Ho, Ho, Oh No: The 20 Worst Holiday Movies of All Time

Everything about this movie sounded great on paper: Emilia Clarke and Henry Golding in a rom-com co-written by Emma Thompson and based on a catchy, cheesy Christmas pop song. Then . . . the movie came out. While it’s not as heavily panned as most of the movies on this list, its sub-50% score reflects the deep drop of disappointment after a lot of hype.

Score: 47%

The raunchy girl-comedy stars some of the funniest women working today: Kristen Bell, Mila Kunis, Kathryn Hahn, Christine Baranski, Cheryl Hines, and Susan Sarandon. Instead of being a spiky cup of eggnog, it’s just kind of bland.

Score: 32%

It’s a holiday classic that’s charming enough that you forget how it’s not a particularly good movie. At least this sequel ranks above the increasingly diminishing returns on later “sequels” in the Home Alone universe.

Score: 33%

The first (of what would be several) Home Alone movies to move away from the McCallister family ended up being a big pile of coal.

Score: 29%

An early Paul Feig movie, this comedy about a group of – you guessed it – unaccompanied kids stranded at an airport over the holidays just totally failed to take off.

Score: 29%

Another case of “great cast, terrible results”: Robin Williams, Penelope Cruz, Susan Sarandon, and Daniel Sunjata all star in this dud of an ensemble Christmas drama about the interlocking lives of New Yorkers.

Score: 28%

This Vince Vaugh-slash-Reese Witherspoon comedy about a couple stuck going to several different family Christmas celebrations earned criticism for having a cliche storm of a script, among other things.

Score: 25%

’90s kids probably have this Disney-produced flop starring Jonathan Taylor Thomas burned into their collective memory, despite the fact that it was critically panned.

Score: 23%

The mid-2000s were an era of dudebro slapstick comedy, so it’s no wonder that the genre took a swing at a Christmas flick. This one, about Santa’s washed-up, overshadowed brother, can’t decide if it’s a crass comedy or a sentimental tearjerker.

Score: 21%

While some of Perry’s Madea movies have become classics, this Christmas entry, centering on a secret marriage lie that spins out of control, isn’t one of them.

Score: 20%

With a cast that includes Diane Keaton, John Goodman, Alan Arkin, and Olivia Wilde, this family-reunion Christmas comedy should have been hilarious and touching. Instead, it turned into a paint-by-numbers mini-melodrama.

Score: 18%

A divorced mother, a daughter setting up her mom, a department store Santa, and Queen Latifah all collide in a cliche-ridden comedy that struggled to get positive reviews.

Score: 19%

The first two Santa Clause movies were fairly cute, goofy comedies for the whole family. By the time this third one rolled around, though, franchise fatigue had set in, resulting in a bonkers time-travel plot and an increasing reliance on the same old tired gags.

Score: 17%

Arnold Schwarzenegger and Christmas movies is not exactly a combination you’d expect. The result: a slapstick-y comedy that tries (and mostly fails) to satirize Christmas consumerism.

Score: 15%

The 2006 remake of the horror classic winds up being a slasher flick with a holiday setting and not much in the way of creativity, as four sorority sisters try to evade a serial killer on campus over the holidays.

Score: 14%

You’d think a family comedy starring Ben Affleck, James Gandolfini, Christina Applegate, and Catherine O’Hara would be delightful, right? Unfortunately, the movie suffers from forcing its talented cast to play deeply unlikable characters.

Score: 7%

What might have been a fun comedy about neighbors trying to one-up each other with extravagant holiday decorations instead devolves into a surprisingly mean movie devoid of any real cheer.

Score: 6%

When a couple decides to take a break from the merriment and go on a holiday cruise instead, their super-competitive neighbors take it as a personal offense and turn them into the neighborhood pariahs in a comedy that mostly picks the lowest-hanging fruit.

Score: 5%