The 54 Funniest Christmas Movies to Watch This Holiday Season
Start streaming as soon as the Thanksgiving parade ends. Those are the doctor’s orders.
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It’s the most wonderful time of the year…for streaming cheesy-AF Christmas movies. If mushy Hallmark holiday flicks are your thing, then you’re probably going to spend the month of December (and maybe even January—no judgment) rewatching heartwarming classics like White Christmas and It’s a Wonderful Life. And while we have no issue with watching a feel-good film or two (who doesn’t love a cathartic cry?), sometimes the holidays call for levity. After all, the funniest Christmas movies take the most stressful parts of the holidays—the present shopping, family gatherings, questions about why you’re still single, etc.—and make ’em funny, and we all know there’s no better gift than a good laugh.
Fortunately, there are tons of funny Christmas movies out there that deserve to be rewatched every single year, including comedy classics like The Christmas Story and Jingle All the Way as well as new Christmas comedies like Noelle and Anna and the Apocalypse. From dark comedies to musicals to family-friendly films you can watch with your ’rents without cringing, we’ve rounded up the funniest holiday movies available to stream right now—and they’re sure to make your holidays at least 10 percent less stressful (please don’t quote us on that). Taste in comedy may vary, but these funny Christmas comedies hold up year after year, and they’re sure to make your holiday at least a liiittle bit more holly and jolly.
Bad Santa (2003)
This twisted, dark comedy flips the holiday spirit on its head, with Billy Bob Thornton playing a conman posing as a mall Santa. From his seat in the pop-up North Pole, he drinks, swears, and steals his way through the season.
The Family Stone (2005)
Ensemble cast on deck! The Family Stone stars Diane Keaton, Sarah Jessica Parker, Rachel McAdams, Dermot Mulroney, Luke Wilson, and Claire Danes. The film follows a wild New England family who reunite for the holidays with a new guest—the uptight girlfriend of their eldest brother. Little do they know, he has a plan to propose to her over the Christmas holiday.
Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992)
For your holiday movie marathon needs, Home Alone 2: Lost in New York is a rare sequel that just might be better than its predecessor, depending on who you ask. In this 1992 holiday comedy, Kevin McCallister finds himself, for the second time, all alone without his family on Christmas, but this time in the Big Apple.
This Christmas (2007)
This ensemble rom-com follows a family reuniting for their first holiday together in years and it stars an all-star cast including Idris Elba, Regina King, Loretta Devine, Lauren London, Delroy Lindo, and Chris Brown.
Metropolitan (1990)
Christmas is more of a backdrop in this movie, but it’s the socialite’s holiday movie. Metropolitan follows a group of wealthy young New Yorkers gathering for a holiday debutante party, discussing all things life and philosophy (as only the way elitist Manhattanites can).
Trading Places (1983)
Trading Places stars Eddie Murphy and Dan Aykroyd as a finance man and a con artist who switch places as a study in social hierarchy, culminating in chaos at an office Christmas party and the New Year’s Eve holiday.
Christmas in Connecticut (1945)
This black-and-white Christmas classic follows a culinary journalist who has put on the façade of the perfect housewife. In reality, she lives alone and can’t cook a thing. When her boss invites himself to her fake family’s holiday festivities, she must put on the show of a lifetime.
Ernest Saves Christmas (1988)
This classic Christmas comedy hasn’t been given its nostalgic revival, so let’s talk about it now. The film follows the lovable character Ernest P. Worrell (played by Jim Varney) on a mission to find a new Santa in Florida, following the failure of the real Saint Nick’s sleigh. Florida is where we would start the search too.
Candy Cane Lane (2023)
This Eddie Murphy holiday flick follows a man working to win his neighborhood’s extravagant Christmas decorating contest (with help from a team of elves).
Genie (2023)
In this newer take, the holiday season gets a whimsical twist when a down-on-his-luck guy (Paapa Essiedu) stumbles upon a magical, mischievous genie played by Melissa McCarthy. The film features such funny folks as Marc Maron, Alan Cumming, Ego Nwodim, and John Paul Reynolds.
Mixed Nuts (1994)
Written and directed by Nora Ephron (cowritten with her sister), Mixed Nuts stars a comedy ensemble including Steve Martin, Madeline Kahn, Rita Wilson, Garry Shandling, Adam Sandler, and more. The film follows a man who leads a suicide-prevention hotline with a zany staff who field various crises during the Christmastime, and although this sounds like absolute devastation, it’s a comedy.
Dashing Through the Snow (2023)
New for the 2023 holiday season, Dashing Through the Snow stars Ludacris, Teyonah Parris, and Lil Rel Howery and follows a cynical social worker with absolutely zero holiday spirit who finds himself following Santa (Howery) through a festive night of mischief, believing all the while he is mentally ill.
I’ll Be Home for Christmas (1998)
The hitchhiker’s holiday, I’ll Be Home for Christmas follows a college student who wakes up in the middle of the desert after a Santa themed 5k, far from home and with only a few days to hike home for Christmas. The film stars ’90s teen idol Jonathan Taylor Thomas and Jessica Biel.
8-Bit Christmas (2021)
This 2021 comedy takes place in ’80s Chicago, following a 10-year-old kid who hunts down the most coveted gift on the market–a shiny new video game system.
A Midwinter’s Tale (1995)
From writer, director, auteur Kenneth Branagh, A Midwinter’s Tale follows an out of work actor who volunteers to help a church organize a festive holiday production of Hamlet.
Get Santa (2014)
Old Saint Nick is a fugitive. This British comedy stars Heartstopper’s Kit Connor as a young boy whose father, upon being released from prison, claims to have found Santa in the family’s shed. When this festive intruder is arrested, the boy and his father must help him escape from prison to save Christmas.
A Christmas Story Christmas (2022)
This 2022 sequel to the classic A Christmas Story sees an adult Ralphie Parker attempting to curate the perfect Christmas for his kids. This is the ultimate family watch rooted in our favorite drug—nostalgia.
Grumpy Old Men (1993)
This 1993 comedy stars Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau as two feuding neighbors (ala Deck the Halls) who develop crushes on their new neighbor, competing for her affection over the holiday season.
The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992)
You know them, our sweet Muppets. This 1992 Christmas musical sees the lovable Muppets perform their version of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. The human on deck here is the incredible Michael Caine, who plays Ebenezer Scrooge, a cold finance grump who simply doesn’t get the Christmas cheer.
Scrooged (1998)
One of the many offshoots of the classic Christmas story, Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, Scrooged stars Bill Murray as a Grinch-like television executive who is visited by the ghosts of Christmas past.
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