The 25 best Christmas movies of all time and where to stream them
Forget chocolate: here's your Christmas movie advent calendar
Picking the best Christmas movies isn’t an easy task; how do you narrow down an entire season’s canon of films to just 25 entries?
Every year, people try to work through their personal favourites, like a cinematic advent calendar.
It’s all very subjective; perhaps you like the bullets and blood of action films like Die Hard and The Long Kiss Goodnight, or maybe you prefer cosy, feel-good romances like The Holiday and Love Actually.
In this writer’s opinion, these are the best Christmas movies of all time – and the list covers a wide range of genres (and includes where you can stream them).
The best Christmas movies to watch every day in December
In the spirit of the season, we’ve ranked the 25 best Christmas movies. That means you have a Christmas film to watch every day between now and the big day in December.
So, start with 25 on December 1, and finish with our first-place pick on December 25.
25. Eyes Wide Shut
- Genre: Drama, Thriller
- Year: 1999
- Director: Stanley Kubrick
- Cast: Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidman, Sydney Pollack
- Runtime: 2 hours 39 minutes
- Where to stream in the UK: Rent or buy on-demand
What it’s about: After Bill’s wife admits to fantasising about being with another man, he goes walkabout in New York City, encountering strange characters and a dangerous club along the way.
Why to watch: Eyes Wide Shut is It’s a Wonderful Life… with orgies, though less depraved and more unsettling than that sounds. Stanley Kubrick mastered every genre on his first try, so it shouldn’t be a surprise that his trippy, sexual psycho-drama is also one of the best Christmas movies ever made.
24. Carol
- Genre: Drama, Romance
- Year: 2015
- Director: Todd Haynes
- Cast: Cate Blanchett, Rooney Mara, Sarah Paulson
- Runtime: 1 hour 59 minutes
- Where to stream in the UK: Rent or buy on-demand
What it’s about: Therese, a clerk at a Manhattan department store, begins to develop feelings for Carol, an older woman going through a divorce.
Why to watch: Right at the beginning of Carol, a man walks across an evening street, the lights of cars shining bright, to Carter Burwell’s affectionate piano score. The immediate vibe is that of Edward Hopper’s Nighthawks painting.
That mood, combined with a love story both classic and bracingly contemporary, makes for a Christmas masterpiece. Even now, it feels like it fell out of space.
23. The Night Before
- Genre: Comedy
- Year: 2015
- Director: Jonathan Levine
- Cast: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Seth Rogen, Anthony Mackie
- Runtime: 1 hour 41 minutes
- Where to stream in the UK: Rent or buy on-demand
What it’s about: Ethan, Isaac, and Chris have spent Christmas Eve together for decades. To mark their tradition coming to an end, they try to find a highly exclusive party: the Nutcracker Ball.
Why to watch: The Night Before revels in drug-fuelled, drunken stupidity, whether it’s a Big homage with Kanye West’s ‘Runaway’ or Seth Rogen spewing on a church floor. It’s crude, but poignant, and a likely rewatchable for years to come.
22. Four Christmases
- Genre: Comedy, Romance
- Year: 2008
- Director: Seth Gordon
- Cast: Vince Vaughn, Reese Witherspoon
- Runtime: 1 hour 29 minutes
- Where to stream in the UK: NOW TV/Sky Cinema
What it’s about: After years of avoiding their families around the holidays, Brad and Kate are forced to visit all of their relatives in one eventful, emotional Christmas Day.
Why to watch: Four Christmases is bafflingly underrated (its 25% Rotten Tomatoes score is an insult). It is full of laugh-out-loud moments (like Reese Witherspoon smacking a baby’s head… it’s funnier in context), and even when it goes to preposterous lengths to make you hate their families, it finds its way back to something honest.
21. Trading Places
- Genre: Comedy
- Year: 1983
- Director: John Landis
- Cast: Eddie Murphy, Dan Aykroyd, Jamie Lee Curtis
- Runtime: 1 hour 56 minutes
- Where to stream in the UK: NOW TV/Sky Cinema
What it’s about: Bored and looking for amusement, the high-flying owners of a Philadelphia brokerage firm upend the lives of two men: Louis, a wealthy broker, and Billy, a beggar and con man.
