, Dax Shepard, and Vincent D’Onofrio sporting the snazziest walrus mustache you’ve ever seen. Too bad they’re all wasted on this half-baked tale. No, making a Hallmark movie dark doesn’t make it cool, it just makes it stupid.

20. Christmas Inheritance (2017)

If you’re looking for a dose of Christmas-inspired schmaltz, this knock-off is the place to get it. It has all the clichés. Hard-partying city girl Ellen (Eliza Taylor) is the heir to a “multimillion-dollar gifts company,” though it’s impossible to imagine what that would look like. Her father tasks her with going to his hometown of Snow Falls (seriously) to deliver the annual Christmas letter to his business partner. She can’t tell anyone in town who she is, so she doesn’t get special treatment, and she can only spend $100. In town, she meets cute with local innkeeper Jake ( Girls’ Jake Lacey) who is so nice that he houses the town’s entire homeless population in his establishment when the power goes out. (A million question marks on that plot point.) Ellen, of course, falls in love with small-town living, and the spirit of Christmas fills her, just as she hopes Jake will fill her later that night. It’s all you could want in a Christmas movie, but with so little of the charm of other flicks that dispense the same clichés.

19. Operation Christmas Drop (2020)

This one takes its plot from a real-life U.S. Air Force tradition at a base in Guam where cargo planes dump Christmas presents and other necessary supplies on the remote islands that wouldn’t get humanitarian aid otherwise. Yes, it’s a great charity, which makes it frustrating that the movie about it is so absolutely leaden and boring. The problem isn’t the drop itself, it’s the tired story of Erica (Kat Graham), a D.C. Congressional aide who shows up to shut down the base, and runs afoul of an Air Force captain (Alexander Ludwig) who she of course falls for. There’s some nice tropical footage, but there’s no way this paper-thin story should take two hours to tell. You’ll wish you dedicated the time you spent watching this to charity instead.

18. The Christmas Chronicles 2 (2020)

Everyone who thinks the Ewoks ruined Return of the Jedi should brace themselves for the gibberish-speaking elves in this poorly designed sequel . They’re sort of like getting a hot candy cane jabbed into your eye socket. It’s a shame, because real-life couple Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell have such great onscreen chemistry, and their first film together since 1987’s Overboard shouldn’t be this bad. Instead of the Santa-as-action-hero vibe of the first Christmas Chronicles , noted schlock-producer director Chris Columbus goes for straight up cutesy-kitsch, with a plot so complicated, it’s worse than Ikea instructions. Time travel? In a Christmas movie? No way. Kate (Darby Camp) is back to help Santa (Russell) and Mrs. Claus (Hawn) save Christmas, this time from the evil elf Belsnickel ( Deadpool 2 ’s Julian Dennison). It has none of the fun of the original, and way too much of the CGI elves.

17. Holiday Rush (2019)

There’s a scene in this movie that is so cringey, it will make your eyes want to fully invert in your skull before jumping out of your body and setting themselves on fire. Rush (Romany Malco), an out-of-work drive-time radio DJ, is out to dinner with his business partner Roxy (Sonequa Martin-Green) to celebrate buying a closed-down radio station, when he toasts her in front of the whole restaurant. Then he asks her to dance next to their table, with no music playing and everyone trying to carry on with their meals.

To make it worse, he goes home and basically tells his four kids that she’s their new mother. Even for people who believe advent calendars are magic and Santa is real, there is not one believable thing in this movie. To make it worse, the pacing is leaden, the lines fall flat, and not even the spirit of Christmas can save it.

16. Dolly Parton’s Christmas on the Square (2020)

Let’s get one thing straight: Dolly Parton is a national treasure. She has not only written some of the best songs of the past several decades, she has also done wonders for childhood literacy, and she basically cured coronavirus singlehandedly . With that said, her spangly 2020 Christmas musical , um… is not her best work. There’s a lot of exuberant singing and over-exuberant dancing (with choreography from director Debbie Allen), but it’s all done on a stingy community-theater set. The songs feature grating lyrics like, “Oh little girl / You are my world,” and the dialogue is full of adages from stale greeting cards, like “Faith opens a door so miracles can enter.”

The miracle is Dolly, playing an angel, trying to convince a hard-hearted businesswoman ( The Good Wife ’s stellar Christine Baranski) not to evict everyone from a small town on Christmas and sell the land to a mall developer. There are a few transcendent moments, like Jenifer Lewis vogueing in a beauty salon, but you’d get more out of listening to “Jolene” on repeat for 90 minutes instead.

15. Christmas Prince: The Royal Baby (2019)

By the time ghosts become a major plot point in a franchise that isn’t already about ghosts, it’s time to hang it up, because it’s all out of ideas. Luckily, it seems like the third movie in this series will be the last one. It’s basically the same as the first two, but this time, Queen Amber (Rose McIver) is styled to look like a Fox News anchor and looks about 20 years older than she really is. Pregnancy does not suit her. The trouble in Aldovia this Christmas is that the King (Ben Lamb) has to re-sign a 600-year-old treaty with the Asian country of Penglia, which, for some geopolitical reason, is the chief ally of Aldovia, a European nation. Except the treaty goes missing, which means the countries will be back at war, and there will also be a curse on the king’s first born. Oh no! A curse! We’re actually worried about that? Everything is eventually settled and the baby is born in the palace bedroom, because nothing’s as sanitary as a holiday bedroom. All of the stupid good cheer has been used up, and hopefully we’ll never have to go back to Aldovia.

14. Holiday in the Wild (2019)

Warning: Rob Lowe appears shirtless at age 55 in this movie. For lovers of the male form, it is a delight. For havers of the male form, it is a nightmare, because no matter how old you are now, Rob Lowe’s body is still better than yours.

Physical beauty aside, this is a gorgeous movie, mostly because of the African setting. When Kate ( Sex and the City ’s Kristin Davis), a former vet turned New York socialite, takes a safari to forget about her recent divorce, she ends up at an African elephant orphanage run by Derek (Lowe, sometimes wearing a shirt). Lots of footage of elephants and other animals in the wild ensues. In fact, you’ll see more giraffes in this movie than Christmas trees. They’re the real reason to tune into this wisp of a movie. It certainly isn’t for dialogue like, “Without change there would be no butterflies.” It’s not for the moment where Kate is asked if she met anyone in Africa, and she says, “Yes… I met me.” The cast doesn’t spare the cheese, but at least they save some elephants.

13. A Christmas Prince: The Royal Wedding (2018)

Ever go somewhere and have an amazing hamburger, and then you go back a few weeks later and order it again, and it’s just disappointing? That’s basically what happens with this sequel. It has all the same ingredients as A Christmas Prince , but this time, when Amber (Rose McIver) — is there a less regal name than Amber? — and her dad Rudy (John Guerrasio, taking over the role from the more aptly named Daniel Fathers) show up in Aldovia, her relationship with King Richard (Ben Lamb) is already assured. So instead of a growing romance, we’re left with some crazy plotline about embezzlement that’s so simplistic, a kindergarten detective could figure it out. Also, Amber’s royal wedding dress is ugly and it looks like she bought it at Filene’s Basement. There, I said it.

12. The Knight Before Christmas (2019)

There’s a K in the title. Get it? Get it ?! Yes, that means an actual knight named Sir Cole (Josh Whitehouse) is magically transported through time on Christmas. Wait, Cole was a name in the 14th century? Really? What’s next, Queen Madison of Spain? Anyway, when he arrives in the modern day, Brooke (Netflix’s Christmas queen, Vanessa Hudgens) hits him with her car and then thinks he has amnesia, so she takes him in. His old-time gallantry is not only a hit at the local Christmas village, where he starts working, but also with his new roommate, where he starts working it. Hey! If you’re looking to pass a bit of silly time with a little bit of Christmas magic, curl up with this movie and a mug of hot chocolate. Just don’t put any K in it. That would be a whole different thing.

11. A Christmas Prince (2017)

One of Netflix’s original forays into the art of a Christmas movie, this thing is a little bit like a fruitcake, where a dozen ideas are thrown into a batter and stirred, until none emerge as the dominant flavor. Amber (Rose McIver) is an American journalist dispatched to the vaguely European nation of Aldovia (the movie was shot in Romania), where she has to find out everything about party boy Prince Richard (Ben Lamb). Since she can’t get access to him, she poses as the tutor to his sister Emily (Honor Kneafsey), an unruly princess who has made every previous governess quit. You know the rest: Amber charms Emily, gets close to Richard, has to tell him she’s been lying about her identity the whole time, goes tobogganing, helps him fight off a coup from a dastardly cousin, and uses the power of the Christmas spirit to enchant just about everyone. It’s stupid, syrupy fun, even if the acting, sets, story, and just about everything else leave a little bit to be desired — just like a fruitcake.

10. Holidate (2020)

Though this rom-com starts and ends at Christmas, it isn’t about the season so much as it’s about holidays in general. Sloane (Emma Roberts) is sick of being the only single person in her family. Jackson (Aussie hunk Luke Bracey) is sick of commitment-seeking women. They decide to be each other’s “holidate,” or date to all holiday functions, which not only includes Christmas and Thanksgiving, but also St. Patrick’s Day, Halloween, and Cinco de Mayo. Over the course of the year, they not only fall in love (duh) they also engage in some over-the-top scatological humor and drunken antics. If you love a mediocre and slightly edgy rom-com (which Netflix has really cornered the market on lately) you could really do a lot worse, but this is lacking the seasonal trappings you might expect from something with a holiday pun in the title.

9. The Princess Switch (2018)

Imagine The Parent Trap , but instead of two Lindsay Lohans, there are two Vanessa Hudgens, and one of them is a princess. Imagine there’s also a baking competition in the magical kingdom of Belgravia, a fictional neighbor of Christmas Prince ’s fictional Aldovia. Okay, so there’s some Princess Diaries thrown in there as well. You can guess the plot: Stacy (Hudgens) and her best friend and coworker (Nick Sagar) are recruited for the baking contest, where Margaret, Duchess of Montenaro (Hudgens again) finds out she and Stacy bear an uncanny resemblance. They switch places so Margaret can see what it’s like to be a real girl, and Stacy falls in love with the prince Margaret is supposed to marry (Sam Palladio). Ah, romance is so easy when the other person is lying to you the whole time and pretending to be someone else! Yes, this is silly and predictable, but Hudgens has enough charisma to pull it off.

8. Alien Xmas (2020)

If you’re ever in the position where you eat a little too much of an edible and you’re sitting in your parents’ living room, with the Christmas tree melting into a puddle while you try to figure out what to watch, start with the movie version of Cats . When that’s over, move onto this weird stop-motion animation special . Hopefully it will divert you long enough that you’ll regain control of your limbs. You’ll also fall in love with X, a little alien Klept, a species that can never have enough stuff. They decide to take over the Earth to steal all of Earth’s things, and they begin by invading Santa’s village at the North Pole. It’s basically the same story as How the Grinch Stole Christmas , but with a retro-’60s sci-fi vibe that goes perfectly with the munchies.

7. The Princess Switch: Switched Again (2020)

It turns out that Vanessa Hudgens-es are like shots: two of them make for a good time, but three of them will really mess you up. On the eve of her coronation as queen — on Christmas, natch — Duchess Margaret of Montenaro (Hudgens) gets another visit from her lookalike Stacy (also Hudgens), now a princess of Belgravia. This time, Margaret’s party-girl Eurotrash cousin Fiona (yes, another Hudgens) shows up to complicate matters further. Things go absolutely haywire, with all the Hudgens-es pretending to be other Hudgens-es, but the addition of cartoonish villain Fiona is just the ridiculous spice this thing needs. Yes, it’s stupid, but it’s a stupid good time that’s perfect to entertain you on Christmas Eve as you stay up late putting together a Barbie Dream House. Now if we can only get a geography lesson on exactly where Montenaro and Belgravia are, and why it takes so long to travel from one to the other. It must have something to do with the space-Hudgens continuum.

6. Holiday Calendar (2018)

My favorite subgenre of Christmas movie is “this random Christmas thing has magic powers.” In this case, it’s an advent calendar Abby (Kat Graham) gets from her grandfather ( This Is Us Emmy-winner Ron Cephas Jones) that seems to be predicting the future. Abby is a frustrated photographer taking pictures of kids posing with a mall Santa when she’d rather be making art. The calendar seems to be nudging her closer to dream man Ty (Ethan Peck) much to the chagrin of her best friend and coworker Josh (Quincy Brown). This is a fun, frothy mug of eggnog with a diverse cast. It’s helped immensely by the obvious chemistry between Abby and Josh, and by being full of people cool enough that you might actually want to be friends with them. The only mistake in the movie is that the cast actually watches Netflix’s Christmas Inheritance (see above) and thinks it’s amazing.

5. Jingle Jangle: A Holiday Journey (2020)

This reminds me so much of old-school made-for-TV Christmas movies. ( Drew Barrymore in Babes in Toyland , anyone?) The production values aren’t at Marvel-movie levels, but they’re good, and the film is full of plucky children acting precocious in order to make everyone believe in the Christmas spirit. Oh, and it’s a musical. Cue the jazz hands. Journey (Madalen Mills) goes to the steampunk Victorian village where her grandfather Jeronicus (Forest Whitaker) lives. He’s a down-on-his-luck toymaker who never recovered after his former apprentice (Keegan-Michael Key) ran off with all of his toy designs, and stole Don Juan Diego (voiced by Ricky Martin), a fully conscious matador toy that was Jeronicus’ greatest creation. But eventually, though a series of convoluted back-and-forths between songs by John Legend and others, Christmas is saved. It’s overly ornate and has about four movies’ worth of plot smooshed into two hours, but it just might be the makings of a new holiday classic.

4. The Christmas Chronicles (2018)

There are lots of different Santas in movies, but has there ever been another action-hero Santa? If that’s a thing you wanted in your life, look no further than Kurt Russell playing Kris Kringle with a killer beard and more swag than Justin Bieber walking out of a megachurch. Kate (Darby Camp) and her older brother Teddy (Judah Lewis) are still reeling from the death of their Christmas-loving father when Kate decides to stay up all night to catch Santa on video. She not only sees the old man, she and Teddy stow away in his sled. The shock of finding two strangers in the back with his sack gives Santa such a fright, he wrecks his sleigh in downtown Chicago. Now these two need to fix the sled, rescue the reindeer, and find his magic sack to save Christmas. Car chases, police standoffs, and all the other action-movie antics ensue, for a sweet Christmas tale with a heaping side of badass.

3. Just Another Christmas (2020)

This one is more complicated than trying to make a batch of cronuts underwater. Jorge (Leandro Hassum), a middle-aged Brazilian dude, has always hated Christmas. One year, he falls off the roof while playing Santa, and when he wakes up the next day, it isn’t December 26, it’s Christmas the following year. “Christmas Jorge” wakes up every year with no memory of the past 364 days, can’t remember anything “Regular Jorge” did during the rest of the year, and actually hates quite a few of other self’s decisions. The result is not only a hilarious take on Groundhog Day , it’s also a touching mediation on the traditions and repetitions of Christmas, and what it’s like for each of us to experience them throughout changing phases of our lives. That’s a whole lot of philosophy for a silly little movie!

