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Elf (2003)
7.1/10on IMDb
Released
Will Ferrell plays Buddy, a human raised by elves who arrives in New York with no sense of embarrassment, and the whole film runs on his total sincerity meeting a city that has none. The syrup-on-spaghetti breakfast and the department store Santa confrontation are the scenes people quote all December.
Jon Favreau keeps it brisk and gently silly, with stop-motion sequences that nod to old television specials. A safe pick for the whole family, and one adults still laugh at.
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National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989)
7.5/10on IMDb
Released
The definitive film about a host's Christmas going wrong. Chevy Chase's Clark Griswold wants a perfect family holiday, and every set piece, from the lights that will not switch on to the uninvited relatives in the RV, pushes him a little closer to snapping.
Anyone who has hosted the in-laws will recognize the slow boil. It is mostly fine for older children, though some innuendo and Clark's eventual tirade make it better suited to teenagers than toddlers.
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Home Alone (1990)
7.8/10on IMDb
Released
Eight-year-old Kevin McCallister is left behind when his family flies off for Christmas, and the last half hour is a gleeful demolition derby as two burglars walk into his booby-trapped house. The paint cans, the tarantula and the iron down the laundry chute still get gasps and laughs from children who have never seen it.
Macaulay Culkin carries it with impeccable comic timing. The family pick that grown-ups also enjoy, and the sequel, Lost in New York, repeats the formula in a Manhattan hotel if one night is not enough.
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Scrooged (1988)
6.9/10on IMDb
Released
A Christmas Carol rewritten as a satire of 1980s network television, with Bill Murray as Frank Cross, a TV executive who fires a staff member on Christmas Eve and gets three ghosts for his trouble. Murray's sneering, deadpan delivery is the reason to watch, and the Ghost of Christmas Present, who shows her goodwill by hitting him, is a gloriously violent running joke.
The ending turns sincere, but it earns it after an hour of acid. Fine for teenagers; younger children may find the ghosts genuinely frightening.
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Bad Santa (2003)
7.0/10on IMDb
Released
The antidote to every cozy Christmas film. Billy Bob Thornton's Willie is a drunk, foul-mouthed safecracker who takes a shopping mall Santa job each year only to rob the place, and the comedy comes from how little he hides it from the children lining up for his lap.
Thornton never asks for sympathy, which is exactly why the oddball friendship with a lonely boy lands without turning sappy. Strictly after the children are asleep: the swearing barely pauses.
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A Christmas Story (1983)
7.9/10on IMDb
Released
Ralphie wants a Red Ryder BB gun for Christmas in the 1940s, and every adult he asks tells him he will shoot his eye out. The film is a string of small domestic disasters narrated by grown-up Ralphie with wry nostalgia: the leg lamp, the tongue stuck to a frozen flagpole, the pink bunny suit.
It is funny because it remembers how enormous childhood problems felt. Good for families with children old enough to sit through a gentle, episodic pace.
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Trading Places (1983)
7.5/10on IMDb
Released
Two callous millionaire brothers bet a dollar on swapping a snobbish commodities broker with a street hustler, and Eddie Murphy and Dan Aykroyd turn the experiment into one of the sharpest comedies of the 1980s. It plays out over the festive season in Philadelphia, and Aykroyd's ruined broker gatecrashing an office party in a filthy Santa suit is the film's Christmas peak.
Christmas is the backdrop rather than the subject, so it suits viewers tired of tinsel. Adults only: there is nudity, strong language and some period racial humor that has aged badly.
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Gremlins (1984)
7.3/10on IMDb
Released
A young man gets an adorable creature as a Christmas present, breaks the three rules that come with it, and a small snowbound town is overrun by cackling, anarchic monsters. Joe Dante plays the mayhem as slapstick, and the gremlins singing along in a movie theater or wrecking a bar are pure Looney Tunes with teeth.
It was rated PG, but its violence upset enough parents to help bring about the PG-13 rating, so treat it as a film for older children and up. One for anyone who likes their Christmas comedy with a nasty streak.
