Pour a glass of pinot, grab the scorched almonds and make a beeline for the sofa. As we start the steady march towards 25th December, it’s time for the annual Christmas movie marathon. A famously hard-to-win film genre, Christmas movies can struggle to toe the line between sweet and saccharine. Every year, Netflix offloads a new batch of festive films that run the gamut between lightly heartwarming and downright terrible.

Thankfully, there are always the tried-and-true classics. The movies that get dusted off every December to kickstart our festive spirit. The films that make us yearn for snow outside and crackling hearths. From the black and white golden oldies to the shiny new streaming offerings that manage to break through the fluff, we’ve rounded up the films worth a watch (or a rewatch) this Christmas.

The Family Stone

While The Family Stone pulls at the heartstrings every year, it will hit particularly hard this year after the sad passing of Diane Keaton in October. Nevertheless, if you’re looking for a raucous festive family tale that does an exceptional job of hitting the complex sibling relationship on the head, press play on The Family Stone. From Rachel McAdams’ outstanding performance as a judgmental younger sister to Sarah Jessica Parker’s exceptionally annoying throat tick, it’s the ultimate ensemble cast.

Love Actually

Twenty-two years on from its release, we’re not even sure we need to give you any more reasons to watch the platonic ideal of a Christmas movie. Many films have set out to do what Love Actually did; few have actually managed to achieve it. The movie is equal parts heartwarming and funny, with a robust narrative where Christmas is a supporting character rather than the looming spectre tying it all together. Endlessly quotable and anchored in reality while still being jolly, Love Actually is required watching every December.

The Holiday

Oh how we yearn for Cameron Diaz and Jude Law’s chemistry. There is something delightfully festive about the simple prospect of The Holiday — that all you need is a change of scene to meet the love of your life under a sprig of mistletoe (or, in the case of Cameron Diaz’s character, at your front door after one too many at the local pub). Chuck it on the TV and resist the urge to book the next ticket to London.

Elf

In other, less effective hands, Elf would potentially be an insufferably ridiculous film. But with Will Ferrell playing the titular character and just managing to toe the line between stupidity and humour, Zooey Deschanel as an unenthusiastic department store employee, and Jon Favreau directing the movie to be filled with just the right amount of holiday cheer, it manages to entertain rather than exasperate. Elf’s annual rewatch is a reminder of its status as a true Christmas icon.

Your Christmas or Mine?

It’s rare that a modern Christmas movie manages to capture the magic that was prevalent in those released in the early 2000s, but Your Christmas or Mine? achieved just that in 2022. Following students Hayley and James who, in two misguided grand gestures of love, accidentally end up at the other’s family home for Christmas, Your Christmas or Mine? is a charming comedy of errors that may just make it onto the elite rewatch list.

Home Alone

Either a horror story or a depiction of your dream Christmas depending on how you feel about family gatherings, Home Alone is worth a rewatch each December if only to ask the age-old question: how on earth does a family make it to an entirely new country before they realise they’re missing a child? Watching Kevin McCallister’s Christmas capers as he fends off threats to his family home brings the laughs. Still, the film’s underlying message of finding appreciation for family is a worthy reminder.

It’s a Wonderful Life

Truly anchored in the meaning of Christmas, It’s a Wonderful Life has, in many ways, served as the blueprint for the Hallmark-era Christmas movies we get these days — well, the heartwarming, triumphant ending at least. The story of Georgia Bailey’s life is, at times, heartbreaking, but the revival of his appreciation for life by angel Clarence, and his eventual shift in fortune, is a testament to the power of community.

Single All the Way

Jennifer Coolidge, a friends-to-lovers storyline and a fitting snowy small town locale? You couldn’t ask for more from a modern Christmas movie that manages to have more depth than the standard sickly sweet festive fodder. Single All the Way does a great job of romanticising small-town life and the joyful chaos of big, sprawling families.

How the Grinch Stole Christmas

Nostalgia is steeped so deeply in How the Grinch Stole Christmas that it’s almost impossible for the film to, over the course of 90 minutes, not awaken your festive spirit. Jim Carey’s rendition of Dr Seuss’ iconic character is masterful, and the set design and costuming are so immediately distinctive that one glimpse of Cindy Lou Who makes it feel immediately like Christmas. The Grinch is a testament to the idea that classics are classics for a reason.

Four Christmases

Feeling undone by city life? Chuck on Four Christmases for a masterclass in the unravelling of a tightly wound city slicker couple at the hands of their rambunctious families. With two sets of divorced parents, Kate and Brad choose to escape the country each Christmas under the premise of international family work, but when dense fog cancels their trip to Fiji, and a news crew interview beams their misfortune to the television screens across the country and in their family homes, they’re forced to visit all four parents separately across the festive period. As they do, what they think they want for their lives slowly becomes tangled up in their hopes for the future.

The Santa Clause

What if one night Santa dies and your dad suddenly takes his place? That’s the question asked (and answered) by The Santa Clause where Scott Calvin, struggling with fatherhood, gets roped into becoming Santa Claus by a dubious legal technicality. What ultimately follows, though, is a sweet tale about the belief systems we’ve built around Christmas and the magic of Santa Claus.

Champagne Problems

Every now and again Netflix gets it so wrong with a Christmas movie that somehow it ends up being right. The premise of Champagne Problems is unsurprisingly ridiculous — investment executive Sydney is sent to Paris by her boss to acquire a champagne house. While there, she meets the son of the house’s owner in a bookstore by chance, and has one magical night in Paris with him. At a meeting the following day with the owner of the business, she discovers the real identity of her mystery man and, alongside the other three people vying to purchase Château Cassell, is taken out to Reims to stay at the Château and make her bid for the business. It’s classic Netflix through and through, but the French locale and omnipresent glasses of fizz make it a palatable soft starter to Christmas film season.