The 12 Best Christmas Movies on Paramount+ in 2023

Bob the Builder: A Christmas to Remember (2001)

Bob’s brother Tom is not only his twin, he’s also a zoologist — who works near the North Pole!

Obviously, it’s not like Tom drops by all that often, so Bob’s looking forward to a chill holiday season with his brother and family. But the new mayor has other plans.

A Christmas concert!

And she enlists Bob to set up the stage. From there, is seems like whatever can go wrong, does go wrong.

To make matters worse, Tom, being the devoted zoologist that he is, gets sidetracked helping a baby deer find its dad.

It clocks in at just over an hour, so it’s twice as long as a lot of the animated Christmas specials out there. But it’s must-see viewing for Bob the Builder fans.

Inspector Gadget Saves Christmas (1992)

The evil Dr. Claw has descended on the North Pole intent on taking over Santa’s workshop along with his army of elves.

It’s up to Inspector Gadget to stop his arch nemesis and, as the tile declares, save Christmas. Naturally, the bumbling agent can’t do it on his own, and he’s aided by his precocious niece Penny and their trusty dog Brain.

This Christmas special was the first new Gadget material after the original series went off the air. It’s just 22 minutes long, so it’s a perfect bite-sized piece of viewing for kids.

And, of course, there are a lot of parents out there who will enjoy it for the nostalgia value alone.

Scrooge (1970)

You already know the story. But this 1970 version of A Christmas Carol starring Albert Finney and Alec Guinness is — a musical! It’s not alone in that category, but this is the best musical version of A Christmas Carol ever made for the screen.

Albert Finney was only 32 years old when he starred as literature’s grumpiest protagonist, but his transformation into the old Scrooge is flawless — especially for 1970. And his comparatively young age for playing Scrooge makes the visits to Christmas past all the better.

For a musical motion picture more than 50 years old, Scrooge holds up extremely well. The songs are fantastic, the sets are wonderful, and the performances are top-notch. Unsurprisingly, it was nominated for 4 Oscars and 5 Golden Globes, winning one (for Finney).

Some ghosts (which were edited out of the TV version) might be a little too scary for some young viewers, but the scenes are brief and this is a movie the whole family can enjoy.

A Clüsterfünke Christmas (2021)

Holly lives in New York City. So you know where she’s going for Christmas. That’s right, a quaint small town full of small-town folks living small-town lives.

The young, career-minded “Associate Vice Acquisitions Consultant at a major company” is sent by her boss on an important mission right before Christmas: head to Yuletown and buy the Clüsterfünke Inn so he can turn it into a modern mega resort.

After settling into her room at the inn, Holly walks around town searching for a cup of coffee in a town that only sells cocoa. She meets all of the characters tropes — which they’re not afraid to verbally identify — as she “connects” with the people of Yuletown.

“Sorry to make you relive my back story”, she’ll say. “That’s what I’m here for,” comes the reply.

Great! I’d love to be your platonic confidant while you’re here in town.

Percy Sleigh

Written by Saturday Night Live legends Ana Gasteyer and Rachel Dratch, the duo also portrays a pair of flighty sisters who own the titular inn and are more concerned with baking strudel than making a profit.

Naturally, they have a hunky nephew Frank working as the inn’s (very) handyman. And naturally, Frank and Holly don’t exactly hit it off at the start.

A Clüsterfünke Christmas is chock full of laughs with a hefty serving of jokes that border on fourth-wall winks. You can tell Gasteyer and Dratch have an affection for the genre, because they parody it with an insight and tenderness that saves it from simply being a mockfest. And that’s really what makes it work and makes it worth watching.

🎄 TIP: If searching for it by name in Paramount+, it won’t show up if you don’t put umlauts over the u’s, so just search by “Christmas” instead.

Just Like a Christmas Movie (2023)

Big city workaholic Emily is flying over Colorado when a storm forces her plane to land in the idyllic town of Blue Spruce. (Filmed in beautiful Kelowna, British Columbia, it is indeed idyllic.)