2. Klaus (2019)

This is Netflix’s only feature-length animated Christmas movie, and it’s also the only Oscar nominee in the bunch, though it lost Best Animated Feature to Toy Story 4 . But Klaus is still an excellent take on the Santa origin story, with a cartoonish style that owes more to Tim Burton and The Addams Family than to A Charlie Brown Christmas . Jesper (voiced by Jason Schwartzman) is a lazy, entitled son of a postmaster general, who dispatches him to the far-flung, run-down hamlet of Smeerensburg to serve as postman. If Jesper doesn’t post 6,000 letters in a year, he won’t inherit his father’s fortune. His idea is to get the kids of the towns’ two feuding families, the Ellingboes and the Krums, to mail letters to a reclusive woodsman so he’ll deliver presents to them. As the story progresses, we see how this not only saves the town, but invents much of the mythology we know about Santa today. It didn’t win an Oscar, but it’s certain to win the hearts of kids and adults.

1. Let It Snow (2019)

So many Christmas movies are about middle-aged singletons falling in love again, thanks to the spirit of Christmas. Not this teen movie, in the vein of Can’t Hardly Wait and Superbad , which could teach all the other Christmas movies a thing or two. Let It Snow follows a bunch of kids in a small Illinois town as they deal with romance and a snowstorm on Christmas Eve. Tobin (Mitchell Hope) is in love with his best friend Angie (Kiernan Shipka), but can’t figure out how to tell her. Dorrie (Liv Hewson) is trying to get the cheerleader who hooked up with her (Anna Akana) to acknowledge her. And Julie (Isabela Merced) is ushering around a pop star (Shameik Moore). They all converge at the local Waffle Town for a massive Christmas party that isn’t remotely realistic, but is still absolutely enchanting. Brimming with LOL moments and surprising twists on convention, Let It Snow isn’t just a good Christmas movie — it’s a good movie, period. Frankly, in the world of made-for-the-holidays movies, that’s a rare and special kind of gift.

The Polygon 2020 holiday guide

• The biggest new movies arriving before the end of the year
• 16 new shows vying for our attention at the end of 2020
• A guide to all of the holiday TV specials premiering in December
• There are still games coming out in December
• 6 must-watch anime arriving for the 2021 winter season
• Milla Jovovich is in the action movie pantheon now
• Soul began with the Great Beyond, then evolved into Pixar’s film about Black life
• This Christmas, Venom just wants to kill a space god and be a good dad
• The Expanse authors say the show’s only on pause, not canceled, after season 6
• The 5 most challenging parts of adapting The Stand
• Netflix’s Alien Xmas is a reskinned Grinch movie for stop-motion nostalgists
• Dolly Parton’s new Netflix special is the one cheesy holiday musical to rule them all
• Just Another Christmas isn’t just another predictable Christmas comedy
• Holidate is a fizzling start to Netflix’s holiday movie season
• Tom Hanks is a hero of truth in News of the World
• George Clooney’s new sci-fi thriller The Midnight Sky has zero gravity
• Every side of David Fincher comes to life in Mank
• Francis Ford Coppola’s new cut of Godfather Part III settles the family business for good
• The Lego Star Wars Holiday Special embraces Star Wars’ lesser-known hilarious side
• How to gift a streaming subscription
• The best first comics to introduce yourself to superheroes
• The space opera books to gift The Mandalorian fan in your life

Best Netflix Christmas movies: 16 festive flicks you can stream right now

The best Netflix Christmas movies the streamer has to offer.

On the spy for the best Netflix Christmas movies? Of course, you are. Nothing fits the bill better in the festive season than a good holiday movie – and Netflix has them by the bucketload. 

While we've all got a number of holiday favorites we like to check out every year,  Netflix is no slouch when it comes to releasing new Christmas movies that enter our viewing rotation. 

As of 2022, Netflix has more festive originals than ever before, with the likes of Luke Evans, Lindsay Lohan and Olivia Colman among the stars lining up to lead the streaming service's new array of Christmas movies. 

In our handy guide, we'll run you through the best Netflix Christmas movies to be found on the streamer, and we've limited this list to Netflix Originals , so no matter where you're subscribed to the streaming service, you can enjoy everything below. These are the best Christmas movies on Netflix right now – and while the majority are family-friendly, we'd advise checking out the age ratings for each before you start watching.

Merry NetfliXmas, one and all…

Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey (2020)

This tale delivers winter whimsy by the truckload. A brand new spectacle for 2020, this musical adventure deserves to be seen on the biggest TV available, and with the best sound system you can find. 

Boasting original songs by John Legend, Usher, and more, the family film tells the story of the legendary inventor and toymaker Jeronicus Jangle (played by Academy Award winner Forest Whitaker). When his trusted apprentice (Keegan-Michael Key) steals one of his unique creations, it’s up to his smart granddaughter – and some inventions wizardry, naturally – to save the day. File this under future family favorites, and expect to watch it every December.

Falling For Christmas (2022)

Lindsay Lohan leads the way in Netflix's shiniest new offering for 2022, giving the classic plotline of total memory loss a festive sprinkling. 

Lohan plays Sierra Belmont, a spoiled and aloof heiress, who is given a job at her father's Aspen ski resort with the ludicrous title of Vice President of Atmosphere. Traveling there with Tad, her shallow influencer boyfriend, the pair head to the top of a mountain for a photo shoot where he proposes to her. But, just as he pops the question, a harsh causes her to lose balance and she falls, knocking her head on a tree and losing her memory. 

Discovered by a local named Jake Russell, who runs a small hotel near the resort, Sierra bonds with Jake and his family and slowly builds a new life. But, when her old connections return, she soon has a choice to make. 

Glee star Chord Overstreet plays Russel, with George Young, Jack Wagner and Olivia Perez among the supporting cast. 

It won't win any Oscars, but it's good fun, fleet-footed, and a good dollop of festive schmaltz. 

The Christmas Chronicles (2018)  

If the idea of Kurt Russell as a super cool Santa sounds like fun to you (it should do, because it is) then The Christmas Chronicles makes for perfect Christmas streaming fodder. 

The comedy sees Santa accidentally get interrupted by two kids on his Christmas Eve deliveries - and crashes his sleigh, losing his presents in the process, before embarking on an adventure with the children to save Christmas. As if the kids in your life weren't already going to love it, it comes from the director of The Angry Birds Movie, Clay Kaytis, who also happened to animate Frozen - so it has family rewatchability deep in its warm, festive heart. 

Plus, it comes with Christmas pedigree too, as it’s produced by Home Alone and Harry Potter helmer Chris Columbus.  

The Christmas Chronicles: Part 2 (2020)  

Make it a double bill this year with the new The Christmas Chronicles sequel, in which Goldie Hawn joins the action-packed adventure, too, as Mrs Claus. Set two years since the kids saved Christmas (sorry, spoilers), they’re now slightly older teens - and with their new Christmas plans spending the holidays as a recently blended family not filling them with holiday joy, they find themselves on a mission to save the North Pole, this time, instead. If you didn’t already consider Kurt and Goldie Hollywood’s golden couple, just wait until you see them in full Christmas costume.  

Black Mirror: White Christmas

Before we get into more Christmas princes, royal babies, accidental romances and other fun stuff, how about a properly harrowing movie-length episode from Charlie Brooker's anthology series Black Mirror? This episode covers several interlinking stories, told between two men (played by Mad Men's Jon Hamm and Rafe Spall) seemingly spending Christmas in some kind of The Thing-style station in the icy tundra, as they explain how they each came to be there. 

Get ready for a few brutal twists in this dystopian drama, which, obviously, is not one for the kids. 

The Princess Switch (2018)

There’s something undeniably joyful about movies where one actor plays all the leads (see: The Parent Trap, The Nutty Professor, Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me). In the Princess Switch, High School Musical alum Vanessa Hudgens takes the lead(s), in a Prince And The Pauper-inspired story of a princess who bumps into her doppelgänger, a baker, and they decide to switch places so the royal can experience, a “normal” life. Quaint Christmas markets, opulently decorated palaces and lurve ensues, and we can’t get enough…  

Dolly Parton’s Christmas On The Square (2020)

When you look up the phrase “camp as Christmas” in the dictionary, the page has got to be nothing but a full-page color poster for this exact film. Not only does the iconic Dolly Parton lend her acting talents to this downhome treat as a literal angel, but the just-released musical also features 14 original songs with music and lyrics by Dolly herself, too. 

When a Scrooge-style woman threatens to ruin Christmas for her small hometown, it’s up to family, love - and Dolly -  to warm her cold heart. Don your sparkliest, tinsel-lined cowboy boots and have yourself a Dolly holiday.  

Scrooge: A Christmas Carol (2022)

Luke Evans, Olivia Colman, Jessie Buckley and Jonathan Pryce lend their voices to this animated musical retelling of Charles Dickens' classic tale. 

If you don't know the story, it goes a bit like this, a miserly businessman Ebenezer Scrooge who cares little for the fate of others, is visited by the ghost of his former business partner, Jacob Marley, and the spirits of Christmas past, present and future in the hope that he will learn the error of his ways.

Sparkly, wide-eyed and skillfully told, it's a story we all know, but one well, well worth revisiting once again. 

The Princess Switch: Switched Again (2020)

If you liked two princess lookalikes - what about three? The sequel to The Princess Switch has Vanessa Hudgens playing a third character: the evil cousin, Lady Fiona, a sort of Made in Chelsea-esque party girl villian with her own nefarious schemes and surrounded by more Christmas decor than you can fill a palace with. Is it cheesy? Yes. Is it loads of fun? Also yes.  

A Christmas Prince: The Royal Baby (2019)

Now, some would say that this being the lowest rated movie in the entire ‘A Christmas Prince’ romcom franchise means that this is a Netflix Original Christmas movie to avoid. But ignore those people: they don’t realize that that’s what makes this so good. The attempts at gags, the OTT royal clichés, the fact that it doesn’t quite make any sense - embrace it all, and you’ll be in for a great Christmas night in. A hefty glass of Baileys or the alcoholic beverage of your choice to watch it with helps, too.  

Klaus (2019)

This Christmas movie marked Netflix’s first ever Academy Award nomination for Best Animated Feature, as well as winning the BAFTA for Best Animated Film. It’s no surprise why: the Scandivian-set Santa Claus origin story, starring Jason Schwartzman voicing the lead as postman who builds an unlikely friendship with the eponymous toymaker Klaus, combines beautiful hand-drawn animation and a timeless story. The result is a modern Christmas classic. 

A Very Murray Christmas (2015)

The Christmas special is as much a time-honored tradition as decorating the tree to Mariah Carey, or considering packing up and starting a new life in a distant country the morning after the Christmas party. 

In this one, BIll Murray plays himself, hosting a Christmas special that gets canceled due to a snowstorm, and goes on to find shelter in a bar. If you don’t fancy the annual Christmas special of your favorite sitcom, stick this on instead. Though it’s not a huge statement to make, we can guarantee it’ll be better.  

The Knight Before Christmas (2019)

Vanessa Hudgens appears not once, not twice, but thrice on this list, as she’s quickly emerging as the Queen of Netflix Original Christmas Rom Coms (or princess, or princess’s lookalike, or cousin, or… anyway). In this, she turns her expertise to a schmaltzy romance with a fantasy twist, as she plays a small town teacher who helps a time-travelling knight fulfil his quest - but after their adventure, will he really want to return home? 

Operation Christmas Drop (2020)

Watch too many Netflix romcoms, and you’ll be forgiven for thinking that Christmas only comes to tiny country hometowns, whose residents have never set up an Alexa , been to an Apple store , or even tried shop-bought gingerbread (baking is a serious character trait around these parts). 

We’re a fan of new release Operation Christmas Drop, not least of which for its sun-drenched tropical setting - a Yuletide romance hooked on a beautiful Washington DC congressional assistant being paired up with a hunky Airforce Captain to take up the yearly tradition of airlifting goods to the citizens of Guam for Christmas. 

The Holiday Calendar (2018)

Not only does The Vampire Diaries’ Kat Graham star in Operation Christmas Drop, but the actor also takes the lead in The Holiday Calendar, which serves the dual purpose of being a cute romcom, as well as an important life lesson in the magic of Advent calendars. 

Watch early on in the Christmas season to get into the spirit with this as a delightfully silly, whimsical starter. In fun NetfliXmas-verse crossover facts, this movie can be seen playing on a TV in The Knight Before Christmas - and it's filmed in the town of Niagara-on-the-Lake, in Ontario, Canada, where Netflix's Christmas movie Christmas Inheritance was also shot.  

Let It Snow (2019)

A series of interweaving stories make up this warm and cosy young adult romcom, based on the novel of the same name by Maureen Johnson, John Green, and Lauren Myracle. Set against the backdrop of a snowstorm during Christmastime, it follows the interlocking lives of teens facing life, love and school dilemmas - all with a feel-good festive tone that won’t leave you bawling your eyes out, which can’t be said for other John Green adaptations.  

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The best Christmas movies on Netflix right now

Take a trip to the North Pole or revisit some nostalgic faves when browsing Saint Netflix’s list of holiday flicks

Family reunions, cookie swaps, and holiday parties come back every year. To while away the wintry hours, Netflix has you covered with yuletide entertainment options, from Christmas classics to its own string of straight-to-streaming films (although 2017's A Christmas Prince did not make our list). Stock up on cookies and cocoa, because you've got one long marathon of Christmas movies on Netflix ahead of you.

A Very Murray Christmas (2015)

Sofia Coppola took a break from elegant theatrical features in 2015 for this moody, meta Netflix holiday special, in which Bill Murray (playing himself) struggles to shoot his own holiday special, which has been snowed out. Wandering through the Carlyle Hotel, he encounters a parade of celebrity guests, who join him in yuletide duets as he realizes his lonely Christmas isn't completely lost. What, you thought Coppola and Murray would just make some cheery, cheesy Christmas drivel? Do you know who they are ?

Where to watch A Very Murray Christmas : Netflix

EW grade: B ( Read the review )

Director: Sofia Coppola

Cast: Bill Murray, Michael Cera , George Clooney , Chris Rock , Miley Cyrus , Jenny Lewis , Amy Poehler , Maya Rudolph , Rashida Jones , Jason Schwartzman

Related content: Miley Cyrus: Very Murray Christmas trailer has singer performing 'Silent Night'

White Christmas (1954)

In Michael Curtiz 's (yes, the director of Casablanca ) time-honored classic, two WWII-vet Broadway superstars meet a pair of song-and-dance sisters with whom they travel to snowless Vermont, where they're reunited with an old boss for whom they decide to stage a musical which may or may not be televised, upon which decision the film's central romance hinges. It's great! People eat liverwurst sandwiches and pretend it's romantic. George Chakiris is a background dancer in the film's worst musical number! If you've somehow never seen it, a very merry Christmas surprise awaits you indeed.