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The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992)
7.8/10on IMDb
Released
The funniest version of Dickens on film, mainly because Gonzo narrates as Charles Dickens with Rizzo the Rat heckling him from the sidelines. Michael Caine plays Scrooge completely straight, which makes the chaos around him, and Statler and Waldorf as the Marley brothers, even better.
The songs are warm without going syrupy, and the jokes work on two levels throughout. The best choice here for watching with young children that adults will not merely tolerate.
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How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000)
6.4/10on IMDb
Released
Ron Howard's live-action version of the Dr. Seuss story, and Jim Carrey's Grinch is a full-body rubber performance under heavy prosthetics: muttering, improvising and sulking through his own appointment calendar. The Whoville sets are deliberately overstuffed, which some find exhausting.
Pick it for Carrey rather than for the story, which the 1966 animated special tells more tightly. Fine for families, though very young children can find the makeup a bit much.
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The Ref (1994)
6.9/10on IMDb
Released
The overlooked gem here. Denis Leary plays a cat burglar who takes a married couple hostage on Christmas Eve, only to discover they bicker so viciously that he ends up refereeing their marriage. Judy Davis and Kevin Spacey trade insults at a ferocious pace, and the arrival of the extended family for dinner only makes things worse for the burglar.
It is the best pick for anyone whose festive gatherings involve a lot of sniping. Adults only: Leary's rants are relentlessly profane.
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Jingle All the Way (1996)
5.8/10on IMDb
Released
Arnold Schwarzenegger as a mattress salesman hunting for the sold-out Turbo-Man action figure on Christmas Eve, locked in a running feud with Sinbad's equally desperate mailman. It is a broad, loud satire of the annual toy scramble, and anyone who has lined up outside a store for this year's must-have present will feel seen.
Not subtle and not trying to be, but Schwarzenegger's bewildered panic is genuinely funny. A good family pick for children who will cheer the superhero parade finale.
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The Santa Clause (1994)
6.6/10on IMDb
Released
Tim Allen's divorced, sarcastic toy company executive accidentally causes Santa to fall off his roof, puts on the suit and finds the job is now legally his. The fun is in watching a cynic's body betray him: the beard grows back overnight, the weight arrives and his dry asides keep coming as the magic takes over.
Its best jokes are the grown-up ones, which keeps parents watching. A comfortable family choice, best before the two sequels, which are weaker.
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Arthur Christmas (2011)
7.1/10on IMDb
Released
Aardman's take on how Santa really delivers billions of presents in one night: a hi-tech operation of elf commandos and a vast sleigh-ship run by Santa's efficient elder son. When one present is missed, clumsy younger son Arthur sets off to deliver it with cantankerous Grandsanta, voiced by Bill Nighy, and his ancient reindeer sleigh.
The background gags reward a second viewing, and the British humor is drier than most animated Christmas films. An easy family pick that adults rarely mind putting on again.
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Klaus (2019)
8.2/10on IMDb
Released
A spoiled postal cadet is exiled to a frozen island town where two clans feud so absurdly that nobody sends letters, and his scheme to get children writing to a reclusive toymaker becomes an origin story for Santa. The feud gags are properly funny, and the hand-drawn animation with its painterly lighting is the most beautiful thing on this list.
It turns more heartfelt in its final act than most entries here, but the comedy carries the first hour. Sergio Pablos's film won the BAFTA for best animated feature, and it suits the whole family.
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Krampus (2015)
6.2/10on IMDb
Released
A family Christmas so tense that young Max gives up on the holiday, which summons a horned folklore demon and his army of murderous toys and gingerbread men. The first act, with Adam Scott and Toni Collette enduring their boorish in-laws, is sharp family-gathering comedy before the horror creeps in.
It is the pick for groups who want screams with their laughs. Teenagers and up: the scares are real, even when the monsters are wrapped presents.