Why to watch: Trading Places is vicious. Its cynicism and poor-taste laughs may even be a bit much for more sensitive viewers.
With the exception of some… questionable gags, they should do themselves a favour and toughen up. This is one of the most incisively funny Christmas movies of the ’80s.
20. Scrooged
- Genre: Comedy, Drama
- Year: 1988
- Director: Richard Donner
- Cast: Bill Murray, Karen Allen, John Forsythe
- Runtime: 1 hour 40 minutes
- Where to stream in the UK: NOW TV/Sky Cinema
What it’s about: Frank Cross, a ruthless and nasty TV executive, is visited by three ghosts who wish to make him regain his Christmas spirit and be a better person.
Why to watch: Richard Donner’s Scrooged, with Bill Murray (in his own words) as “the meanest person in the world”, is delectably spiteful, and perhaps the darkest take on the Christmas Carol story.
Yet, its misery (including behind-the-scenes tension during production) produces something joyous.
19. National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation
- Genre: Comedy
- Year: 1989
- Director: Jeremiah S. Chechik
- Cast: Chevy Chase, Beverly D’Angelo, Juliette Lewis
- Runtime: 1 hour 37 minutes
- Where to stream in the UK: NOW TV/Sky Cinema
What it’s about: Clark Griswold wants to have the perfect family Christmas. However, despite his best (often frantic, sometimes potty-mouthed) efforts, things don’t go to plan.
Why to watch: John Hughes’ National Lampoon script has a trove of quotes for the season – as Ellen Griswold says: “I don’t know what to say, but it’s Christmas, and we’re all in misery.”
Yet, despite Chevy Chase’s incredible barrage of expletives, the Griswolds always find a way to make the best of the worst. Their ordeal is a hoot to revisit.
18. How the Grinch Stole Christmas
- Genre: Comedy, Fantasy
- Year: 2000
- Director: Ron Howard
- Cast: Jim Carrey, Taylor Momsen, Jeffrey Tambor
- Runtime: 1 hour 45 minutes
- Where to stream in the UK: Disney Plus
What it’s about: The Grinch, a green grouch who lives alone on Mount Crumpit, sets out to ruin Christmas for the cheery residents of Whoville.
Why to watch: There are few performances as irreplaceable and indelible as Jim Carrey’s contorting, fuzzy, tangfastic Grinch of Whoville.
He’s the entire appeal of the film, really – the actor brings his trademark unhinged mental, facial and vocal gymnastics to Dr. Seuss’ creation, brought vividly to life by Oscar-winning makeup.
If you’re a subscriber, check out our list of the best films on Disney Plus too.
17. Klaus
- Genre: Animation, Fantasy
- Year: 2019
- Director: Sergio Pablos
- Cast: Jason Schwartzman, J.K. Simmons, Rashida Jones
- Runtime: 1 hour 37 minutes
- Where to stream in the UK: Netflix
What it’s about: Jesper, a young postman stationed in an island town in the Far North, befriends a reclusive toymaker. Together, they deliver joy to a cold, dark town that desperately needs it.
Why to watch: While Netflix’s The Christmas Chronicles was a contender for this list, Klaus trumps it with beautiful animation, delightful voice performances, and a vital message rooted in real-world woes.
Unlike Disney’s death clause, Sergio Pablos sketches a much different origin for Father Christmas, originally a reclusive woodsman with a penchant for toys. There’s never a bad time to be reminded that goodwill breeds goodwill.
It may not be a year-round go-to movie, but it’s one of the best Netflix films ever.
16. Spirited
- Genre: Musical, Comedy
- Year: 2022
- Director: Sean Anders
- Cast: Ryan Reynolds, Will Ferrell, Octavia Spencer
- Runtime: 2 hours 7 minutes
- Where to stream in the UK: Apple TV
What it’s about: With the threat of retirement looming, The Ghost of Christmas Present tries to crack his toughest case yet: Clint, an “unredeemable” media relations exec who gleefully incites conflict for his clients.
Why to watch: Spirited, a big-budget song-and-dance twist on the Christmas Carol fable, is actually rather brilliant. It’s smart, earnest, hilarious, and laudable; it’s perhaps the most meaningful adaptation since Scrooged.
