These 11 Christmas Movies From the 2000s Are Great Enough to Watch Any Time of Year

Say what you will about this Jim Carrey-led adaptation of the Christmas classic, but there's no denying that this movie is pretty hilarious. Starring Taylor Momsen, Christine Baranski, Jeffrey Tambor, and Molly Shannon — as well as Carrey as the titular Grinch, of course — this comedy boasts both incredible special-effects makeup and an A-list cast to boot.

You'd be hard-pressed to find a person who hasn't heard of this insanely quotable Will Ferrell-led holiday flick. In the comedy, an elf named Buddy learns that he is not, in fact, an elf, and he goes on a journey to New York City to find his birth father, experiencing all of the excitement and disappointments of life outside the North Pole along the way.

Again, the haters can say what they want, but Love Actually — which follows 10 intertwined stories in the five weeks leading up to Christmas — is a holiday tale for the ages. The cast of this rom-com includes Alan Rickman, Emma Thompson, Hugh Grant, Keira Knightley, Colin Firth, Liam Neeson, Bill Nighy, and basically every British actor you know as they lose love, find love, and totally win over your heart.

Based off of John Grisham's 2001 novel Skipping Christmas, this movie stars Tim Allen and Jamie Lee Curtis as Luther and Nora Krank, a married couple who decide that, this year, they're not dealing with all the stress and expense of the holidays. Of course, their Christmas-obsessed neighbours aren't going to let them skip out on the holiday traditions without a fight.

In this gorgeous live-action movie (which was based off of the Chris Van Allsburg children's book of the same name), an unnamed young boy is invited on a train ride adventure to the North Pole, a trip that is specially reserved for those who haven't lost their faith in the true meaning of Christmas. Oh, and did we mention that Tom Hanks served as an executive producer and also lends his voice to the film?

Meeting the family for the first time is never easy, and it's definitely not easy if your first time is over the holidays — and your boyfriend's brother happens to be extremely hot. With yet another stacked cast that includes Diane Keaton, Craig T. Nelson, Sarah Jessica Parker, Dermot Mulroney, Luke Wilson, Elizabeth Reaser, Rachel McAdams, and Claire Danes, among others, it's pretty impossible not to fall in love with the Stone family.

Starring Ryan Reynolds and Amy Smart, a geeky-teen-turned-successful-record-executive returns to his hometown 10 years later over the holidays to tell his best friend that he is still in love with her (and his daffy pop star girlfriend, played by Anna Faris, tags along). It may not go as smoothy as he planned, but being home for Christmas does allow him to reconnect with his old self again, who he'd lost sight of while living and thriving in Hollywood.

What happens when a down-on-her-luck English woman (played by Kate Winslet) agrees to switch homes over the holidays with an unlucky-in-love Californian (played by Cameron Diaz)? As well as a change of scenery, both ladies get a chance encounter with a new man (Jack Black and Jude Law, respectively) who helps make what would have been a lonely holiday a whole lot sweeter.

The Finch family loves Christmas and are known for having the most beautifully decorated house on the block — that is, until new neighbour Buddy Hall moves in with the intention of having his home so lit up for the holidays that it's visible from space. Buddy and Dr. Steve Finch soon find themselves in a heated competition to be the most spirited, and yes, this movie is pretty bad, but it also has a cast that includes Danny DeVito, Matthew Broderick, Kristin Davis, Kristin Chenoweth, Alia Shawkat, Jorge Garcia, and Fred Armisen, among others, so it's redeemable.

So as it turns out, Old St. Nicholas has a brother, Fred, and he is without a doubt the black sheep of the Claus family. When Fred (played by Vince Vaughn) finds himself in big financial trouble, his brother Nick (played by Paul Giamatti) agrees to bail Fred out and let him pay off his debt in the North Pole, which goes just about as well as you'd expect — but at least Elizabeth Banks happens to be a beautiful, abnormally tall elf in the North Pole.

Choosing where to spend Christmas is never easy — especially when you and your partner both have divorced parents, meaning you are obligated to visit four different homes over the holidays. Though Brad and Kate (played by Vince Vaughn and Reese Witherspoon) originally planned an exotic getaway for the holidays, their plans fall through, and they are guilted into trudging through four separate Christmas celebrations instead.