Where to watch White Christmas : Netflix

Director: Michael Curtiz

Cast: Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, Rosemary Clooney , Vera-Ellen, Mary Wickes

Related content: These are the top 20 Christmas movies ever

Falling for Christmas (2022)

A beautiful sight, we're happy tonight, walking in a winter wonder-Lohan! The definitive early-2000s teen queen, Lindsay Lohan , has returned to the screen as a spoiled hotel heiress, Sierra, who is diagnosed with amnesia after a skiing accident and has to stay under the care of a handsome, rustic lodge owner — played by Glee star Chord Overstreet — until she regains her memory. From its charming clichés to Lohan covering "Jingle Bell Rock" 18 years after Mean Girls , there's so much to fall for in this cutesy holiday rom-com. And with Lohan set to star in two more major Netflix films, Falling for Christmas marks the beginning of the Lohannaisance , which is the greatest Christmas gift of all.

Where to watch Falling for Christmas : Netflix

Director: Janeen Damian

Cast: Lindsey Lohan, Chord Overstreet, Jack Wagner, George Young , Alejandra Flores, Olivia Perez

Related content: Lindsay Lohan exists in Netflix's Falling for Christmas universe

Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey (2020)

For years, Netflix has contributed handily to the annual Christmas movie release calendar, and this entry from 2020 is worth a watch. David E. Talbert 's musical fantasy envisions the festive world of a brilliant toymaker, his scheming apprentice, and the inventions of a dancing doll and adorable robot. The story zigs and zags all over a dazzling holiday wonderland, but they've already warned you right there in the title — it's a Christmas Journey , just step up and take it!

Where to watch Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey : Netflix

Director: David E. Talbert

EW grade: B+ ( Read the review )

Cast: Forest Whitaker , Keegan-Michael Key , Madalen Mills, Hugh Bonneville , Anika Noni Rose, Phylicia Rashad , Ricky Martin

Related content: Move over, Baby Yoda! Jingle Jangle robot Buddy 3000 will steal your heart

Single All the Way (2021)

It's pretty egregious that it took until the 2020s for a streamer to release a cheesy, formulaic holiday rom-com that centers on an LGBTQ+ couple (2020's Happiest Season on Hulu was neither formulaic nor cheesy — nor, regrettably, especially romantic or comedic). But Netflix, thankfully, came to the rescue, with Michael Mayer 's cozy romance about two best friends who pretend to be a couple (works every time!), only to discover that maybe they should be more than friends after all. Plus: Kathy Najimy and Jennifer Coolidge are in the classic roles of wacky and/or pushy relatives!

Where to watch Single All the Way : Netflix

Director: Michael Mayer

Cast: Michael Urie , Philemon Chambers, Luke Macfarlane , Jennifer Coolidge, Kathy Najimy

Related content: Inside Single All the Way 's magical ending

Let It Snow (2019)

Steve Wilkie/Netflix/Courtesy Everett Collection

The Netflix Christmas oeuvre expanded in 2019 with this charming teen ensemble rom-com, a relatively understated entry in the streamer's catalog (compared to, say, the very sparkly musical Dolly Parton's Christmas on the Square ). When a snowstorm hits a small Midwestern town, romance sparks and secrets spill among its teenage population. Also, Joan Cusack plays an infamous local eccentric, and a fictional pop star shows up! We did only say relatively understated.

Where to watch Let It Snow : Netflix

Director: Luke Snellin

Cast: Kiernan Shipka , Shameik Moore , Joan Cusack, Isabela Merced , Odeya Rush

Related content: Kiernan Shipka and Isabela Merced dish on Netflix's new teen holiday flick Let It Snow

The Knight Before Christmas (2019)

Brooke Palmer/Netflix

We know what you're thinking: It is sacrilege to choose, out of the entire Vanessa Hudgens Netflix Christmas canon, anything other than 2018's iconic, unimpeachable The Princess Switch , or even its sparkling, double and triple-switching sequels. But, hear us out: The Knight Before Christmas is even better. Hudgens plays a young woman who is single until she meets an actual Medieval knight who has been magically transported to her small Christmas movie town at Christmastime! She teaches him about modern life, including how to navigate actual Netflix on her TV. Extremely festive!

Where to watch The Knight Before Christmas : Netflix

Director: Monika Mitchell

Cast: Vanessa Hudgens, Josh Whitehouse, Emmanuelle Chriqui

Related content: Vanessa Hudgens felt the spirit (and the skunk of it all) on The Knight Before Christmas

Love Hard (2021)

Combining the titles of two Christmas classics, Love Actually and Die Hard , Love Hard is seemingly nothing like the two and yet still a solid choice. The Vampire Diaries alum Nina Dobrev stars as Natalie, a dating columnist who finds out she's been catfished by her long-distance boyfriend, Josh — played by stand-up comedian Jimmy O. Yang — after paying him a surprise visit at his New York home. For the holidays, the pair pretend to date around Josh's family under the condition that he helps her date his friend Tag (Darren Barnet), whose pictures Josh used to catfish Natalie. This rom-com may surprise you (in the best way), so don't judge it by its profile pic!

Where to watch Love Hard : Netflix

Director: Hernán Jiménez

Cast: Nina Dobrev, Jimmy O. Yang, Darren Barnet, Harry Shum Jr. , James Saito, Rebecca Staab, Althea Kaye

Related content: 12 must-watch classic Christmas movies

The Christmas Chronicles (2018)

In compiling this roster of holiday entertainments, I first had The Christmas Chronicles listed simply as That Kurt Russell Santa Movie , which is probably what you call it, too. That's because Christmas Chronicles pretty much means nothing — the headline of this very list could probably be The Christmas Chronicles and nobody would blink an eye — but the phrase "Kurt Russell Santa" conjures an entire world of roguish yuletide possibilities. You watch The Christmas Chronicles only to see Kurt Russell as Santa Claus, which is more than enough to recommend it. Watch its 2020 sequel, The Christmas Chronicles 2 , more commonly known as The Kurt Russell Santa Movie Plus Goldie Hawn This Time .

Where to watch The Christmas Chronicles : Netflix

EW grade: N/A ( Read the review )

Director: Clay Kaytis

Cast: Kurt Russell, Judah Lewis, Darby Camp, Kimberly Williams-Paisley , Lamorne Morris

Related reading: Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn are here to save the holidays in The Christmas Chronicles 2 trailer

A Boy Called Christmas (2021)

Netflix / Everett

This British children's film, adapted from the Matt Haig book of the same name, is a winning fairy tale about the power of belief. The film chronicles the story of young Nikolas, a 13-year-old boy living with his father in the forest, his mother having died two years prior. After his father sets off on an expedition to find the magical land of Elfhelm, Nikolas finds a map that leads to the location, prompting him to set out on a journey of his own. What he finds there will eventually inspire a Christmas tradition. As EW's critic notes in our list of the best Christmas movies for kids , "It's easy to see where this story is heading, but the film is enlivened by a comedian-heavy cast including  Kristen Wiig ,  Stephen Merchant , and  Jim Broadbent ." — Kevin Jacobsen

Where to watch A Boy Called Christmas : Netflix

Director:  Gil Kenan

Cast:  Henry Lawfull, Stephen Merchant,  Sally Hawkins , Kristen Wiig, Jim Broadbent, Maggie Smith

Related content:   The 25 best kids' Christmas movies on Netflix

Klaus (2019)

This underrated Christmas-themed animated film offers a new origin story for Santa Claus. The action takes place in 19th-century Norway, where Jesper Johansen (voiced by Jason Schwartzman ) is tasked by his Postmaster General father with posting 6,000 letters in an island town by the end of the year. Struggling to do so, he turns to a toymaker, Klaus ( J.K. Simmons ), partnering to get the children of the town to send letters in exchange for gifts. Klaus is a refreshingly original story with gorgeous hand-drawn animation, becoming the first Netflix original film to earn an Oscar nomination for Best Animated Feature. — K.J.

Where to watch Klaus : Netflix

Director:  Sergio Pablos

Cast:  Jason Schwartzman , J.K. Simmons , Rashida Jones, Will Sasso, Neda Margrethe Labba, Sergio Pablos,  Norm Macdonald , Joan Cusack

Related content:   J.K. Simmons reveals he was a mall Santa before starring in Netflix's  Klaus

Love Actually (2003)

Christmas is a time for love, and, as this holiday favorite puts forth, it is all around us. An all-star cast including  Hugh Grant ,  Colin Firth , Liam Neeson ,  Keira Knightley , and Emma Thompson  portrays the wonder and the heartbreak of love at Christmastime in London. The rom-com eventually reveals how despite their very separate concerns, their lives are, in fact, interconnected in surprising ways, and no one is alone. Writer-director  Richard Curtis  has made a cottage industry out of sentimental British confections, from Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994) to Notting Hill (1999), but this may be Curtis at his most lovingly cheesy. — K.J.

Where to watch  Love Actually : Netflix

Director:  Richard Curtis

Cast:  Hugh Grant, Liam Neeson, Colin Firth,  Laura Linney , Emma Thompson, Alan Rickman , Keira Knightley, Martine McCutcheon,  Bill Nighy ,  Rowan Atkinson

Related content:  Emma Thompson says Kenneth Branagh's infidelity fueled  Love Actually performance

The Princess Switch (2018)

Inspired by Mark Twain's classic tale The Prince and the Pauper , this Netflix rom-com original stars Vanessa Hudgens in the dual roles of Chicago baker Stacy de Novo and Lady Margaret Delacourt, Duchess of Montenaro. The pair discover their identical looks at a baking competition in the Kingdom of Belgravia, and they agree to switch places for a few days to see how the other half lives. It all takes place a week before Christmas, so there's plenty of cheer in the air alongside a good old-fashioned helping of light-hearted deception. — K.J.

Where to watch  The Princess Switch : Netflix

Director:  Mike Rohl

Cast:  Vanessa Hudgens,  Sam Palladio , Nick Sagar

Related content:   Vanessa Hudgens had her first 'witchy awakening' filming  The Princess Switch  and now has a 'spirit box'

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The Best Christmas Movies on Netflix in 2022

Millennial A-listers jingle their bells on Netflix

Merry Flixmas and Happy Net Year! If you are looking for a Christmas movie to watch on Netflix, then Christmas has come early for you because our gift is this list of the best Christmas movies to watch on Netflix this December. Netflix may not have all the licensed classics, but it does have a movie in which Vanessa Hudgens plays like 14 roles, another one featuring an amnesiac Lindsay Lohan, and a silly rom-com featuring Nina Dobrev getting catfished. Hallmark has its stars, Netflix has real millennial A-listers. 

Here are the best Christmas movies to watch on Netflix in 2022. Many are new, many are Netflix originals, and a few are classics that Netflix still holds the streaming rights to. Looking for more Christmas movies? Check out our lists of the best Christmas movies and where to watch them and the best new Christmas movies for 2022 .

Falling for Christmas

Lindsay Lohan starring in a Christmas movie is really all the info you need for Netflix's Falling for Christmas . If that's not enough to entice you, then yes, she does play a spoiled heiress to her dad's Aspen resort business, and yes, she does get amnesia, and yes, she does fall for a local lodge keeper ( Chord Overstreet ). It's a primo example of not watching a holiday movie for the actual plot, but for the spectacle (or lack thereof) of it all. It is exactly what you'd expect it to be, and that's a predictably good and corny time. - Tim Surette   [ Review ]       

White Christmas

Two sisters with a song-and-dance act become involved with two singers, both professionally and romantically, and the four set out to save an inn from going out of business. This is a nice, wholesome classic Hollywood musical, if that's your thing. - Alison Picurro

A Boy Called Christmas

While most new Christmas movies lean toward being comedies, romances, or David Harbour putting on a Santa beard and violently obliterating terrorists , few try to capture that magical spirit of the holiday. The 2021 British film A Boy Called Christmas goes full-on fantasy, telling the origin story of one of Christmas' most famous figures. Plus, it features an adorable talking mouse. – Tim Surette

More holiday TV guides:

• The Ultimate Guide to Christmas Movies and Specials
• The Best Christmas Movies in 2022 and Where to Watch Them
• The Best New Christmas Movies in 2022
• Hallmark Christmas Movie Calendar 2022
• Lifetime Christmas Movie Calendar 2022

Single All the Way

Yes, it's another cheesy Christmas movie, but this one is a cheesy gay Christmas movie. Michael Urie plays Peter, a man heading home for the holidays, where his eager-to-set-him-up family awaits, so he concocts a plan to bring his best friend ( Philemon Chambers ) along to pretend he's his boyfriend. Of course his parents already have a date set up for him with a new hottie, and Peter begins to realize that his feelings for his friend may be more than platonic. Jennifer Coolidge and Kathy Najimy also star. - Tim Surette

The Princess Switch films

Christmas is all about miracles, and miracles are things that seem impossible, and it seems impossible that the corny  The Princess Switch movies were ever made, so they are, by some twisted logic, Christmas miracles. Vanessa Hudgens plays a young baker from Chicago. Vanessa Hudgens also plays the proper Lady Margaret Delacourt, the Duchess of Montenaro. Vanessa Hudgens also plays Lady Margaret's sassy cousin, Lady Fiona Penbroke. Across the three movies, Hudgens' lookalike characters switch places with each other for whatever reasons, mix romantic partners, and wear fancy gowns. While the first movie makes an attempt at earnestness, the second two — including The Princess Switch 3: Romancing the Star , in which the Hudgens Three solve the mystery of stolen jewels — are just silly, which is part of the charm. Come for the Christmas lights and fancy dresses, stay for Hudgens' accent range. - Tim Surette

Sick of the same old "hot girl meets hot guy at Christmas" rom-com and looking for something different?  Jimmy O. Yang  plays a not-traditionally-hot guy who catfishes an unlucky in love writer ( The Vampire Diaries '  Nina Dobrev ), who decides to surprise him in person for the holidays. When she finds out who he really is, he makes a deal to get her the guy he was pretending to be ( Darren Barnet ). Christmas magic ensues, and Love Hard  — named so for its big debate about whether or not Die Hard is a Christmas movie — hits all the tropes in satisfying ways while also being kinda funny. - Tim Surette

A Christmas Prince films

Netflix's first attempt at a Christmas film franchise, way back in 2017, went the Hallmark route with the story of a young reporter ( iZombie 's Rose McIver ) who travels to some fake country to cover a prince's press conference, but ends up under the covers with the prince, know what I'm sayin'? It was followed the next year by the sequel, in which the couple gets married, and, in an ominous prediction of Princess Switch movies to come, the 2019 topper on the trilogy featured the couple trying to solve the mystery of a stolen priceless royal artifact. - Tim Surette

Dolly Parton's Christmas on the Square

Christine Baranski puts up a good fight as the villain trying to destroy a holly jolly Christmastown by selling her hometown's land to a developer in this musical featuring original Dolly Parton Christmas tunes and choreography by Debbie Allen . Parton plays an angel who tries to steer Baranski's character the right way, and after many minutes of song and dance, all the problems are solved in the blink of an eye and Christmas is saved. It's incredibly campy, but is it the good kind of campy or the meh kind of campy? Spike some egg nog and find out for yourself. - Tim Surette

Christmas Inheritance

Continuing its siphoning of The CW's female leads talent pool for its Christmas movies, Netflix nabbed The 100 's Eliza Taylor to star as a big-city CEO's spoiled daughter who is sent to her hometown to embrace the Christmas spirit before she takes over the company (I think?). There, she learns about all things Christmas — family, community, kindness, yada yada — and gets roped into a love triangle when she meets a young man ( The White Lotus ' Jake Lacy ) who is definitely not her fiancé. A third movie in which she solves the mystery of missing royal jewels was never made. - Tim Surette

Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey

"No matter who you are, no matter what you do, the magic lives inside of you." If you love the magic, music, and miracles of the holiday season, then Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey has it all. This family-friendly holiday movie is about a toymaker ( Forest Whitaker ) who was betrayed by his apprentice ( Keegan-Michael Key ) and loses hope until his granddaughter comes into his life and helps him make Christmas wishes come true. - Hana LaRock

The Christmas Chronicles

Featuring Kurt Russell in a surprising role as Santa Claus, The Christmas Chronicles shows us what happens when Santa's sleigh is broken by two siblings who try to catch Santa, causing the sleigh to crash and lose all the presents with it. It's up to the siblings and Santa to save Christmas in this joyful and heartwarming holiday movie filled with a little adventure. If you're craving more, a sequel, The Christmas Chronicles 2 , was released in 2020. - Hana LaRock

Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas

The 2000 live-action film Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas is a new Christmas classic based on the popular story of the holiday's most notorious sourpuss, The Grinch. Whether you've seen it a million times already or you'll be watching it for the first time, there's nothing like it. The Grinch, played by  Jim Carrey , hates Christmas, and wants to steal it from the Whos of Whoville. But when a little girl gives him a change of heart to see the magic of Christmas, all is good in the world again... or, at least in Whoville! - Hana LaRock

An Academy Award Nominee, Klaus is a beautifully animated film that tells the story of Santa and the North Pole with a unique twist. The movie follows a postman's spoiled son named Jesper who gets sent to work in Smeerensberg, a desolate town in the North Pole with rival families and children who never get toys or even go to school, as an ultimatum to be part of the family fortune. If he can't deliver 6,000 letter in a year, he's out, so he stumbles on a way to reach his goal by having kids write letters to a reclusive woodsman named Klaus to ask for toys. You can see where this is going. - Hana LaRock

The Holiday Calendar

A young woman ( Kat Graham ) living in the same town she's lived in for her whole life and working the same dead-end job gets FOMO while seeing that her childhood best friend has been out exploring the world and meeting interesting people. But when she receives an antique advent calendar from her grandfather, she soon learns that the calendar may have some magical powers... the type of powers to make real wishes come true and maybe even predict her future. This romantic, feel-good Christmas movie is exactly what you need right now. - Hana LaRock

If you have ever been the only single one at your family's home during the holidays, you might have certain relatives putting the pressure on for you to find a partner. Sloane ( Emma Roberts ) always finds herself in this situation, as does her friend Jackson ( Luke Bracey ), so they decide to become each other's holidate, a platonic plus-one arrangement to avoid the endless questions of why they're single, and, under no circumstances, can they break the rules of being each other's holidate. But you know how these things go. - Hana LaRock

Holiday Rush

"It's not what you got. It's what you got around you," sums up this movie nicely. Based in New York -- the ideal location for any Christmas movie -- Holiday Rush follows a single father who has been able to provide a lavish lifestyle for his children due to his successful radio show. But when the studio decides to go in a different direction, he's got to make some changes, not just for himself, but for his family. With a little love, lots of family, and a lesson that will pull at your heartstrings, Holiday Rush reminds us that Christmas is about far more than material things. - Hana LaRock

Let It Snow

Based on the best-selling novel, teenagers from a small, idyllic Christmas town find their friendships and love lives overlapping, all while a snowstorm hits on Christmas Eve. It has all the love, drama, romance, and feel-good moments of a holiday film, but with a more modern take. And, it's LGBTQ-friendly! - Hana LaRock

Dash & Lily

Ah, to be young and beautiful in a fetishistically idealized New York City at Christmastime and carrying on an extended courtship with someone you've never seen in real life via notes exchanged in a secret notebook at the Strand bookstore. A thing like that could go very wrong. But by the end, Dash ( Austin Abrams ) and Lily ( Midori Francis ) have worked it out. This romantic comedy series is based on a young adult book series called  Dash & Lily's Book of   Dares.  It's going to make 14-year-olds who watch this decide they want to go to college at NYU. - Liam Mathews

The Holiday Movies That Made Us

OK, so The Holiday Movies That Made Us isn't a holiday movie, but is a show about holiday movies. The docuseries explores the holiday movies that have really stuck with us through generations, what makes them classics, and why we appreciate them. Right now, the show only has two episodes, one about Elf and another about The Nightmare Before Christmas,  but they are fascinating for people who like learning about movies as much as (or more than) actually watching them. - Hana LaRock

How-To Geek

The best christmas movies on netflix in 2022.

Spend the holidays with Netflix by watching these 10 festive favorites.

Quick Links

A boy called christmas, the christmas chronicles, christmas crossfire, eyes wide shut, let it snow, the noel diary, a very murray christmas, white christmas.

More than any other streaming service, Netflix has gone all-in on original Christmas content, including some hidden gems. Combine those with a few classic Christmas titles, and Netflix has plenty of good holiday movies worth watching. Here are the 10 best.

Related: The Complete List of iPad Tips, Tricks, and Tutorials

The early days of Santa Claus are reimagined as a fantasy epic in A Boy Called Christmas . Maggie Smith plays an eccentric aunt telling her nieces and nephew the story of Nikolas (Henry Lawfull), a boy living in long-ago Finland who goes on a quest to search for hope in a dark time. Nikolas' story combines familiar Christmas elements (elves, reindeer, presents) with a grand adventure saga, as Nikolas faces off against a sinister elf leader (Sally Hawkins).

It's a silly but entertaining new approach to a Christmas tale, making Santa into the kind of hero who could team up with Harry Potter.

It's sort of hard to believe that no one had thought of casting Kurt Russell as Santa Claus before The Christmas Chronicles . Russell plays a very cool version of St. Nick, who resents his popular portrayal as fat and doesn't like saying "ho, ho, ho." When a pair of kids spot him on Christmas Eve and hitch a ride on his sleigh, they end up damaging the various magical implements that Santa uses to deliver his presents. Santa and his inadvertent new helpers go on an overnight adventure to save Christmas, complete with a jailhouse blues jam and visits from Santa's odd, Minion-like elves.

Christmas is a dangerous and bloody time in the German dark comedy Christmas Crossfire . A hapless literature professor hooks up with an attractive, assertive young woman in a bar, and soon he's accompanying her to the small village where she grew up. When they arrive, the couple gets caught in the, well, crossfire of a group of small-time criminals, getting themselves deeper into trouble with each attempt to escape.

The violence escalates in morbidly funny ways, all while the dilapidated town puts on its meager Christmas celebration, finding bits of holiday cheer amid economic hardship.

Stanley Kubrick's psychosexual thriller Eyes Wide Shut may not seem like an obvious choice for Christmas viewing, but it's set in New York City during the holiday season, and it deals with the kind of existential doubts that plague many people at this time of year.

Most people don't go to secret underground orgies to deal with those doubts, though, as Dr. Bill Harford (Tom Cruise) does when he's consumed by thoughts of his wife (Nicole Kidman) potentially sleeping with another man. Kubrick makes these common worries into a grand, mesmerizing odyssey, lit by the lights of Christmastime.

Related: 10 Christmas Horror Movies to Watch for a Spooky Holiday

Christmas isn't the only holiday in cute romantic comedy Holidate , but it's central to the concept. Two perpetual singletons (played by Emma Roberts and Jake Lacey) decide to be each other's "holidates," after enduring unpleasant romantic pressure on Christmas. They devise a no-strings-attached plan to accompany each other on various holidays, but of course by the following Christmas they've fallen completely in love. Roberts and Lacey provide the right balance of cynicism and sentiment to make the predictable romance easy to enjoy.

Oscar-nominated animated movie Klaus comes up with a new kind of origin story for Santa Claus. Here, Klaus (voiced by J.K. Simmons) is a reclusive hermit who lives outside a remote island town. The town's reluctant new postmaster (voiced by Jason Schwartzman) recruits Klaus as part of a scheme to increase mail delivery, getting children to write letters requesting toys that Klaus will hand-craft and deliver.

The movie is full of gorgeous, painterly visuals, along with oddball characters populating the town, where an ancient feud between two clans is about to be undone by the spirit of Christmas.

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A variety of teen romances play out over Christmas Eve in the likable Let It Snow , a throwback of sorts to the ensemble teen comedies of the 1980s and '90s, with a Christmas twist. In the snowy, sleepy small town of Laurel, Illinois, attractive teenagers couple up, break up, make up, and party down, as the local diner turns into a holiday hot spot.

The engaging cast includes Kiernan Shipka, Isabela Merced, Liv Hewson, Odeya Rush, Shameik Moore, and Jacob Batalon, plus Joan Cusack as the mysterious, tinfoil-wearing tow-truck driver who dispenses surprisingly useful advice to the lovestruck teens.

Veteran Hollywood director Charles Shyer brings added sophistication to Netflix original Christmas romance The Noel Diary . There's still the requisite love story between two lonely people during the holidays, but novelist Jake (Justin Hartley) and the stranger who shows up at his late mother's house have deeper issues to process than just their feelings for each other.

Jake and Rachel (Barrett Doss) take a road trip for him to connect with his estranged father and her to learn about her biological mother, and the movie finds heartfelt emotion amid the standard romantic developments.

More of a vibe than a movie, A Very Murray Christmas is Bill Murray's take on the classic Christmas special, directed by filmmaker Sofia Coppola and featuring an eclectic lineup of celebrity guest stars. Murray plays himself, snowed in at a New York City hotel where he's supposed to be broadcasting a Christmas special. With the broadcast eventually canceled, he schmoozes with hotel guests, sings some songs, and gets drunk.

The story coasts on Murray's endearing laid-back presence, along with appearances from Chris Rock, George Clooney, Miley Cyrus, Maya Rudolph, and many more.

It's still primarily known for its beloved title song, but there's more to White Christmas than just the tune written by Irving Berlin. The amiable musical stars Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye as a pair of Army buddies who team up as nightclub performers after World War II. They fall for a pair of female singers (played by Rosemary Clooney and Vera-Ellen), and all four spend Christmas at a picturesque Vermont inn, where they put on a show to attract guests to the snowbound getaway. Various misunderstandings ensue, but romance and Christmas generosity prevail in the end, of course.

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The best Christmas movies on Netflix right now

There’s no such thing as too many Christmas movies — and Netflix is teeming with choices.

Remember when finding a great Christmas movie was as simple as turning on cable and committing to three hours and a bunch of commercials? Now, with so many streaming platforms (including the entire Hallmark movie catalog streaming ), it can be tough to know where to start your movie search.

Thankfully, with a stellar collection of romantic comedies, fantasy movies, Christmas action flicks, and family-friendly choices for kids and adults, Netflix is an optimal go-to destination.

Ahead, we’ve rounded up the best Christmas movies on Netflix, from new, original films released in 2022 to holiday movie classics dating back to 1954. Light a fire (or a scented candle ) and gather around ye olde TV screen. (P.S. Need more holiday movie inspiration? Check out the best Christmas movies to watch on Hulu .) 

“Best. Christmas. Ever!” (2023)

Brandy plays a woman whose life appears to be perfect, but old college pal (Heather Graham) isn’t buying it, so she is set on proving that it’s really a sham and drags her family to see her to expose the truth during Christmas in this comedy. Jason Biggs and Matt Cedeño also star. The movie is available to stream beginning Nov. 16.

“Family Switch” (2023)

Parents (Jennifer Garner and Ed Helms) of teens swap bodies with their kids in the days before Christmas. Chaos and comedy ensue in this latest take on the body swapping genre. The film will be available Nov. 30.

“I Believe in Santa” (2022)

Tom and Lisa have been happily dating for a few months, but thinks take a turn for the comedic when she learns he still believes in Santa Claus and is obsessed with Christmas, a holiday she happens to hate. John Ducey and Christina Moore star.

“Holiday in the Wild” (2019)

A woman (Kristin Davis) who planned a second honeymoon with her husband winds up alone in Africa after he announces he’s leaving her. When her pilot (Rob Lowe) on a tour helps a wounded elephant, she decides to lend a hand, too, and stick around during Christmas, where sparks fly.

' Dolly Parton’s Christmas on the Square' (2020)

"Dolly Parton’s Christmas on the Square’ helps prove that America’s beloved country icon might very well be the queen of Christmas movies, too,” Matt Davis, creator of Shall I Stream It?, a YouTube channel and website devoted to streaming service reviews and news, tells TODAY.com.

As Davis notes, this Emmy-winning film will pull at your heartstrings and leave you tapping along to catchy Christmas tunes. "It follows a Scrooge-like woman (played by Christine Baranski) as she returns to her hometown so she can evict the residents and sell the land. She’s visited by an Angel (played by Dolly Parton) who helps her rediscover her holiday cheer," he says.

'Klaus' (2019)

Even if you say you've seen every Santa Claus movie around, you haven't seen one like Klaus. This animated film presents an alternate origin story for the mythological symbol of the Christmas spirit. It involves a remote Northern town split by vitriol, a post office outpost and a woodsman who builds toys.

'The Christmas Chronicles' (2018)

Kurt Russell plays a rock 'n roll version of Santa Claus in this Netflix movie series about two regular kids who end up catching Santa on camera. Later installments star Russell's real-life wife Goldie Hawn as Mrs. Claus.

'Elf ' (2003)

Josh Tyler, CEO of TV, movies, and culture website Giant Freakin Robot and certified RottenTomatoes.com critic, calls this Christmas comedy an all-time classic.

The movie follows Buddy (Will Ferrell), a human raised as one of Santa’s elves after getting transported to the North Pole as an infant by accident. As a misfit in his adulthood, he decides to go to New York in search of his father to reconnect with him.

“It is silly in more ways than one, but Buddy’s exciting and lighthearted journey captures the holiday spirit every family needs. It’s a great watch if you want to tap into its nostalgic vibes while laughing your heart out,” adds Tyler.

' The Princess Switch’ (2018)

Ready for an unabashedly silly rom-com? Try this Netflix movie starring Vanessa Hudgens, Sam Palladio and Nick Sagar. The movie — and all its many sequels — see Hudgens playing a Chicago baker and her lookalike princess. In the first installment, the two women switch lives and end up falling for men in each.

' The Princess Switch: Switched Again’ (2020)

Loved “The Princess Switch?” Tune into the 2020 Netflix movie sequel with the same stars. This time, the plot revolves around a Christmas coronation, her doppelgänger, and a third look-alike who stirs up drama as she tries to take over the throne. 

‘White Christmas’ (1954)

Talk about an all-time classic. “The 1954 Christmas musical starring Bing Crosby is available to stream right now on Netflix,” shares Davis. “The movie follows a traveling group of musicians who decide to help a struggling inn boost its business by putting on a Christmas show.” Expect holiday songs and that old school movie magic in this flick, directed by "Casablanca's" Michael Curtiz.

' A Bad Mom’s Christmas’ (2017)

Yuletide hijinks abounds in this raunchy movie starring Mila Kunis, Kristen Bell, Kathryn Hahn, Cheryl Hines, Christine Baranski and Susan Sarandon. It all starts when some moms head to the mall to complain about the holidays. What happens next? Click play and see all the exciting action unfold before your eyes. Get ready to laugh.