Plus, the songs are fantastic; special shoutout to ‘Unredeemable’, a breathtaking musical set piece that puts almost everything in Wicked to shame.
You can also check out our roundup of the best movies on Apple TV.
15. The Nightmare Before Christmas
- Genre: Animation, Fantasy
- Year: 1993
- Director: Henry Selick
- Cast: Danny Elfman, Chris Sarandon, Catherine O’Hara
- Runtime: 1 hour 16 minutes
- Where to stream in the UK: Disney Plus
What it’s about: Jack Skellington, the king of Halloween Town, stumbles into Christmas Town and becomes obsessed with taking over the holidays.
Why to watch: What’s this? It’s one of the key festive film debates: is The Nightmare Before Christmas a Halloween movie, or a Christmas movie? To that we ask: why not both?
Henry Selick and Tim Burton’s wonderful, strange, infectious fantasy has lost none of its visual prowess. Nearly three decades later, it’s a stop-motion masterclass, with harmless scares to spook the kids and wipe frowns from any humbug’s face.
14. A Christmas Carol
- Genre: Drama, Fantasy
- Year: 1999
- Director: David Jones
- Cast: Patrick Stewart, Richard E. Grant, Joel Grey
- Runtime: 1 hour 35 minutes
- Where to stream in the UK: YouTube for free
What it’s about: Ebenezer Scrooge, a bitter financier who scolds anyone and anything festive, meets three ghosts on Christmas Eve who try to change his outlook on life.
Why to watch: Everyone has their definitive Christmas Carol; maybe it involves the Muppets, or perhaps you prefer the mo-cap Jim Carrey stylings of Dickens’ novel.
This 1999 adaptation of A Christmas Carol, an exquisitely staged and faithful retelling, is the best version. Patrick Stewart’s Scrooge is richly portrayed, and most importantly, via genuinely moving and haunting vignettes, it earns its humble, rousing ending.
13. The Holiday
- Genre: Comedy, Romance
- Year: 2006
- Director: Nancy Meyers
- Cast: Cameron Diaz, Kate Winslet, Jude Law, Jack Black
- Runtime: 2 hours 16 minutes
- Where to stream in the UK: Disney Plus, BBC iPlayer
What it’s about: Two unhappy women agree to swap homes for Christmas; one is from a quaint cottage in the UK, and the other lives in a lavish Los Angeles estate. However, they quickly make unexpected connections.
Why to watch: ’Tis the season to be jolly, and The Holiday is the ideal Christmas movie to get you in the yuletide spirit… because it isn’t really about Christmas at all. There’s snow, there’s a festive vibe, but the main appeal is the irresistible romantic chemistry between its four leads.
12. Gremlins
- Genre: Horror, Comedy
- Year: 1984
- Director: Joe Dante
- Cast: Zach Galligan, Phoebe Cates, Hoyt Axton
- Runtime: 1 hour 46 minutes
- Where to stream in the UK: NOW TV/Sky Cinema
What it’s about: Billy’s father gets him an unusual gift for Christmas: a “mogwai”, a cute creature who can’t be fed after midnight, get wet, or be exposed to bright lights. When those rules are broken, there are dire consequences.
Why to watch: One look at Gizmo – the cutest creature in all of pop culture – should be all it takes to get you to watch Gremlins.
Even when it’s scarily macabre and demented, it feels like a gleeful, twisted bedtime story, and it’s the perfect gateway horror film for kids. After one viewing, there will always be a gremlin in your house over the holidays.
11. The Polar Express
- Genre: Animation, Fantasy
- Year: 2004
- Director: Robert Zemeckis
- Cast: Tom Hanks, Daryl Sabara, Nona Gaye
- Runtime: 1 hour 40 minutes
- Where to stream in the UK: NOW TV/Sky Cinema
What it’s about: It’s Christmas Eve, and a young boy doubtful of Santa’s existence gets the chance to board the Polar Express, a train that takes children to the North Pole.
Why to watch: The Polar Express, an ahead-of-its-time, dazzling adventure that occasionally falls into the uncanny valley, is legitimately terrifying at times.
It’s also extraordinarily moving; a movie in sheer awe of the mythos of Christmas that makes you want to believe again. Remember, “sometimes the most real things in the world are the things we can’t see.”
