Each year, as the air turns cold and the music merry, comes the inevitable debate about the best Christmas movies to stream during the holidays. There are those who insist their yuletide entertainment be staunchly seasonal—think the candy-coated North Pole of The Santa Clause franchise or Will Ferrell’s Buddy the Elf skipping through a department store. Others prefer films that take a more unconventional approach to the festivities, such as the action-packed Die Hard or erotically existential Eyes Wide Shut. Enter Vanity Fair’s Christmas favorites, 65 offerings that span from certified classics of the 1940s to new holiday movies destined for a yearly rewatch—a little something for everyone under the tree.
Dominic Sessa as Angus Tully, Da’Vine Joy Randolph as Mary Lamb and Paul Giamatti as Paul Hunham in director Alexander Payne’s The Holdovers, a Focus Features releaseBy Seacia Pavao / 2023 FOCUS FEATURES.
The Holdovers
- Release Year: 2023
- Director: Alexander Payne
- Noteworthy Cast: Paul Giamatti, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Dominic Sessa, Carrie Preston
“I just don’t see it as a Christmas movie,” filmmaker Alexander Payne told Vanity Fair of his latest, which stars Paul Giamatti, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, and newcomer Dominic Sessa as three lost souls stranded at a New England prep school over the holidays. “It’s a movie that could take place only at Christmas because of the nature of it,” sure—but when the director sees “some early reviews like, ‘Oh, people will watch this every Christmas,’ I’m like, ‘Really? Great.’ But I didn’t think about that.” Nevertheless: it’s difficult to watch The Holdovers, written by David Hemingson, without sinking into its seasonal setting—complete with snow-covered windowpanes and 1970s holiday needle drops.
John Tully
Santa Camp
- Release Year: 2022
- Director: Nick Sweeney
Leave any preconceived ideas about a Santa-centric documentary at the door. Centered on a New Hampshire campsite where professional Santas, Mrs. Clauses, and elves train to be experts in jolly, the film is actually all about how these mystical creatures get packaged and sold in society—in an upbeat, cheerful sort of way. Much of the doc confronts Santa’s diversity problem, told through the lens of a Black Santa, a transgender Santa, and a Santa with special needs who all attend the training program in hopes of disrupting a mythology that has largely embraced just elderly white men.
Scott Everett White/Netflix
Falling for Christmas
- Release Year: 2022
- Director: Janeen Damian
- Noteworthy Cast: Lindsay Lohan, Chord Overstreet, George Young, Olivia Perez