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The Night Before (2015)
6.4/10on IMDb
Released
Three old friends, played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Seth Rogen and Anthony Mackie, hold one last Christmas Eve of debauchery in New York while hunting for a legendary secret party. Rogen's character, a nervous expectant father working through a box of drugs his wife gave him, supplies most of the biggest laughs.
Michael Shannon's unnervingly wise dealer is a highlight. Firmly a night for adults after the children are in bed, ideally with friends you have known since school.
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Office Christmas Party (2016)
5.9/10on IMDb
Released
A Chicago branch facing closure throws an enormous Christmas party to win one last client, and the night escalates from awkward to apocalyptic. Jennifer Aniston as the ice-cold CEO sister and Kate McKinnon as an HR manager policing the fun are the best things in it.
It is uneven and runs out of ideas before the end, but as a rowdy group watch for anyone dreading their own work party, it delivers plenty of laughs. After bedtime only: crude, boozy and frequently filthy.
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Violent Night (2022)
6.7/10on IMDb
Released
Mercenaries take a rich, squabbling family hostage on Christmas Eve without realizing that a weary, beer-drinking Santa is still in the house. David Harbour plays him as a grumpy man doing a job he has fallen out of love with, until it gives him a reason to fight, and the jokes come from the collision of festive props with very bloody action.
It is the most violent film here, so treat it as an action comedy for adults only. A sequel from the same director is scheduled for December 2026.
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Spirited (2022)
6.6/10on IMDb
Released
A musical twist on A Christmas Carol told from the ghosts' side: Will Ferrell's Ghost of Christmas Present runs Christmas Eve reformations like a production company, and Ryan Reynolds plays the cynical media consultant who turns the process back on him. The pair's bickering chemistry does most of the work, and the song-and-dance numbers are bigger and sillier than you might expect.
Best for viewers who already like both stars and do not mind a long running time. Fine for older children and teenagers.
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Love Actually (2003)
7.5/10on IMDb
Released
The most sentimental film here, included because its funniest strands are genuinely funny: Bill Nighy's washed-up rock star shamelessly plugging a cheesy Christmas reworking of an old love song, and Hugh Grant's Prime Minister dancing around Downing Street. Richard Curtis's interlocking stories are set over the frantic weeks before Christmas in London.
Some storylines are tender or sad rather than comic, and a few romantic gestures have dated, so choose it if you want laughs mixed with a good cry. After bedtime: there is nudity and strong language.
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A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas (2011)
6.2/10on IMDb
Released
The estranged stoner pair reunite when Kumar accidentally sets fire to the prized Christmas tree of Harold's intimidating father-in-law, and the race to replace it before he gets home turns into a tour of every bad idea in New York. A stop-motion sequence and a string of gleefully cheap 3D gags show how happily it mocks holiday films.
You do not need the earlier films to follow it. Entirely an adults' film: drugs, nudity and a running joke about a toddler getting high.
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Christmas in Connecticut (1945)
7.3/10on IMDb
Released
The 1945 original, not the 1992 television remake. Barbara Stanwyck plays Elizabeth Lane, whose popular magazine column describes a cozy life on a Connecticut farm with a husband and baby. In truth she is single, lives in the city and cannot cook, so when her publisher invites a war hero to spend Christmas with her, she has to fake the whole household at speed.
Stanwyck's mounting panic over a borrowed baby and meals she cannot make is classic screwball. A gentle choice the whole family can share, and the best entry for anyone who loves old Hollywood.
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The Shop Around the Corner (1940)
8.0/10on IMDb
Released
James Stewart and Margaret Sullavan play two Budapest gift shop clerks who cannot stand each other, unaware they are falling in love as anonymous pen pals. Ernst Lubitsch builds the comedy from small, precise humiliations among the shop staff, and the story runs up to the shop's busiest night, Christmas Eve.
It is a romantic comedy more than a gag machine, and the later remake You've Got Mail borrowed its premise. Lovely for all ages, though young children may find the pace slow.
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