10. Bridget Jones’s Diary
- Genre: Romance, Comedy
- Year: 2001
- Cast: Renée Zellweger, Colin Firth, Hugh Grant
- Director: Sharon Maguire
- Runtime: 1 hour 37 minutes
- Where to stream in the UK: BBC iPlayer, Amazon Prime Video, NOW TV/Sky Cinema
What it’s about: Bridget, a 32-year-old singleton, notes in her diary that she wants to take control of her life. She ends up with two very different men vying for her affection: Mark Darcy, a posh barrister whom she knew as a child, and Daniel Cleaver, her womanising, brazen boss.
Why to watch: Is Christmas complete without watching Renée Zellweger running down a snowy street in her leopard-print pants?
No, it isn’t, and that’s because Bridget Jones’s Diary is one of the quintessential British rom-coms, featuring a bubbly, hapless, and irresistible performance by Zellweger that made her an icon.
9. Love Actually
- Genre: Comedy, Romance
- Year: 2003
- Director: Richard Curtis
- Cast: Hugh Grant, Emma Thompson, Keira Knightley
- Runtime: 2 hours 15 minutes
- Where to stream in the UK: Netflix, Amazon Prime Video
What it’s about: Couples, families, and friends collide as they try to navigate love, loss, and heartbreak in the lead-up to Christmas.
Why to watch: Love Actually is the quintessential British film at Christmas time. Right from the opening splurge of sentiment in Heathrow Airport through umpteen mushy subplots, it appeals to your schmaltziest sensibilities – and it works every time.
Yes, it’s unrealistic, and it’s stuffed with awful people (Alan Rickman’s betrayal never fails to boil one’s blood). Yet, regardless of how clearly you’re being played like a fiddle, it prevails. It’s almost like “love, actually, is all around.”
8. Die Hard
- Genre: Action, Thriller
- Year: 1988
- Director: John McTiernan
- Cast: Bruce Willis, Alan Rickman, Bonnie Bedelia
- Runtime: 2 hours 12 minutes
- Where to stream in the UK: Disney Plus
What it’s about: John McClane, a New York detective, lands in Los Angeles to spend Christmas with his estranged wife. However, when her office is taken hostage, he takes matters (and a gun) into his own hands.
Why to watch: Society has moved past the need to debate whether Die Hard is a Christmas film. Every year, John McClane’s Nakatomi Plaza showdown inspires the same old argument – and time and time again, the “yes” crowd emerges victorious. December isn’t complete without Alan Rickman’s Hans Gruber reading: “Now I have a machine gun, ho ho ho.” It’s also one of the greatest action movies ever made.
7. Miracle on 34th Street
- Genre: Drama
- Year: 1994
- Director: Les Mayfield
- Cast: Richard Attenborough, Mara Wilson, Elizabeth Perkins
- Runtime: 1 hour 56 minutes
- Where to stream in the UK: Disney Plus, Amazon Prime Video
What it’s about: Kris Kringle, a department store Santa Claus who claims he’s the real Father Christmas, is forced to defend himself in court.
Why to watch: The Miracle on 34th Street remake is no less magical than its predecessor. In fact, the lack of Macy’s aside, it’s a better, more emotionally fulfilling film than the original, forging a place as an American Christmas classic ever since its release in 1994. In John Hughes’ script, we trust.
6. Elf
- Genre: Comedy, Family
- Year: 2003
- Director: Jon Favreau
- Cast: Will Ferrell, James Caan, Zooey Deschanel
- Runtime: 1 hour 37 minutes
- Where to stream in the UK: NOW TV/Sky Cinema
What it’s about: Buddy, a human raised as an elf at the North Pole, journeys to New York to meet his biological father… who happens to be on Santa’s naughty list.
Why to watch: “Son of a nut-cracker!” Elf is a modern Christmas classic. It has everything you could ever want from a movie at this time of year (the North Pole, elves, Santa Claus, Christmas in New York, and a massive toy store). Will Ferrell delivers an iconic performance as Buddy the Elf, Zooey Deschanel’s voice warms you like hot chocolate, and James Caan gives the film the soul-searching it craves. Remember: the best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear.