'A Boy Called Christmas' (2021) 

This Christmas fantasy film is a story about Nikolas, an ordinary young boy who goes on an adventure to the North Pole to look for his father. “It’s a magical journey that, while not original in terms of plot, won me over with pleasant surprises and the big-hearted holiday spirit perfect at this time of the year,” Tyler says.

'T he Noel Diary’ (2022)  

In this Netflix romance, a wildly popular author comes home for Christmas to deal with his estranged mother’s estate. During that process he discovers a diary, and, well, you better tune in to find out what happens. Bonus: Justin Hartley , Bonnie Bedelia, and Barrett Doss are a joy to watch perform at the helm of this cast.

‘Falling for Christmas’ (2022)  

Another newcomer for 2022, this Netflix movie stars Lindsay Lohan , Chord Overstreet and George Young. The plot revolves around a newly engaged heiress who gets into a skiing accident. After that, she comes down with amnesia and somehow finds herself being watched over by a handsome lodge owner and his daughter.

'Holidate ' (2020)

A delightful film starring Emma Roberts, Luke Bracey, and Kristin Chenoweth, the rom-com tells the story of two people who are single over the holiday season who decide to be each other’s plus-ones.  

‘Operation Christmas Drop’ (2020)

Kat Graham, Alexander Ludwig, and Trezzo Mahoro lead the family-friendly rom-com that chronicles the tale of a congressional aide who leaves her family celebrations behind over Christmas to travel for work.

'Single All the Way’ (2021)  

This queer holiday rom-com is about a man who convinces a friend to pretend they're dating so his family stops trying to set hit up. Davis gives this movie two thumbs up since it’s a cheesy bit of light-hearted holiday fun that presents familiar tropes but with gay characters. “And there’s a memorable performance from Jennifer Coolidge in the supporting cast," he says. The movie also stars Michael Urie, Philemon Chambers and Kathy Najimy. 

‘Christmas With You’ (2022)  

A pop star (Aimee Garcia) makes a fan’s wish to meet her come true in this rom-com, also starring Freddie Prinze Jr. It wouldn’t be a rom-com without an adorable love story coming to shape, so you might want to grab the tissues, too.  

‘A Christmas Prince’ (2017)

This is the first of an oft-live tweeted Netflix movie series about the unexpected love between an American magazine journalist (Rose McIver) and a prince (Ben Lamb) from the small, fictional European country of Aldovia. For the ultimate binge, put on "A Christmas Prince: The Royal Wedding" (2018) and "A Christmas Prince: The Royal Baby" (2019) next.

‘Scrooge: A Christmas Carol’ (2022)  

Get ready to welcome Scrooge to your television screen this holiday season with a fabulous Netflix film, bah humbug! This kids’ musical tells the story of miser Ebenezer Scrooge who is confronted by the decisions he’s made on Christmas Eve.

' Let It Snow’ (2019)

Davis is a fan of this YA book-turned-Christmas movie starring Isabela Merced, Shameik Moore and Odeya Rush. “The movie is about a group of teenagers who are brought together when a snowstorm hits their town on Christmas Eve. There’s an interlocking set of stories about love and friendship during the holidays,” says Davis. “It’s a quaint coming-of-age story that is sure to make you chuckle.”

‘The Knight Before Christmas’ (2019)  

You’re in for a treat with this Christmas fantasy Netflix film starring Vanessa Hudgens, Josh Whitehouse, and Emmanuelle Chriqui. The plot — as the title implies — involves a knight. Specifically, a knight from hundreds of years ago who is teleported to modern times and meets a captivating teacher when sparks start to fly. 

‘Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey’ (2020)

The cast of this movie is compelling enough to press play: It stars Forest Whitaker, Madalen Mills, Keegan-Michael Key, Hugh Bonneville, Anika Noni Rose, Phylicia Rashad, Lisa Davina Phillip, and Ricky Martin (yes, the singer). Kids and kids at heart will adore this musical adventure that’s a Netflix film people are sure to re-watch year after year. The movie takes a deep dive into the life of a famous toymaker who has his most prized toy stolen by his apprentice. Will his granddaughter save the day?

‘A New York Christmas Wedding’ (2020)

Christmas. Weddings. New York. We repeat: Christmas. Weddings. New York. This movie combines the best of three magical words, and throws in plenty of drama and romance along the way. Starring Chris Noth, Nia Fairweather, and Chris Trousdale, if you haven’t seen this already, you’ll definitely want to watch pronto. 

‘Love Hard’ (2021)

“Love Hard” is a Christmas rom-com about a woman (Nina Dobrev) who travels to her online crush’s hometown for the holidays in a surprise visit, only to find out she's been catfished by a local (Jimmy O. Yang) using his friend's photos. He tries to make things right by setting her up with his photogenic friend. Think of "Love Hard" as an edgy Cyrano de Bergerac retelling set over the holiday season.

Perri is a New York City-born-and-based writer. She holds a B.A. in psychology from Columbia University and is also a culinary school graduate of the Natural Gourmet Institute. She's probably seen Dave Matthews Band in your hometown, and she'll never turn down a bloody mary. Follow her on Twitter  @66PerriStreet  or learn more at  VeganWhenSober.com

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Every year as we turn back our clocks and woodsmoke fills the crisp air, Christmas movies begin to fill the airwaves. While Hallmark started their barrage of cinematic holiday treats as early as October this year, Netflix waited until November to begin their annual slate of romantic snow-filled sleigh rides. Leading the way is “Falling for Christmas,” featuring the return of Lindsay Lohan in her first lead role since Paul Schrader ’s “ The Canyons ” nearly a decade ago.

The directorial debut of co-writer Janeen Damian , whose filmography includes writing and producing a half-dozen holiday films, is generic, yet charming, following the well-worn template of a city girl finding love and simpler life in the country. 

Like a tinsel-covered twist on “Overboard,” Lohan plays a hotel heiress named Sierra Belmont who finds herself in just this kind of situation. Offered the position of “Vice President of Atmosphere” at her father’s exclusive ski chalet, she’s there a week before Christmas to let him know she doesn’t think the position is the right fit for her, even though she doesn’t know what else she should be doing with her life instead. All she knows is she wants to be known for more than her father’s last name. 

Decked out in gorgeous monocolor ensembles designed by Emerson Alvarez, like the daring red jumpsuit featured on the poster and a fuchsia snowsuit, Lohan embodies this character like a softer version of Sigourney Weaver ’s character in “ Working Girl .” She’s good-natured, but she does bark orders like someone whose privilege comes second nature. Lohan is at her best in this half of the film, which allows her natural comedic chops to shine. 

On her way to meet her vapid social media influencer boyfriend Tad ( George Young ), Sierra meets cute with Jake ( Chord Overstreet ), the owner of a much smaller, struggling resort on the same mountain. He runs into her while holding a cup of hot cocoa given to him after Sierra’s father Beauregard ( Jack Wagner ) declines to invest in his business. Lohan screeching “My Valenyagi” over and over after a dollop of whipped cream finds its way onto her lapel is pure camp. 

This unlikely duo, of course, meet again after a disastrous off-the-grid engagement photo shoot ends with Sierra and Tad toppling down a remote mountain. While taking tourists on an idyllic sleigh ride, Jake finds the now amnesiac Sierra, head-based into a tree, while Tad finds himself spending four days with a survivalist named Ralph ( Sean J. Dillingham ). 

All this is established with a breakneck screwball pace in the first ten minutes, with Lohan more than capable of maintaining the prescribed rat-a-tat dialogue needed to pull off the tone. She even goes all in on a few slapstick moments that don’t quite work but add a nice wackiness that balances out some of the film’s more saccharine tendencies. As Tad, Young is absolutely hilarious, spewing out absurd lines with the utmost sincerity, which couple nicely with the broad comedy his self-obsessed character demands. If only the film had kept this zany style throughout, it could have transcended its trappings to become a new classic. 

The film clearly knows Christmas movies past, with homages to films like “Christmas In Connecticut” and “It’s A Wonderful Life” peppered throughout. However, unlike those classics, “Falling For Christmas”’s romance plot is woefully uninteresting. Jake’s a widower, whose overly precocious daughter Avy ( Olivia Perez ) has made a wish that Jake find love. A mischievous-looking Santa selling roasted chestnuts appear to magically bring Sierra—in her amnesiac state called Sarah—into Jake’s life. As he teaches her that there is “something special about simple things,” she helps him open up to love again. Cue the syrupy music. 

This would all be fine if “Glee” alum Overstreet’s Jake had any kind of pizzazz. Lohan is game, clearly having a blast surrounded by all the holly and ivy and whimsical Christmas magic. Yet, Overstreet is stuck as a bland “nice” guy with all his edges neatly sanded off. His supposed long-standing grief over his deceased wife barely registers beyond a shallow glint in his eyes. Even Chase Ramsey in a few brief scenes as Sierra’s new assistant Terry has more chemistry with Lohan than her leading man. 

Still, Overstreet’s drabness aside, there is a warmth to this film that's hard to resist. While veritable Christmas classics are like antique glass ornaments passed down from generation to generation and placed every year with care on the family tree, the television Christmas movie complex tends to pump out movies that are more like disposable tissue paper, good for one use only. “Falling For Christmas” lands somewhere in the middle of this scale. It’s more like a reusable ribbon bow. It's not great. It's nothing special. But you can keep it year after year and place it on presents as long as you have scotch tape—or Lohan’s irrepressible charm—to hold it together.  

And as far as those kinds of semi-disposable holiday films go, Netflix has been producing some of the better ones. Films like Mary Lambert's Scotland-set “A Castle For Christmas” starring Brooke Shields and Cary Elwes , which, per the Netflix Christmas Universe rule that states a movie from the previous year is featured on a TV screen in the latest installment, is shown briefly when Sierra first wakes up in Jake’s resort. Both films are elevated by the star power of their leads and their directors’ clear love of Christmas traditions and aesthetics.

Fans of Lohan or/and breezy holiday films will surely find something to love here, but those whose tolerance for this kind of treacle is low at best should probably sit this one out. 

On Netflix today.

Marya E. Gates

Marya E. Gates is a freelance film and culture writer based in Los Angeles and Chicago. She studied Comparative Literature at U.C. Berkeley, and also has an overpriced and underused MFA in Film Production. Other bylines include Moviefone, The Playlist, Crooked Marquee, Nerdist, and Vulture. 

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Film credits.

Falling for Christmas (2022)

Lindsay Lohan as Sierra Belmont

Chord Overstreet as Jake

George Young as Tad

Jack Wagner as Beauregard Belmont

Olivia Perez as Avy

Chase Ramsey as Terry Carver

Sean J. Dillingham as Ralph

• Janeen Damian

Writer (story by)

• Jeff Bonnett

Cinematographer

• Graham Robbins
• Kristi Shimek
• Nathan Lanier

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‘Best. Christmas. Ever!’ Review: Heather Graham and Brandy Norwood’s Netflix-mas Movie Is Bubbly, Bright and Bonkers

An annual family newsletter leads two estranged friends to reunite for Christmas festivities in Mary Lambert's delightfully kooky and commendable entry in the streamer’s Holiday Cinematic Universe.

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Director Mary Lambert delivers yuletide warmth and heartfelt cheer to Netflix subscribers with “ Best. Christmas. Ever! ” The story centered on two women rediscovering their strength and sparkle by mending their fractured friendship finds the correct balance of cynical and saccharine without upsetting the scale. The streamer’s practically patented brand of holiday hijinks is amped up to a ridiculous degree as the hyperbolic title would suggest. Even so, its absurdist lunacy acts as a Trojan Horse containing genuinely meaningful sentiments on forgiveness, happiness and bittersweet sorrows — universalities people tend to reflect on as their year comes to a close.

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Lambert and screenwriters Todd Calgi Gallicano and Charles Shyer turn in a multi-faceted tale that blessedly never devolves into a one-dimensional story about two competitive, smart women sniping at each other while their clueless families watch from the sidelines. Their portrayal of a strained female friendship is full of complexities, channeling heartrending messages about compassion and selflessness while simultaneously being light-hearted and slap-happy. Graham and Norwood handle the comedic and dramatic tonal fluctuations with grace and nuance, nimbly landing both punchlines and emotional gut-punches.

The filmmakers adeptly weave together themes of belief, from Charlotte’s transformative arc dealing with her skepticism to the kids’ quest to discover if Santa is real. Rob pointing out early on that Charlotte’s unhealthy fixation is hurtful leaves enough time for the character to inevitably develop this realization on her own and demonstrate change. Though Jackie is hiding a big secret (one that’s glaringly obvious to the audience) until the third act, she’s allotted some space to mend her ways for everyone’s betterment.

Occasionally, when the picture breaks free from servicing its thematic aspects, it ascends to much welcomed camp that gets nuttier than a fruitcake. Charlotte breaks the fourth wall solely at the start of our journey and then never again. The needle drop of “Oh Holy Night” during Valentino’s introduction gloriously underscores the female gaze as the camera pans over his muscular figure bathed in morning sunlight. An omission by Rob about his part in Jackie’s newsletter fiasco is treated with the same weight as if adultery occurred — yet the betrayal, though still a reckoning for Charlotte, isn’t nearly as big of a marriage killer.

Grant and Beatrix’s attempts to disprove Santa’s existence take admirably big swings, leading to a funny “Elf”-esque sequence where Grant unmasks Santa in front of an entire town. If this evokes questions from little ones watching at home, parents are on their own. Later on, the climatic sequence involving a solar-charged hot air balloon, its rickety ladder, a flimsy outdoor sleigh decoration and Charlotte — a college graduate with an engineering degree – serves to test the audience’s suspension of disbelief. It’s indeed laughable, but by then we’re already besotted with the movie’s abject lunacy.

Perhaps the greatest gift of all is that “Best. Christmas. Ever!” not only ties into the Netflix Holiday Cinematic Universe (as characters are seen watching “Falling for Christmas” and “The Princess Switch 3” on TV), but also enhances it by providing a solid new entry filled with charm and sweetness. With Norwood singing a few Christmas standards and Graham performing rom-com-inspired pratfalls, the film provides a hearty dose of festive joy to those who click play.

Reviewed on Netflix, Nov. 13, 2023. Running time: 80 MIN.

• Production: A Netflix release, in association with Motion Picture Corporation of America, Brad Krevoy Prods. Producer: Brad Krevoy. Executive producers: Amanda Phillips, Charles Shyer, Jimmy Townsend, Todd Calgi Gallicano, David Wulf, Steve Berman, Bryan Bordon.
• Crew: Director: Mary Lambert. Screenplay: Todd Calgi Gallicano, Charles Shyer. Camera: Graham Robbins. Editor: Jeffrey Wolf. Music: Jeff Rona.
• With: Heather Graham, Brandy Norwood, Matt Cedeño, Jason Biggs, Wyatt Hunt, Abby Villasmil, Madison Skye Validum.

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For several years now Netflix has joined the Christmas-movie programming craze and 2021 is no exception. With a slew of original movies, shows, and international options, Netflix has positioned itself in a great spot this holiday season. In fact, Netflix has already released 8 of its slated 10 original Christmas movies for 2021 as of the second week of December!