Emily spells out the plot to her assistant (and BFF) Carly at the start of the movie: “The high-powered businesswoman who gets trapped in a small town and falls in love with a hunky lumberjack. They’re all the same.”

Close, except for the hunky lumberjack. (If you’re looking for a hunky lumberjack type, check out the aforementioned A Clüsterfünke Christmas.)

With all of the Blue Spruce hotels booked solid, she’s invited to stay at the home of friendly locals, Holly and Herbie Kringle, and their single adult son, Chris. (Yes, Chris Kringle.)

After the real-life Santa tells her to discover the true meaning of Christmas before getting back to her real life, she writes out a Christmas checklist of things to do.

Aware that she’s in a Christmas movie — similar to Phil in Groundhog Day — she works her way through her checklist, keen on getting back to the corporate grind. But Christmas and romance are there to stand in her way.

Singer-actress Marlie Collins performs 2 musicals numbers, which are the highlights of the film. And while the Christmas rom-com tropes are constantly pointed out, it feels more like a genuine entry into the genre than a parody.

The Christmas Classic (2023)

Stop me if you’ve heard this before. A big-city real estate exec (Elizabeth) heads to a small town to buy a family-run ski resort for her boss.

In this case, Elizabeth’s boss is her fiancé and the small town is the hometown she “escaped” from years earlier. Adding to the intrigue, she went to high school with Randy, the heir and current owner of the resort.

Randy agrees to sell the ski resort if Elizabeth can beat her competitive (and mildly estranged) sister Lynn in the town’s Christmas Classic, an event the latter has won 9 years running.

All of the Christmas rom-com tropes are on full display, but the line between parody and an actual Hallmark Christmas movie is drawn in the snow. And there’s a blizzard outside.

But that doesn’t matter if you enjoy fun, feel-good Christmas rom-coms. (And if you don’t, why would you even watch this?) The chemistry between Malin Ackerman and Ryan Hansen is what really makes this movie earn a spot on the tree.

And while it’s not exactly a Christmas classic, The Christmas Classic is worth a watch for non-Grinch fans of the genre.

Ernest Saves Christmas (1988)

The Ernest movies were never Oscar bait. (Although Ernest did win an Emmy.) They weren’t produced to make critics happy. They were made to make people laugh and smile.

But like Vegemite, kimchi, and natto, Ernest P. Worell is an acquired taste. To say that the late Jim Varney’s character is not for everyone is an understatement.

If you don’t like Ernest, then this movie obviously isn’t for you. But if you’re not familiar with Ernest, you should take a chance and get to know him. Because this is the man at the top of his game.

The lighthearted, charming Christmas comedy is a great pick for the whole family to watch together. Kids can laugh out loud while parents roll their eyes — or vice-versa.

Scrooged (1988)

Like the 1970 Scrooge mentioned above, Scrooge-like TV executive Frank Cross is producing an expensive musical version of A Christmas Carol — but for live TV.

On Christmas Eve!

If you can’t work late, I can’t work late! If I can’t work late, I CAN’T WORK LATE!

Frank Cross

Christmas-hating workaholic Frank is visited by The Ghosts of Christmas Yada Yada Yada and he slowly loses his grasp on reality. So the network’s owner brings in well-tanned Ivy League yuppie Brice Cummings to help him out.

Paranoia ensues as Frank tries to maintain control of his TV special and rekindle an old romance. Of course, he’s going to find the Christmas Spirit as well.

There are some frightening and unsettling scenes (like a homeless man frozen to death) and mature humor (“Charles Dickens would have wanted to see her nipples”), so it’s best suited for tweens and older. But it still sits comfortably on many annual Christmas watchlists.

Bad Santa (2003)

While the aforementioned Scrooged is slightly inappropriate for young viewers, Bad Santa is extremely inappropriate for numerous viewers. This includes a lot of adults, especially grandmas and grandpas who weren’t raised on movies packed with f-bombs and full frontal nudity.

