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The Worst Holiday Movies of All Time

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

Holiday movies can bring a lot of cheer, but not all the time. Thinking about really great holiday movies has got us wondering: what are the worst holiday movies of all time? For every smart, funny, and heartwarming movie, there's one that's the cinematic equivalent of a big lump of coal in your stocking.

Judging "the worst" is somewhat subjective, so we've turned to Rotten Tomatoes to find the holiday movies that have scored the most "rotten" on their Tomatometer. The results aren't entirely surprising: plenty of comedies — and plenty of big-name stars — that failed big-time to find that holiday magic. How many of these infamous holiday flops have you seen?

Image Source: Everett Collection

20. Last Christmas

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%

Image Source: Everett Collection

19. A Bad Moms Christmas

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%

Image Source: Everett Collection

18. Home Alone 2: Lost in New York

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%

Image Source: Everett Collection

17. Home Alone 3

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%

Image Source: Everett Collection

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16. Unaccompanied Minors

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%

Image Source: Everett Collection

15. Noel

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%

Image Source: Everett Collection

14. Four Christmases

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%

Image Source: Everett Collection

13. I'll Be Home For Christmas

'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%

Image Source: Everett Collection

12. Fred Claus

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%

Image Source: Everett Collection

11. Tyler Perry's A Madea Christmas

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

Score: 20%

Image Source: Everett Collection

10. Love the Coopers

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%

Image Source: Everett Collection

9. The Perfect Holiday

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%

Image Source: Everett Collection

8. The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause

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%

Image Source: Everett Collection

7. Jingle All the Way

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%

Image Source: Everett Collection

6. Black Christmas

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%

Image Source: Everett Collection

5. Surviving Christmas

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%

Image Source: Everett Collection

4. Deck the Halls

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

Score: 6%

Image Source: Everett Collection

3. Christmas With the Kranks

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

Score: 5%

Image Source: Everett Collection

2. The Nutcracker in 3D

This overstuffed, slightly creepy retelling of The Nutcracker has the dubious honour of being one of just a handful of movies unfortunate enough to receive no positive reviews at all.

Score: 0%

1. Saving Christmas

Kirk Cameron's 2014 movie, about a man who decides to teach his brother-in-law the true meaning of Christmas, reads more like a one-sided lecture than a movie with a plot — and critics agreed, making it join the 0% club.

Score: 0%

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