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Unfortunately, not all festive flicks can be Christmas classics and Netflix subscribers have flocked to Rotten Tomatoes eager to give their opinions and rate this year's Christmas content. From family dramas to romcoms and even children's animated movies, Netflix left no stone unturned this year. But were all of these Christmas movies a success according to viewers?

Father Christmas Is Back - 9%

One of Netflix's first Christmas movies of the season was  Father Christmas Is Back.  The movie follows four sisters who have agreed to spend Christmas together at their Yorkshire mansion. However, when their estranged father joins the reunion, chaos ensues as long-kept secrets are unraveled.

Despite having an impressive and talented cast, Father Christmas Is Back  was not the hit Netflix hoped it would be. Many viewers criticized its lack of plot and sub-par humor which means it's earned a low score on Rotten Tomatoes.

David And The Elves - 10%

Netflix's most recent Christmas release is  David and the Elves,  a Christmas movie the whole family can enjoy together. After his parents move to a big city and forget the true meaning of Christmas, David connects with Albert, an elf, who promises to help him reclaim the magic of the holiday. The two set out through the Tatra mountains to track down David's grandparents.

Since  David and the Elves  just hit Netflix, its Rotten Tomatoes score is lower than it might be in the coming weeks. However, the few reviews that are available say that the movie is cute but not all that original. Who knows, maybe it'll become the next underrated Christmas movie .

The Princess Switch 3: Romancing The Star - 45%

After the success of the first two  The Princess Switch  movies, Netflix once again asked Vanessa Hudgens to reprise her role as Margaret, Stacy, and Fiona. This time the trio must team up to reclaim a priceless Christmas relic that was stolen from the castle.

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While the first film was an instant hit, the third installment hasn't been as successful. Many fans felt the heist nature of the story to be an odd choice, not at all Christmas-y, and poorly executed compared to other heist movies.

Single All The Way - 72%

Single All The Way   is Netflix's first-ever  LGBTQ+ Christmas rom-com movie and it does not disappoint. After discovering his boyfriend is married, Peter decides to bring his best friend Nick home for the holidays with the hopes of him pretending to be his boyfriend. While Peter's plan doesn't go smoothly, it does end in a fairytale happily ever after moment perfect for rom-com fans.

Since  Single All The Way  has only been out for a few days, its rating isn't as high as some fans might hope. Still, those who have seen it praise its feel-good Christmas nature and for the story's ability to be LGBTQ+ focussed without having to be centered around a coming-out story.

A Castle For Christmas - 75%

A Castle For Christmas   can best be described as a Hallmark/Lifetime movie that found a home on Netflix. After her last book release ends in a scandal, Sophie decides to spend the holidays in Scotland away from the backlash. While there, she falls in love with the castle she's staying in as well as beginning an enemy-to-lovers relationship with the stubborn Duke who owns it.

This movie has so far divided critics and fans , with the former rating it higher than many Netflix subscribers. While there are plenty of cliches and questionable Scottish accents abound, the film is a heart-warming feel-good flick for viewers wanting to get into the Christmas spirit.

Robin Robin - 83%

Robin Robin  is one of two Netflix animated Christmas specials of the year and it did not disappoint viewers. After she fell out of her nest as an egg, Robin the Robin is raised by a family of mice. As she gets older and begins to realize she's different, Robin sets out to prove that she belongs in her mouse family by becoming the best mouse ever.

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Fans of the short praised it for its heartwarming and uplighting story as well as its beautiful animation. While the story might not be completely original, it definitely makes up for it in other ways.

A Boy Called Christmas - 85%

Released at the end of November,  A Boy Called Christmas  centers on Nikolas, a young boy who leaves home to track down his father who is on a mission to find Elfhelm, a village of elves. Alongside him are his trusty reindeer and pet mouse who help him navigate the adventure before he meets The Truth Pixie.

A Boy Named Christmas  is another Netflix Christmas movie where subscribers and critics can't seem to agree on whether or not it is any good. While a great watch for the whole family, many found the story to be unoriginal.

Love Hard - 93%

Love Hard   centers on Natalie, a bad-at-love journalist who turns to dating apps to find love. After matching with her potential soulmate, Natalie decides to surprise him and show up on his doorstep for the holidays. Her surprise backfires, however, when Natalie learns she has been catfished.

While many fans had issues with the catfishing plot points in the movie, especially when Natalie in turn catfishes Tag, the movie still managed to win over viewers' hearts. It's not without its flaws, but  Love Hard  ends with a heartfelt message and an adorable love story, as Josh turns out to be the better boyfriend after all.

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‘Best. Christmas. Ever!’ Review: Frenemies Rejoice

Heather Graham and Brandy play old friends who have a surprise reunion.

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By Claire Shaffer

Holiday cheer stokes an old source of envy in “Best. Christmas. Ever!,” the latest Netflix holiday film from the director Mary Lambert (“Under the Cherry Moon,” “Pet Sematary”).

Heather Graham stars as Charlotte Sanders, whose pleasantly normal suburban life is interrupted every December when her old frenemy Jackie Jennings (Brandy) sends out a diner-menu-size holiday newsletter boasting of her and her family’s latest accomplishments. When a misunderstanding leads the Sanders family to end up on the Jennings family doorstep just before Christmas, Charlotte is forced to spend the holiday in close quarters with her rival — and she uses that time searching for evidence that Jackie’s seemingly perfect life is all a sham.

At barely 80 minutes (and ending with a musical number from Brandy), “Best. Christmas. Ever!” resembles a television holiday special more than a feature film, and its plot follows the predictable Christmastime themes of love, acceptance, and being thankful for what you’ve got. Jackie’s sizable McMansion abode, where most of the action takes place, exists in the Home Depot ad version of American suburbia: cozy yet indistinguishable, decked out in holly wreaths and reindeer-shaped lights.

Jason Biggs and Matt Cedeño turn in ho-hum performances as Charlotte and Jackie’s husbands, but the focus remains on two women burying the hatchet on old grudges. As one might expect, there’s some Christmas magic involved and, a bit more surprisingly, a hot-air balloon as well.

Best. Christmas. Ever! Not rated. Running time: 1 hour 20 minutes. Watch on Netflix .

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We rate Netflix’s 2022 Christmas movies

And you thought I wasn’t getting you anything for Christmas. Here’s my tinsel-bedecked gift to you: I watched four new Netflix holiday rom-coms (well, one of them is only rom-com-adjacent, but there’s kissing under the mistletoe so it counts) — so you don’t have to. The rating scale: one to five Christmas lights. Merry merry!

“Falling for Christmas”

The premise : A spoiled hotel heiress named Sierra (Lindsay Lohan) gets amnesia after falling from a mountaintop during a photo shoot, as one does. She is taken in by the handsome owner (Chord Overstreet) of a rustic mountain lodge, a kind widower named Jake whose hair has the sort of precise blond highlights not usually found in rustic settings. While there, she learns to do household chores, plans a fundraiser, discovers bacon and becomes a better person. (Bacon makes all of us better people, right?)

The setting : The fictional mountain town of Summit Springs, which is large enough to hold Sierra’s father’s lavish resort, Jake’s lodge and a lot of charmingly ruddy-cheeked people. Apparently there’s some sort of magic wall between the resort and the lodge, as absolutely nobody recognizes Sierra — who seems rather easy to spot, as she looks like Lindsay Lohan? — as she trots around town with Jake and his daughter for a seemingly endless period of time. Anyway, it’s all very prettily snow-dusted.

The naughty : Nothing about this movie makes any sense at all, including the fact that Jake’s young motherless daughter never, ever stops smiling, to the extent that I wondered if maybe Taylor Swift was standing just outside of camera range.

The nice : I appreciate that “Falling for Christmas” has a wee bit of a sense of humor about itself, in that the characters watch Netflix Christmas movies (we glimpse a few seconds of “A Castle for Christmas,” and in case anyone’s wondering since my Netflix roundup last year , I still have not yet gotten around to buying a Scottish castle). And Lohan’s character at one point warbles a bit of “Jingle Bell Rock.” Of course the latter just made me want to hit pause and go watch “Mean Girls” again, but I stuck it out.

The décor : The halls are so thoroughly and relentlessly decked in Jake’s homey lodge that at first I thought it was a Christmas store having a closeout sale. No wonder they’re going broke. Sierra’s room even has a wee Christmas tree on the back of the toilet, which seems … risky?

“The Noel Diary”

The premise: Jake (Justin Hartley), bestselling author of romantic espionage novels, returns home to his upstate town to clear out his late mother’s house. While there, he meets Rachel (Barrett Doss), who’s seeking to unlock some secrets to her past, and together they uncover a vast government conspiracy involving extraterrestrials posing as tax auditors with the Internal Revenue Service … naah, I’m just kidding, this is a Netflix Christmas movie. They fall in love. You knew that.

The setting : There’s an obligatory road trip here — those wishing to Unlock Secrets In Their Past usually need to go somewhere to do that — and so we get quite a few settings, the most notable of which are the absolutely stunning remote “cabin” (i.e. mansion) owned by Jake’s estranged dad, who is apparently secretly wealthy and I would like to know more about this, and a few very Christmas-decorated bed-and-breakfast inns, one of which seems to be trying to set a world record for the most number of candles lit simultaneously. (Isn’t that a bit dangerous?)

The naughty : Not only are both Jake and Rachel very dull, they are also apparently superhuman, because they spend the night (quite chastely) in an unheated car during a snowy night and emerge looking utterly fabulous. (Jake then, I must share, leaves Rachel to freeze in the car so that he can confront his father man-to-man, and he and Dad trim a tree and mend fences and reluctantly bond and listen to “I’ll Be Home For Christmas” for all of eternity and she is STILL in the car and I got worried. Rest assured, she’s fine.) Jake and Rachel also watch an entire screening of “It’s A Wonderful Life” sitting outdoors in the snow at a small-town Christmas pageant — is that a thing? — and Jake proves himself capable of making out with Rachel while somehow still holding a chocolate cake with a lit birthday candle.

The nice : Bonnie Bedelia (remember Bonnie Bedelia? From “Presumed Innocent”?) is charming as Ellie, Jake’s mom’s next-door neighbor, who gets to have a sweet little romance herself. (Not with Jake; with some nice older gent with a fancy car. You go, Ellie.)

The décor : Other than the aforementioned candles, this movie is for the most part sadly bereft of holiday decorations. Plenty of well-behaved snow, though — the kind that falls constantly yet never adds up to more than a picturesque dusting. It’s the snow equivalent of movie-star stubble.

“Christmas With You”

The premise : New York pop star Angelina (Aimee Garcia), struggling to figure out her next holiday hit song, heads out of the city to meet with a young fan — and ends up falling for the fan’s handsome single dad Miguel (Freddie Prinze Jr.) and learning that “just having an image isn’t like having a life.”

The setting : Though we see a bit of Manhattan at the beginning and end (and of Angelina’s palatial apartment, where she wanders around chomping on enormous celery sticks), most of the film takes place in an unnamed town two hours away, where Miguel lives with his daughter Cristina and his mother, and where Angelina and her assistant Monique find themselves briefly snowed in. But what luck! Miguel is a music teacher, and Angelina is in need of a song! (Query: Why is Angelina flailing around trying to write a Christmas song when we are told right there in the movie that Christmas is just a few weeks away? Does the music business really work that fast?)

The naughty : Upon watching my third Netflix Christmas movie in a row that features a dead mother (actually two of them here: Angelina’s mother and Miguel’s late wife/Cristina’s mother), I have to ask — really, Netflix, aren’t there any cheerier themes you could explore?

The nice : Everyone in this movie is thoroughly, aggressively, absolutely flat-out nice (except maybe the music exec who thinks Angelina is old and not “relevant”). And while all this relentless niceness makes for a fairly slow 90 minutes, there’s no denying that Prinze in his dadly half-zip sweaters and Garcia in her pop-star athleisure-wear are fairly adorable. The latter gets bonus points for sweetly selling the line, “I’m a recording artist; I’m not a space alien.”

The décor : Some nicely festive shots of a holiday-bedecked Manhattan open the film, but mostly we have to get our Christmas kicks from Miguel and Cristina’s house, which is wildly and wonderfully overdecorated right down to matching red plaid shirts and jeans on the entire extended family on Christmas Day.

“Christmas on Mistletoe Farm”

The premise: In this family-friendly comedy, a stressed-out London widower named Matt (Scott Garnham) unexpectedly inherits a farm in rural England and moves there with his vast multitudes of young children — OK, five, but it kind of seems like more — because he thinks there will be “peace and quiet” there. (Matt has apparently not figured out that a man with five young piping-voiced children will not have peace and quiet for many years.) In the country, he and the kids learn the joys of rural life, which involves many cute animals and a lot of relentlessly cheery villagers.

The setting : Think “All Creatures Great and Small,” but make it present-day and add a lot of mistletoe.

The naughty : OK, Netflix. I am going to need a word. Who is the Scrooge who decided that “dead mother” was this year’s holiday theme? Couldn’t you have just let Matt’s unfortunate wife run off somewhere — maybe start a new life in Florida with her yoga instructor or something?

The nice : Despite the above, I am unable to be mad at this movie, because it contains scenes of baby goats wearing Christmas sweaters. I repeat: baby goats wearing Christmas sweaters . Though “Christmas at Mistletoe Farm” follows an absolutely predictable arc, as Netflix holiday movies are apparently required by law to do, it’s nonetheless rather lovable as it has a sense of humor about itself. Kids will enjoy the animal antics; grown-ups will find plenty at which to giggle. (I quite liked the local fellow who runs the amateur theatrical troupe and keeps reminding everyone that he was once in “The Mousetrap,” to groans.)

The décor : Not a ton of holiday decorations on display — Matt is too depressed to deck the halls — but the array of brighter-than-brightly hued sweaters, knit caps and scarves worn by everyone in the cast is remarkably cheering. You can probably see this town from space.

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The opinions expressed in reader comments are those of the author only and do not reflect the opinions of The Seattle Times.

Review: 'IF' isn't a perfect movie, but it's a great family night out

By john clyde for ksl.com | posted - may 17, 2024 at 4:16 p.m., cailey fleming and the voice of steve carell appear in the movie, "if," about imaginary friends. (paramount pictures).

Estimated read time: 5-6 minutes

The concept of an imaginary friend always intrigued me as a kid. Someone you could have by your side all the time. Someone who would always have your back and keep you company. But my brain could never quite conjure up that friend. My imagination was fine — overactive if anything — but my ADHD was the problem.

I could not stop to think long enough to create a friend. When I tried, I got so hyper-focused on it that I got caught up in the minutia of this friend — his backstory, why he's here and what his goals and aspirations are — and I just couldn't make the friend happen.

Fast-forward a few decades and I am now a grown man, pretending to be an adult with his own kids, and watching a movie about imaginary friends.

" IF " is written and directed by John Krasinski and stars Ryan Reynolds and a slew of voice talent, including Steve Carell , Emily Blunt , George Clooney and Maya Rudolph .

The family movie is inventive, heartwarming and funny, but lacks a certain magic. Here are some reasons "IF" is a great friend of family movie night and a couple of reasons it's not your best friend.

The not-so-good

The payoffs are lacking.