While there’s not much of the latter in Bad Santa, there are buckets full of the former.

More booze, more bullshit, more butt-fucking

Marcus

Every holiday season, alcoholic misanthrope Willie and little person Marcus get hired as a mall Santa and his elf, then rob the mall blind on Christmas Eve after the stores close.

But this year Willie has trouble concentrating on the job at hand. And it’s not because he’s “the dumbest, most pathetic piece of maggot-eating shit that has ever slid from a human being’s hairy ass.”

Nope.

It’s because he befriends a naive, bullied rich kid who lives with his half-blind grandma while his dad’s doing white-collar prison time.

To add to his distractions, Willie starts a relationship with a local bartender who can’t help but see the good in him. No matter how deep it’s buried.

The late-great John Ritter and the late-great Bernie Mac both shine like the North Star as the mall manager and head of mall security, respectively.

Paramount+ also has Bad Santa 2, so you can make it a double feature if you’re in the mood for 3 hours of the world’s worst Santa.

Deck the Halls (2006)

While we’re on the topic of offensive Christmas comedies, Deck the Halls is much closer to Scrooged than Bad Santa. But there are a few scenes that some parents may find objectionable — most notably an incesty scene with 2 dads cat-calling their own daughters.

Punctilious optometrist Steve Finch is the town’s Christmas Guy. Until Buddy “Can’t Keep a Job” Hall moves into the house across the street.

Seeking fulfillment in his life — rather than appreciating his beautiful family — Buddy embarks on a mission to have enough Christmas lights so his house can be seen from space. (Google Maps was clearly still in its infancy.)

It then becomes Steve’s mission to stop him.

Queue the War of the Neighbors.

A lot of critics and reviewers hate this movie. Even some of the cast seemed to agree. But they’ve got it all wrong. Don’t take it too seriously and give it a chance. You might just end up laughing.

A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas (2011)

Continuing the theme of crass and crude Christmas comedy, Harold & Kumar deliver enough of their hallmark weed and dick jokes to satisfy fans. But they probably throw around “gay” too many times for first-time viewers in 2023.

Harold has moved out, gotten married, and lives in a beautiful suburban home. Kumar still lives in the old apartment — which he hasn’t cleaned in 3 months — and spends most of his time baked.

When a package arrives at the old abode for Harold, Kumar decides to deliver it in person. And things go downhill from there as he puts Harold’s Christmas plan to impress his father-in-law — the ever-threatening Danny Trejo — in jeopardy.

If you dig Harold & Kumar, you’ll like this. But if the comedy duo is new territory, be prepared for a toddler on drugs, relentless dick jokes, and a (fictionally) rapey NPH.

Daddy’s Home 2 (2017)

If you enjoyed Daddy’s Home, there’s a 99% chance you’re going to like Daddy’s Home 2. It’s one of those rare instances when the sequel is better than the original. (It’s also rare for a sequel to be a Christmas movie when the first one wasn’t.)

But what if you haven’t seen the first one? Do you need to watch Daddy’s Home before watching Daddy’s Home 2?

Not really.

Obviously it helps and you’ll enjoy the sequel more. But if you don’t feel like 3 hours of Ferrell and Wahlberg, as long as you know the basic gist of the first movie, you won’t be utterly confounded.

Brad and Dusty are co-dadding just fine when Christmas arrives and they decide to spend Christmas as one big family, rather than having the kids go back and forth.

Christmas also brings the grandpas — played by John Lithgow and Mel Gibson — and the old guys add an extra layer of comedy and depth to the (rather one-dimensional) Daddy’s Home universe.

While the co-dads decide whose house to spend the holiday at, Grandpa Gibson books them an AirBnb luxury cabin. So the whole gang heads into the snowy countryside for a holiday where tensions can rise like shortbread.

There are some truly memorable moments — particularly a battle over a thermostat and one of the greatest Christmas lights scenes ever filmed.

The film’s ending dials Christmas up to 11, and will have you humming a certain song for days.