Christmas films are a huge part of the festive season – there are even entire channels dedicated to them now. But among the joyous gifts – how could anyone tire of It’s A Wonderful Life and Bridget Jones’s Diary? – there are some absolute turkeys.
And while some holiday films are enjoyably awful, others are just really, really bad.
So which to avoid? Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes ranks the 10 worst Christmas films – alongside sometimes hilarious reviews…
1) The Nutcracker in 3D (2010)
Director: Andrey Konchalovskiy
Starring: Elle Fanning, Nathan Lane, John Turturro, Frances de la Tour
0% Rotten Tomatoes 27% Audience Score
Coming in at a solid 0% on the Tomatometer, this 2010 star-studded recreation of festive ballet The Nutcracker melted zero hearts. On the surface, the plot is what we’d expect: a small child receives a gift that comes alive, before joining forces to fight the evil Mouse King. Andrei Konchalovsky’s version, however, is sinister. Terrifying visuals, random musical numbers and allusions to Nazism and the Holocaust are just a few of the flaws critics offered. “The Nutcracker in 3D is one of those rare holiday movies that may send children screaming under their seats,” says Chicago Sun-Times critic Roger Ebert.
2) Just Getting Started (2017)
Director: Ron Shelton
Starring: Morgan Freeman, Tommy Lee Jones, Rene Russo
4% Rotten Tomatoes 12% Audience Score
Morgan Freeman and Tommy Lee Jones in a holiday-themed action comedy sounds, in theory, welcome. Morgan stars as a nefarious holiday resort manager, forced to join forces with FBI agent Leo (Tommy Lee) when his past confronts him. The problem with Just Getting Started seems to be that it takes a very long time to actually get started. Most of the film is a spat between the two men before, suddenly, the mafia shows up.
3) Christmas with the Kranks (2004)
Director: Joe Roth
Starring: Tim Allen, Jamie Lee Curtis
5% Rotten Tomatoes 39% Audience Score
In this holiday “comedy”, Tim Allen and Jamie Lee Curtis play the Kranks, a couple who decide to renounce the Christmas festivities. They have a lovely plan to go on a Caribbean cruise instead. Unfortunately, their somewhat militant Christmas-obsessed neighbours have other ideas.
Unfortunately, this is a Christmas film we’ve seen many times before and made better too. It also manages to criticise the only two people in it who have their heads screwed on straight.
“Christmas with the Kranks is the sort of film that leaves you thinking Ebenezer Scrooge might have had the right idea about the festive season,” says Film4’s Richard Luck.
4) Deck the Halls (2006)
Director: John Whitesell
Starring: Danny DeVito, Matthew Broderick, Kristin Chenoweth, Kristin Davis
6% Rotten Tomatoes 30% Audience Score
This is another film about warring neighbours at Christmas that wastes some solid acting talent (as well as your time, if you’re watching it). When a new neighbour, Danny (Danny DeVito) declares his ambition to make his Christmas lights able to be seen from space, suburban dad Steve (Matthew Broderick) decides to outdo him. What follows is a battle of who can better decorate their house. “I literally did not count a single laugh in the whole aimless schlep, except for the hucksters who made it, on their way to the bank,” says Stephen Hunter of the Washington Post.
5) New Year’s Eve (2011)
Director: Garry Marshall
Starring: Halle Berry, Jessica Biel, Jon Bon Jovi, Abigail Breslin, Ludacris, Robert De Niro
7% Rotten Tomatoes 45% Audience Score
Seemingly, the Americans saw Love, Actually and thought: hey, we can rehash that. The plot: a great many characters approach the end of year celebrations in New York with varying levels of excitement, sadness and uncertainty, as their stories eventually intertwine. Love, Actually works thanks to its decent characters and screenwriting, precisely where New Year’s Eve falls short, despite all the acting talent on offer.
“A soul-sucking monument to Hollywood greed and saccharine holiday culture,” says Sara Stewart of the New York Post. The most damning review, however? “This is one of those unusual films that’s more boring than life,” snipes London Evening Standard’s David Sexton.
6) Trapped in Paradise (1994)
Director: George Gallo
Starring: Nicolas Cage, Jon Lovitz, Dana Carvey
10% Rotten Tomatoes 42% Audience Score
Nicholas Cage stars in this Christmas crime comedy, which sees two paroled convict brothers (Jon Lovitz and Dana Carvey) recruit their younger brother (Nicholas) to rob a bank. There’s probably some value in a bank heist-themed Christmas film, but Trapped in Paradise does its best to convince us otherwise. While this one at least entertained 42% of audience members, critics were united in their complaints over the lack of laughs.
“Considering that there isn’t a single laugh in the whole picture, the term ‘comedy’ must be used loosely,” says Hal Hinson of the Washington Post.
7) Mixed Nuts (1994)
Director: Nora Ephron
Starring: Steve Martin, Madeline Kahn, Robert Klein
13% Rotten Tomatoes 47% Audience Score
We may love Steve Martin again now for bringing us Only Murders in the Building, but back in 1994 he was offering up Christmas tat. In what critic Jamie Gillies (Apollo Guide) describes as “one of the most poorly conceived, inept, and ridiculous motion pictures ever greenlighted in Hollywood”, Martin stars as a crisis call handler who is being evicted. It’s about as funny as it sounds, neither jokey or dark, and suffering tremendously from some truly dire screenwriting. However, it’s not all bad. There’s a title song incorporating the names of nut varieties.
8) A Merry Friggin’ Christmas (2014)
Director: Tristram Shapeero
Starring: Joel McHale, Robin Williams
14% Rotten Tomatoes 21% Audience Score
A comedy about an alternative family reunion at Christmas with a cast including Robin Williams and Joel McHale should be strong. Disappointingly, though, where A Merry Friggin’ Christmas falls short is that it’s just not funny. It’s filled with uninspiring Christmas cliches and a cast that can’t really do anything about the script’s shortcomings. “There are almost no friggin’ laughs to be found,” says The Wrap’s Alonso Duralde.
9) Home Sweet Home Alone (2021)
Director: Dan Mazer
Starring: Ellie Kemper, Rob Delaney, Archie Yates
15% Rotten Tomatoes 12% Audience Score
Home Sweet Home Alone risks destroying the entire Home Alone franchise for millions of fans. This ill-advised 2021 reboot follows the exact same formula, except it makes the villains sympathetic and its new Kevin McCallister stand-in Max Mercer terrifying. Home Sweet Home Alone lacks all of the nostalgia and charm of the original and offers nothing fun or new in exchange. It’s even difficult to know who we’re meant to be rooting for. “Who’s the real victim here?” asks New York Times reviewer Amy Nicholson, “the audience.”
10) Jingle All The Way (1996)
Director: Brian Levant
Starring: Arnold Schwarzenegger
19% Rotten Tomatoes 39% Audience Score
A bad father promises to make it up to his family by buying his son the latest action figure – Turbo-Man – in this Arnold Schwarzenegger film. Of course, Arnie is in it, so ultimately this descends into needless violence as everybody squabbles to get the last remaining Turbo-Man. “I liked a lot of the movie,” admits Roger Ebert, of the Chicago Sun-Times, “but I was sort of depressed by its relentlessly materialistic view of Christmas, and by the choice to go with action and (mild) violence over dialogue and plot.”
Read more: 17 perfect nostalgia films to watch each Sunday up to Christmas!
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