Let's start with the not-so-great. "IF" sets up several characters who we find ourselves heading toward some much-needed payoffs with them. But when all is said and done, those payoffs feel lackluster. I wouldn't say lackluster for every character, but for several the payoff felt like an afterthought.

We get to like some of these characters and care about how their story plays out. But many of them get ample screen time and then vanish for a chunk of the movie, just to pop up again and wrap up their portion of the story with very little fanfare.

Not every character needs a big story arc with a fully-fledged finale. Still, when there is focus on specific characters, to just abandon them and quickly wrap up their storyline leaves the viewer wanting.

It struggles with pacing

For those who read my reviews regularly, you know I'm a stickler for pacing. If it's a slow burn, that's just fine — but that fuse needs to have an end. If it's a fast-paced storyline, you can have down moments but they need to be well-placed and fit the ongoing tone and direction. "IF" struggles to find its pacing, or even what it wants its pacing to be.

The storie starts off slow, which is fine, but then we quickly meet many characters just to hit the brakes again. Then we're suddenly thrown into a surprisingly long dream sequence, followed by a quick-paced montage, and then a full stop into some slower dramatic moments.

I felt like I was on an amusement park ride going from 100 to zero in the blink of an eye. The starts and stops are OK when planned correctly, but "IF" appeared to be a 15-year-old learning to drive and figuring out the right touch for the gas and brakes.

Now, it's time for me to put away my pretentious and over-critical movie critic hat and put on my let's-go-enjoy-a-movie hat. "IF" is a fun movie. It has bright and exciting characters, entertaining story setups and montages, well-timed jokes and a truckload of quirky and lovable IFs.

It's easy to fall in love with all these forgotten IFs and wish you had the imagination to create them when you were a kid, to make them your best buds.

As mentioned earlier, there are some starts and stops to the fun, but overall it's nearly impossible to walk out of the theater without a smile on your face.

It's creative

Whatever "IF" lacks in technical movie-making ability it makes up for with creativity and imagination. From the unique characters to their retirement home, "IF" is a feast for the creative eye.

Krasinski has said this is a movie for his kids and he tapped into his inner child to create a landscape and world that kids — and most of us adults — will love. It feels like you're seeing the world through a child's eyes, and that adds to the magic of the movie.

A certain amount of creativity and clever writing goes into every movie, but "IF" made sure to make that the hallmark of the film, and it pays off.

What my kids thought

I saw the movie with my family, including my 13- and 7-year-old daughters and my 11-year-old son. This is a family movie, after all, and it is made to be enjoyed with your family.

I bring this up because, as we left the theater, my wife and I talked about some of the missteps I have already written about, but our kids looked at us and said, "What are you talking about? We loved that movie!"

The more I saw it through my kids' eyes, the more I realized how much fun this movie was. On the way home from the theater, my teenager passed out cold in the third row, but my 11-year-old and 7-year-old were making up their own IFs and asked if they could stay up late to play.

If a family movie can do that, it's a win in my book.

"IF" is officially rated PG for thematic elements and mild language.

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‘Hot Frosty’ Netflix Christmas Movie Starring Lacey Chabert and Craig Robinson: Everything We Know

The Christmas movie will be among four Christmas movies confirmed for 2024.

Pictures via Netflix and Getty Images

Netflix is expanding its selection of Christmas movies with the addition of Hot Frosty (also referred to as Love at Frost Sight ) with production ongoing in Canada as we speak. Here’s everything we know. 

Note: We reached out to Netflix twice about this movie last week, but they did not respond to requests for comment. Deadline “exclusively” reported the title on May 13th with Netflix Tudum publishing alongside them. Emma Armbrüster contributed to this report.

Directed by Jerry Ciccoritti and written by Russell Hainline, the plot picks up after a magical scarf has bought a handsome snowman to life, his funny and friendly spirit helps inspire a woman to live her life to the fullest. This occurs two years after Cathy has lost her husband but time with her new found friend won’t last forever as he’ll melt come the end of winter. We don’t have a time period when the movie is set but the movie, or part of it at leats, appears to take place in the late 1950s or 60s, given the car models used during filming and the clothing and hairstyles of the actors.

Muse Entertainment is behind the title for Netflix who have previously worked with Netflix on A Tourist’s Guide to Love . Joel S. Rice and Michael Barbuto are producers alongside Caitlin Delaney and Hayden Baptiste.

Who’s starring in Hot Frosty for Netflix?

Thanks to numerous fans sharing photos with the cast in a Facebook group and now the confirmation from Netflix, we know of at least eight that will appear in the new movie:

• Lacey Chabert ( Mean Girls ) is a veteran of Christmas movies and will play the lead role of Cathy
• Craig Robinson ( The Office ) is set to play the town Sheriff
• Joe Lo Truglio ( Brooklyn 99 ) is set to play another deputy.
• Dustin Milligan ( Schitt’s Creek )
• Katy Mixon ( Mike and Molly )
• Lauren Holly ( Dumb and Dumber )
• Chrishell Stause ( Selling Sunset )
• Sherry Miller ( The Virgin Suicides )

There were rumors that Chevy Chase was going to feature in the comedy according to local reports but that doesn’t seem to be the case.

When is production taking place on Love at Frost Sight?

Production for Love At Frost Sight began in Brockville, Ontario, on April 24th and will continue until May 18th, 2024.

The town of Brockville has been transformed into the picturesque American town of Hope Springs. The Court House square and the building beside it are covered in twinkling Christmas lights, snow, and ice sculptures since they were used to film a few scenes of the Hope Springs Annual Snow Sculpture Competition.

Filming for the movie has also been spotted to be taking place in the Keystorm Pub and in Pakenham, Ontario, Canada.

We’ve also got numerous photos from the set as the production filmed in public in the town square, turning it into a wintery landscape with a number of the cast members showing up. Photos are courtesy of Brockville Tourism .

Snow way!!! ❄️ ⛄️ 🎄 #LoveAtFrostSight from #Netflix filming in 🇨🇦 #Brockville , Ontario. pic.twitter.com/3uj4eY5684 — Trish Quade (@TrishQuade) April 27, 2024

Hot Frosty will be released on Netflix for Christmas 2024

Unlike in years prior when we’ve had to wait over a year for Christmas movies to come to Netflix following production, there’ll be a fast turnaround for Hot Frosty.

As mentioned, four Christmas movies are now lined up for release later this year. We’ve got Meet Me Next Christmas starring Christina Milian, Devale Ellis, and Kofi Siriboe, the second major Christmas Linsday Lohan movie in the form of Our Little Secret and the animated film That Christmas .

Are you looking forward to watching Hot Frosty on Netflix? Let us know in the comments.

Founder of What's on Netflix, Kasey has been tracking the comings and goings of the Netflix library for over a decade. Covering everything from new movies, series and games from around the world, Kasey is in charge of covering breaking news, covering all the new additions now available on Netflix and what's coming next.

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Brooke Shields New Netflix Movie Misfire Is More Upsetting After Her 3-Year-Old Rom-Com With 75% On RT

• Negative reviews led to a dismal 22% Rotten Tomatoes score for Mother of the Bride .
• This score is disappointing compared to her well-reviewed 2021 Netflix movie A Castle for Christmas .
• A Castle for Christmas earned a 75% score largely due to the chemistry between Shields and her co-star Cary Elwes.

Mother of the Bride has been a critical disappointment compared to Brooke Shields' rom-com success from three years ago. The new Netflix original movie, which also stars Miranda Cosgrove, Sean Teale, Chad Michael Murray, Rachael Harris, and Benjamin Bratt, was written by Robin Bernheim, who has previously collaborated with Netflix on the Princess Switch trilogy and A Christmas Prince: The Royal Wedding . It was directed by Mark Waters, whose most prominent credits include the 2000s teen classics Mean Girls and Freaky Friday .

The Mother of the Bride star has been in the industry for decades, having kicked off her career as a model at just eleven months old and taken her first onscreen role before she turned ten. After starring in controversial titles including Pretty Baby and The Blue Lagoon and then attending Princeton, she returned to acting as an adult and held roles in prominent titles including Suddenly, Susan and 1999's The Bachelor . However, more recently, the star has taken onscreen roles less frequently, with her new Netflix movie marking her first live-action release since 2022's Holiday Harmony .

Mother Of The Bride Ending Explained

Netflix's Mother of the Bride is a classic weekend-wedding romantic comedy, but do the two lead characters get their romantic happily-ever-after?

Mother Of The Bride's Reviews Are Substantially Worse Than Netflix's 2021 Brooke Shields Movie, A Castle For Christmas

A castle for christmas's score is more than 50% higher.

Despite assembling a cadre of veterans of the genre both in front of and behind the camera, negative Mother of the Bride reviews ended up earning the movie a dismal Rotten Tomatoes score of 22% . While this would be a disappointment on any resume, it is even more upsetting in the wake of Shields' previous collaboration with Netflix, which was the 2021 rom-com A Castle for Christmas . The movie, which co-starred Cary Elwes, was part of Netflix's interconnected Christmas universe, which includes some of their biggest holiday rom-com franchises.

Netflix has released two Christmas rom-com trilogies, namely A Christmas Prince and The Princess Switch .

A Castle for Christmas was considerably more well-received than Mother of the Bride , earning a solidly Fresh score of 75% , though there aren't enough reviews for it to be considered Certified Fresh. In addition to beating Shields' new movie's score by more than 50%, it is the highest-rated installment in the entire Netflix Christmas universe. Below, see how A Castle for Christmas compares to the Rotten Tomatoes scores for every other movie in the same universe:

Why A Castle For Christmas' Reviews Are So Much Better Than Mother Of The Bride

Mother of the bride couldn't compete with one key castle for christmas element.

In addition to likely earning general goodwill for being holiday-themed, A Castle for Christmas excelled even by the standards of a streaming Christmas movie. This was largely due to Elwes and Shields' chemistry as they brought the movie's enemies-to-lovers arc to life, an element for which nearly every critic had glowing praise. Mother of the Bride , with its more ensemble-focused narrative, received no such praise. It was also criticized for its generic script and rote comedy, despite its memorable beachside location. Without a holiday hook or a strong focus on Shields' talents, the movie seems to have suffered considerably.

Click here to watch Mother of the Bride on Netflix

Mother of the Bride

Director Mark Waters

Release Date May 9, 2024

Cast Michael McDonald, Sean Teale, Chad Michael Murray, Rachael Harris, Benjamin Bratt, Wilson Cruz, Miranda Cosgrove, Brooke Shields

Runtime 88 Minutes

• Action/Adventure
• Children's/Family
• Documentary/Reality
• Amazon Prime Video

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Stream It or Skip It: ‘Christmas with You’ on Netflix Casts Aimee Garcia and Freddie Prinze Jr. In a Holiday Version of ‘Marry Me’

Where to stream:.

• Christmas With You
• Stream It Or Skip It

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Netflix’s holiday content continues with Christmas With You , a star-crossed romance between a falling pop star (Aimee Garcia) and a high school music teacher (Freddie Prinze Jr.). Do these two make beautiful music together, or should you spend Christmas with another movie? 

CHRISTMAS WITH YOU : STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

The Gist:  Aimee Garcia ( Lucifer ) plays Angelina Costa, a pop music superstar on the level of a Beyoncé — or at least she was. After a catastrophic TikTok mishap, Angelina suddenly looks out of touch and like she’s coasting on a back catalogue of hits. That’s when she’s gifted an ultimatum from her label: record a hit Christmas single or else . Angelina, desperate for any validation, decides to drop in on a superfan (Deja Cruz) that she saw on Instagram the night before. This turns out to be the right move because superfan Cristina’s dad Miguel (Freddie Prinze Jr.) is a music teacher — and he has an unfinished song that he’s been working on for fun in his spare time. And since Angelina and her manager Monique (Zenzi Williams) can’t drive back to NYC in a snowstorm, why not spend the night turning an after school project into a potential holiday hit…?

What Movies Will It Remind You Of?:  Okay, this one is the Marry Me of the holiday season. Not only is it about a pop music mega-lebrity dating a teacher, but Garcia’s character toured with J. Lo when she was 15. Coincidence ? I mean, probably, but the similarities are very much there.

Performance Worth Watching: Relative newcomer Deja Cruz lights up every scene she’s in with starstruck optimism — that is, when she’s not crying on command in scenes about her dead mother. She’s got the range, and playing Miguel’s daughter Cristina lets her show it off. Also, Falling for Christmas , A Gingerbread Christmas , Christmas with You — what’s with all the single dads and dead moms this year?

Memorable Dialogue: Angelina explains her latest diet to Monique: “It’s when you only eat lettuce, but you alternate by day the kind of lettuce you eat. It’s much more exciting than it sounds. Mo — the transition from arugula to spring mix makes your whole week.”

A Holiday Tradition:  Every year, Costa performs at the Greatest Gift Foundation’s A Christmas to Remember Gala Fundraiser. Foundation, Christmas, gala, fundraiser — yep, checks all the boxes.

Two Turtle Doves: ‘Tis the season for holiday movies about pop stars and musicians. Hallmark’s In Merry Measure (out now) followed a pop star’s trip back home and her showing the high school choir a thing or two… alongside her old rival. There’s also Holiday Harmony on HBO Max (Nov. 24), which is about a songwriter’s hope of competing and winning in a song contest — but then she gets stuck in a small town. And then in CBS’s When Christmas was Young (Dec. 18), a Nashville music manager needs a hit song and, of course, falls hard for an up-and-coming songwriter.

Does the Title Make Any Sense?: Uh, no , because the song that Angelina and Miguel write is titled “Christmas Without You.” What gives??

Our Take:  Christmas With You is a hard movie to really give a “take” on, I’m finding — primarily because I believe that these kinds of movies should be judged based on what they set out to accomplish rather than comparing them to the entirety of cinema. What does a viewer want when they choose to put on Christmas With You ? They want to be charmed by the performances, swoon over the romance, and be dazzled by the Christmas-iness of it all. If there are a few laughs and even just one legitimately surprising twist, that’s a bonus. So, does Christmas With You deliver?

Aimee Garcia definitely delivers, as she always does. She pretty much steals every scene she’s in in every project she tackles, and that includes Lucifer — a show starring a literal handsome devil. But Freddie Prinze Jr. isn’t able to match Garcia’s energy. There’s a similar vibe at work here as in Falling for Christmas with Lindsay Lohan. Unless you were one of the few who watched the Punky Brewster revival on Peacock, you probably haven’t seen Prinze in live-action in a decade or more (albeit for much more family-friendly reasons than the ones that have kept Lohan offscreen). But Lohan gives Falling for Christmas her all and delivers the kind of over-the-top, campy excellence that you want in a Netflix holiday movie. Prinze’s character, a widowed father and music teacher, doesn’t give him much to play with and he ultimately is just kinda there.

That makes the romance itself a tad under-developed. Garcia and Prinze are fine together (remember how Garcia can do pretty much no wrong onscreen?), but the film takes such a huge leap regarding their relationship for the final act’s obligatory “she was being selfish all along” moment that I had to rewatch a scene three times in order to figure out why Miguel and his daughter Cristina suddenly felt betrayed by Angelina.