5. The Holdovers
- Genre: Comedy, Drama
- Year: 2023
- Director: Alexander Payne
- Cast: Paul Giamatti, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Dominic Sessa
- Runtime: 2 hours 13 minutes
- Where to stream in the UK: Netflix
What it’s about: Paul Hunham, a cranky professor at a New England prep school, is tasked with staying on campus over the Christmas break to look after the students with nowhere to go.
Why to watch: The Holdovers is a contender for the greatest Christmas film released this side of the millennium. The moment the credits roll, it’ll enter your festive film canon forever. Everyone is fantastic (especially Paul Giamatti in snappy, knee-slapping form), it looks beautiful, and despite its festive setting, it’s seasonless – a year-round, fool-proof banger.
4. Home Alone
- Genre: Comedy, Family
- Year: 1990
- Director: Chris Columbus
- Cast: Macaulay Culkin, Joe Pesci, Daniel Stern
- Runtime: 1 hour 43 minutes
- Where to stream in the UK: Disney Plus
What it’s about: After a big fight with his family, Kevin wakes up the next day… and they left for their Christmas vacation without him. He decides to live out his dreams of living alone, but two burglars have other plans.
Why to watch: Home Alone has become one of the most ubiquitously loved Christmas movies of all time. It’s incredibly quotable (“Keep the change, ya filthy animal”), entertaining for every generation, and there’s a lasting festive message at its heart. Also, a special mention for John Candy’s legendary cameo.
3. Home Alone 2: Lost in New York
- Genre: Comedy, Family
- Year: 1992
- Director: Chris Columbus
- Cast: Macaulay Culkin, Joe Pesci, Daniel Stern
- Runtime: 2 hours
- Where to stream in the UK: Disney Plus
What it’s about: One year after being left home alone, Kevin gets separated from his family at the airport. He ends up in New York, and he meets two familiar faces looking for revenge.
Why to watch: Culkin was a star. Home Alone was a household favourite. Joe Pesci’s Scorsese pedigree had a new slapstick legacy to contend with. How do you capture lightning in a bottle again? Go to the Big Apple, of course.
It’s effectively a rehash, but the cast is more colourful (including a spectacularly fiendish Tim Curry) and the cruelty is so, so sweet. If the first film courted death, the sequel defies it – yet it still sticks the landing, turtle doves and all.
2. It’s A Wonderful Life
- Genre: Drama
- Year: 1946
- Director: Frank Capra
- Cast: James Stewart, Donna Reed, Lionel Barrymore
- Runtime: 2 hours 10 minutes
- Where to stream in the UK: Amazon Prime Video
What it’s about: George Bailey, a businessman who’s given up all of his personal dreams to support his community, decides to end his life on Christmas Eve. Thankfully, an angel in pursuit of his wings intervenes.
Why to watch: ‘Inspiring’ can feel like an empty word, trotted out for any feel-good films, shows or adverts that blatantly go for your heartstrings. It’s a Wonderful Life is a rare picture: not because of its enduring power over our tear ducts, but because it’s actually inspirational.
George Bailey’s plight – a life railing against all his ambitions – still resonates nearly 75 years later. When it feels like the world is fighting against us at every turn, finding the will to not only live but love life is bound to make anyone weep.
1. The Family Stone
- Genre: Comedy, Drama
- Year: 2005
- Director: Thomas Bezucha
- Cast: Diane Keaton, Sarah Jessica Parker, Dermot Mulroney
- Runtime: 1 hour 43 minutes
- Where to stream in the UK: Netflix, Disney Plus
What it’s about: Everett, the eldest son in the Stone family, returns home for Christmas with Meredith, his uptight girlfriend. Chaos quickly ensues.
Why to watch: Christmas is a time for family to come together, for better or worse. For just a week, our universes revolve around one big house.
No other film better illustrates all of its contradictions (gregarious yet harsh, tight-knit but endlessly open) than The Family Stone.
How much it resonates with you will depend on your upbringing; some will think it’s preposterous, others will find its blood-in-the-water affection comforting.
It’s an unsung, wonderful film – and our pick for the best Christmas movie of all time.
Read more: The best BBC iPlayer films you can watch for free