As for the Christmas-y wonder… there are lots of decorations and lights — Miguel’s halls have been thoroughly decked — but there’s something off about the production that makes everything feel sub-Hallmark. The lighting is so bright and flat that it doesn’t make the decorations glow so much as just show us that they are there.

All that is to say, Christmas With You is 2/3rds of a perfectly fun watch, primarily due to Garcia and Cruz — and the movie has such a pure heart that it feels super Grinch-y to hate on it. But even though these movies all follow the same melody, it works because that melody is catchy as hell. Unfortunately there are a few jarring moments towards the end of the movie that make you wonder if the CD is skipping.

Our Call:  SKIP IT — but a light skip it. We want to support Aimee Garcia and are waiting for her to get the classic Christmas movie she so deserves.

• Aimee Garcia

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Netflix will carry NFL games on Christmas Day for 3 years, including 2 this upcoming season

FILE - Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes (15) throws a pass during the first half of an NFL wild-card playoff football game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Sunday, Jan. 16, 2022, in Kansas City, Mo. Netflix and the NFL announced a three-year deal Wednesday, May 15, 2024. to stream games on Christmas Day, which includes the Chiefs taking on Steelers on Dec. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Travis Heying, File)

FILE - The Netflix logo is shown in this photo from the company’s website, in New York, Feb. 2, 2023. Netflix reports their earnings on Thursday, April 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File)

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The NFL’s Mike North wasn’t considering Christmas Day as part of the 2024 regular-season schedule when preliminary planning began.

Ratings and interest from current and prospective broadcast partners changed that.

Not only is the NFL playing on a Wednesday for only the third time since 1950, it brought on Netflix to carry the games. Netflix will stream two Christmas Day games globally as part of a three-year deal announced Wednesday as the league unveiled the regular-season schedule .

“Last year at this time we weren’t really thinking about Christmas Wednesdays. But when you saw the viewership numbers that you saw for Christmas for the tripleheader last year and the tripleheader the year before, the fans have spoken. They want the games there and our broadcast partners want the games there,” North, the NFL’s vice president of broadcast planning, said during a teleconference Thursday.

Netflix will carry two games this year and at least one game in 2025 and ‘26. Defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City will face Pittsburgh in the first game at 1 p.m. ET, followed by Baltimore at Houston at 4:30 p.m.

The NFL has played a total of 30 games on Christmas Day since 1971, including three last year. It has stayed away from midweek games, though, until this year’s Christmas slate. Last year’s three games averaged 28.68 million viewers. The early afternoon contest between the Las Vegas Raiders and Kansas City Chiefs averaged 29.48 million.

This marks the fifth straight year of NFL games on Christmas, and they’re likely to remain on the schedule for a while. With Christmas falling on a Thursday in 2025, Netflix and Amazon will have one game apiece. There are expected to be at least two Christmas games in 2026, which is a Friday.

With the league continuing to make international inroads, including five games abroad this season, the prospect of partnering with Netflix was too good to pass up. Netflix has 270 million paid memberships in over 190 countries

“It is an opportunity for us to expose our game to more people around the world, and that excites us a great deal,” said Jeff Miller, the NFL’s executive vice president of communications, public affairs and policy.

Hans Schroeder, the executive vice president of NFL Media, said team owners meeting in March were presented with a plan where teams playing on Christmas Day would have their Week 16 games on Saturday, which would give them the same amount of prep time they normally have in a short week when playing on Sunday and Thursday.

The last time the league played on a Wednesday was Dec. 2, 2020, when the Baltimore Ravens’ game at the Pittsburgh Steelers was pushed back six days due to COVID-19. The Dallas Cowboys and New York Giants opened the 2012 season on a Wednesday due to President Barack Obama’s acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention taking place on a Thursday.

The latest December regular-season game before this year was Dec. 9, 1925, when the Providence Steam Roller hosted the Chicago Bears.

Netflix began airing NFL programming last year with the series “Quarterback.” A series on wide receivers will premiere this year. It also live streamed the Tom Brady roast on May 5 and will have a 10-part documentary series later this year on Jerry Jones and his ownership of the Dallas Cowboys.

Netflix’s forays into carrying live sports began last year, but they were exhibition events in golf and tennis. It is also scheduled to air the July 20 bout between Mike Tyson and Jake Paul.

Who Netflix will use to announce and produce the holiday doubleheader remains to be determined.

CBS Sports CEO and President David Berson welcomed Netflix even if it meant his network doesn’t have a game on Christmas Day.

“Their involvement in no way impacts our schedule and our deal. We have 29 windows, 10 doubleheaders and Thanksgiving. We have plenty of opportunities to showcase (games) and drive massive viewership,” Berson said. “We can’t possibly have all of the AFC games — we know some will go to NBC, ESPN, Amazon and in this case Netflix.”

Even though there have been some criticisms about more games moving to streaming, NFL fans have mostly stayed tuned in.

According to Nielsen figures, last season’s 16-game “Thursday Night Football” package on Prime Video averaged 11.86 million viewers, a 24% increase over 2023. Two games had more than 15 million viewers, including 15.3 million for the Nov. 30 matchup between the Seattle Seahawks and Dallas Cowboys.

The Jan. 13 AFC wild-card playoff game between the Miami Dolphins and Kansas City Chiefs on Peacock averaged 23 million, a record for the most-watched event on a streaming service. It also surpassed the audiences for the Saturday night wild-card playoff games that were shown on NBC in two of the past three years.

In keeping with the NFL’s longstanding policy on games that are carried on cable or streaming platforms, Netflix’s Christmas games will air on broadcast TV in the competing teams’ home cities and will be available on mobile devices in the U.S. with NFL+.

AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl

Fascinating 'Full Court Press' captures off-court lives of Caitlin Clark, Kamilla Cardoso, Kiki Rice

Abc, espn+ series documents the joys, pressures of three stars during historic era for women’s college basketball..

Caitlin Clark, Kiki Rice and Kamilla Cardoso arrive at Monday’s world premiere of “Full Court Press” in Indianapolis.

Darron Cummings/AP

We know Caitlin Clark, Kamilla Cardoso and Kiki Rice can ball, and the four-part ESPN documentary “Full Court Press” does a stellar job of showcasing their respective talents — but my favorite parts of this timely and fascinating and inspirational series are the insider, behind-the-scenes moments, which range from silly to insightful to uplifting to heartwarming. Just a small sampling:

• As Iowa’s generational and transcendent superstar Caitlin Clark’s life becomes ever more surreal (“Tom Brady just followed me,” she casually notes to boyfriend Connor McCaffery while scrolling through her phone), Clark and her teammates and coaches gather at the St. Burch Tavern in Iowa City for a holiday party. Wearing a necklace of old-fashioned Christmas tree bulbs, Caitlin jokes about the number of candles that are gifted in the Secret Santa exchange — before getting a candle, and a pair of heated gloves, as a present. It’s that increasingly rare moment when Caitlin can just be a happy college kid, hanging around and joking with her friends. (Albeit with cameras lurking.)
• UCLA sophomore guard Kiki Rice is a singular talent with a rich family legacy of high achievers. Her father John played basketball for Yale, her mother Andrea was a tennis player at Yale, her cousin Allan Houston was a two-time NBA All-Star and her aunt, Susan Rice, is a diplomat who was U.S. ambassador to the United Nations from 2009 to 2013. Rice is a brilliant player, but she has a relatively reserved personality and has moments of wavering confidence. Meeting regularly with sports psychologist Nicole Davis, Kiki works on the mental side of her game, and overcoming her “fear of results.” It’s a reminder of the enormous pressures felt by these young stars in a game that has exploded over the last few years.
• South Carolina superstar center (and now Chicago Sky rookie ) Kamilla Cardoso grew up in Montes Claros, Brazil, and moved to the United States when she was 15 to pursue her basketball dreams, leaving behind her hardworking mother, Janete Soares, and her fiercely loyal sister, Jessica Cardosa Silva. Cardoso’s family had never seen her play in the United States — until they visit her in advance of South Carolina Senior Night. “I can’t even believe it,” says Kamilla’s mother upon arriving in the United States. “I can’t even believe I’m in America.” If you don’t have a lump in your throat when Cardoso’s mother and sister surprise her after a practice, you might be dead.

Directed with great skill and fly-on-the-wall style by Kristen Lappas, featuring extended interviews with Clark, Rice and Cardoso, as well as their coaches, family members and a deep roster of ESPN talent including basketball-great-turned-analyst Rebecca Lobo, Holly Rowe and Elle Duncan, “Full Court Press” follows in the tradition of insider sports docs such as HBO’s “Hard Knocks” and Netflix series such as “Formula 1: Drive to Survive,” “Full Swing” and “Quarterback.” The key to these series is for the filmmakers to reach a level of comfort and trust with their subjects; of course they’re going to be aware of the ubiquitous presence of the cameras and microphones, but the more time you spend with them, the more they let down their guard and give us access to their lives, on and off the court.

Caitlin Clark signs posters in a moment from “Full Court Press.”

Recognizing that Women’s College Basketball was on the precipice of an historic year, the ESPN documentarians have their cameras in place from the outset of the 2023-24 season, starting with the “Crossover at Kinnick” exhibition game between Iowa and DePaul, with a women’s basketball record-setting 55,646 in attendance at Iowa’s football stadium, Clark sinking jumpers through the outdoor winds.

We follow Clark, Rice and Cardoso as they work the weight room and practice sessions and hit the floor for early season games; it’s an added bonus to see how coaches Lisa Bluder, Cori Close and Dawn Staley conduct practices, motivate their players and make game-time adjustments. There’s also a treasure trove of home video footage, e.g., when little “Caty” Clark insists on riding her pink bicycle without training wheels because her older brother had ridden his bike sans wheels. The competitor was there practically from birth.

Kamilla Cardoso meets fans in a “Full Court Press” segment.

“Full Court Press” shows us the benefits of college stardom — as when Rice gets NIL deals with the Jordan brand and Beats headphones, and Clark does a State Farm ad with Jimmy Butler and poses for pics in front an enormous Times Square electronic billboard of her likeness — as well as the pressures. Cardoso is filled with remorse when she’s suspended for the first game of the NCAA tournament for a fighting penalty in the SEC Championship Game, and she talks about how her teammates are family to her, while Clark opens up about “always having to be on,” even when she’s having a bad day, because when “somebody comes up, this is their 10-second interaction with you” and they’ll be telling that story for the rest of their lives.

Mostly, though, “Full Court Press” is an invaluable chronicle of a special time for women’s basketball, and three amazing women who are pivotal in shaping its future.

• Caitlin Clark’s impact on WNBA is already apparent

TV and Streaming | ‘The Big Cigar’ review: When a Black Panther…

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Things to do, tv and streaming | ‘the big cigar’ review: when a black panther founder fled to cuba with the help of a hollywood producer.

That story — about political activist Huey P. Newton and movie producer Bert Schneider, who made counterculture classics such as “Easy Rider” — forms the basis of the six-episode Apple TV+ series “The Big Cigar,”  which attempts to be many things at once, weaving in serious themes amid the jaunty energy of a heist.

Developed by Jim Hecht (and based on a 2012 article by Joshuah Bearman), the series makes its intentions clear at the outset, with the voice of Newton, played by André Holland, offering a disclaimer: “The story I’m about to tell you is true. At least, mostly true. Or at least how I remember it. But it is coming through the lens of Hollywood, so let’s see how much of my story they’re really willing to show.”

It’s the summer of 1974 and Newton is arrested on charges of assaulting a tailor and fatally shooting a teenage prostitute. Is it a frame up? Newton says yes, and tensions with the local police and the FBI suggest this isn’t out of the realm of possibility. Out on bail, Newton needs someone who can move mountains, so he turns to Schneider (Alessandro Nivola), with whom he had been developing a biopic. “You’re the hotshot producer,” he says. “You want to produce something? Produce this .”

So Schneider concocts a non-existent movie that will shoot on location in Cuba called “The Big Cigar.” (If the fake-movie-as-subterfuge premise sounds familiar, a similar scheme was cooked up to help American hostages escape from Iran in 1979, a story depicted in the Ben Affleck-directed best picture winner “Argo,” also based on a Bearman article.) Not mentioned here? This wasn’t Schneider’s first fugitive rodeo; he had also recently funded Abbie Hoffman’s escape, stemming from drug charges.

But his plan this time becomes a comedy of errors. Dire circumstances, both logistical and psychological, ensue. But the series is committed to keeping things fairly light and palatable, even as it contends with the brutality of racist police and internal schisms (some of them baited by the feds) that would splinter the Black Panther party.

Regardless of the role, Holland is the kind of actor who holds the screen with a quiet charisma. In Newton, he has also found the character’s roiling intensity fueled by his justified paranoia and a tendency to hold grudges. Sometimes his temper gets the best of him, but he has a clear-headed assessment of how rigged systems function.

Temperamentally, Schneider (and by extension, Nivola) is his opposite — a creature of Hollywood with a movie star girlfriend (Candice Bergen) and a reputation as a renegade despite his nepo-baby origins (his father is president of Columbia Pictures). In flashback, we see Newton begrudgingly attend a party at Schneider’s invitation. When Newton spots Richard Pryor, he asks his opinion of the white crowd: “Deep in their genes,” says the comedian, “they got a lot of guilt and they’re willing to pay a steep price for absolution.”

Newton is skeptical. Revolution is survival to me, he tells Schneider, it’s optional for you. “That’s exactly why I gotta do it,” comes the reply. “I want to finance the revolution!’ To punctuate the moment, Schneider turns and does a line of coke. I mean, I laughed! (Schneider did in fact funnel considerable funds to the Black Panthers, so his words weren’t just Hollywood hokum.)

Like so many projects of this type, it was initially developed as a movie. Nothing came of that and now here we are, with the story stretched out into a multi-part series from showrunner Janine Sherman Barrois that is enjoyably watchable if occasionally tonally uncertain. (One of Barrois’ previous credits is “Claws,” which had a similar approach, both exuberantly outsized but with substance.) Tiffany Boone (as Gwen Fontaine, Newton’s girlfriend and the stabilizing force in his life), P.J. Byrne (as Schneider’s childhood friend and producing partner Stephen Blauner) and Jordane Christie (as Black Panther co-founder Bobby Seale) are terrific in supporting roles. The FBI are portrayed as clowns rather than heroes, which makes “The Big Cigar” a rarity in Hollywood at the moment, and the series itself is enjoyable despite the self-congratulatory speeches for Schneider and Blauner each, explaining why they’re good white people. Schneider in particular keeps stressing his close friendship with Newton, but nothing on screen backs that up, leaving it unclear how Newton actually felt about Schneider.

A reason to watch is simply for a terrific exchange that transpires after Blauner has just escaped with his life while trying to coordinate some of the logistics of their plan.

“You were in a shootout in a Jewish deli?” Newton asks incredulously.

Blauner is numb. “All delis are Jewish. I think.”

“Nah, the Italians got ’em,” Schneider chimes in. “The Greeks, too.

Bottom line, he tells Newton: “The mob’s got a hit out on you.” That’s only one of the many problems he will have to contend with. “The Big Cigar” turns all of it into big entertainment.

“The Big Cigar” — 2.5 stars (out of 4)

Where to watch: Apple TV+

Nina Metz is a Tribune critic.

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