I believe there is no family where the members don’t fight for the control of the remote to the TV constantly, as we all like different things. Nevertheless, come Christmas time there is one thing that reunites the whole family in front of the family TV, the classic Christmas movies. The movies we like to watch every Christmas, despite the fact that we have seem most of them more than dozens of times. I ask you, is there a Christmas day that your remember without Home Alone uniting us in the living room eating cake, drinking tea and opening presents, or How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Although the more conventional movies for Christmas have always been the romantic or funny movies, there are some unconventional ones, without which as I remember Christmas wasn’t a Christmas in our family Starr Trek: The Wrath of Khan, or Die Hard. These movies though were saved for the Christmas dinner, because the most Christmas spirit movies are the funny ones.
Here is a list of some of the funniest Christmas movies for a great family day gathered around the TV and Christmas tree. Movies that will awake the Christmas spirit in you even if you are not filling it this year. Some of them you might know all too well, some would have made you rolling with laughter, some maybe even cry a bit, but they are all intermixed with the Christmas festive to the point that we cannot have it without them.
This list we have for you here is encompasses decades of great, funniest Christmas movies of their time.
Elf (2003)
The accidently transported to the North Pole and risen by elves, Buddy (Will Farrell), doesn’t feel like he fits there, even though he is even less suited to fit in New York City. He decided to travel regardless and find his real family. Hilarity and chaos ensues when he shows up in the city in his elfish costume and meets his real father, a cynical business man is trying to deal with his grown up son who acts like a child. Buddy might look a bit daft, a bit childish and naïve, but his joyful personality and very warm heart steal all our hearts when watching the movie.
How to Grinch Stole Christmas (2000)
On the outskirts of Whoville, lives a green, revenge-seeking Grinch who plans on ruining the Christmas holiday for all of the citizens of the town. The movie is not only funny with the green monster who hates Christmas, but also heart -warming and a perfect Christmas treat for grumpy family members, with its end when the Grinch saves Christmas.
Home Alone (1990)
Does this movie need introduction? Is there someone who hasn’t watched Home Alone every Christmas since it came out in the 1990s? The classical Christmas comedy with the sweet little Kevin (Macaulay Culkin), who wishes his family, would leave him alone. The eight year old boy needs to protect himself and his home from burglars when he is accidently left behind by his family.
The Nightmare before Christmas (1993)
Not all Christmas movies are just fluffy or hilarious, this slightly dark and spooky musical, in true Tim Burton style breaks all conventions. It tells the story of Jack Skellington, a resident from “Halloween Town” who stumbles through a portal to “Christmas Town” and decides to celebrate the holiday, with some dastardly and comical consequences.
The Night Before (2015)
This is a heart-warming story of friendship and loyalty during hard times. Not too family friendly, more in the style of The Hangover than Fuller’s Day Out, this movie is nevertheless very festive and funny with the whole mess and debacle a group of friends create around trying to create the best Christmas experience.
Bad Santa (2003)
This movie could be fun for the whole family if you are willing to let your children watch Santa being the bad but somehow likable boy of the movie. There are sex scandals; there is criminal intrigue and assassination plotting. Still in at the end of the movie, after all the hilarious debauchery there is some kind of redemption and in the true Christmas spirit a boy who saves Santa.
The Ref (1994)
A fun comedic movie for the family in which the comedy derives from a house robbery gone wrong and a dysfunctional family. An ostensibly dangerous criminal is foiled by a hilarious family feud and his only way to survive is to get them to resolve their problems.
Gremlins (1984)
When I was a child there was no counting down to Christmas unless one of the movies was Gremlins. It’s not only funny and a little bit scary, but also teaches us how to take a proper care of our pets. Really how hard it is to follow the two simple instructions: “Don’t feed the gremlins after midnight, don’t get them wet!” For one teenage boy it apparently is very hard, he breaks them both and unleashes a mischievous nightmare.
Arthur Christmas (2011)
Have you ever wondered how do Father Christmas does deliver all the presents in one night? This never before told amusing tale answers this question for the first time showing us his high tech operation under North Pole. In the centre of it all is a boy with an urgent mission.
Home Alone 2 (1992)
Another year, another Christmas and Kevin is again lost, somehow hilariously forgotten on his own again this time in New York in a hotel. The duo of burglars is back too, out of jail and on a mission of revenge towards Kevin. We all know the result of it all, as I think we all watch it right after the first movie.
The Santa Clause (1994)
This one is a line with some great funny holiday flicks of the 1990s to give you a good laugh and a cheer around the living room. A dad who has been angered by his ex and her new husband for disillusioning their 6 years old boy accidentally becomes recruited as Santa, when the real Santa falls off his roof.
Jingle All the Way (1996)
Arnold Schwarzenegger makes us laugh in a much unexpected role of him, as a father who vows to get his some Turbo Man as a Christmas present. The situation soon escalates and gets out of control as the toy is very popular and all the shops have ran out of it. All, but one last toy in one last shop, that is when Schwarzenegger’s character embarks on an impossible mission to get that last toy, and a battle for it with his neighbour.
Fred Claus (2007)
Here is another light hearted and amusing friendly movie, for a Christmas movie marathon list. When a Santa’s bitter brother Fred needs money to open a business, he asks his big brother Nick for a loan. The catch is he has to help Santa at the North Pole with preparing for Christmas.
Bad Santa 2 (2016)
It’s the Christmas time again, and the not at all reformed Willie Stoke is once again on the job of stealing. A decade after he is still drinking, adulterant and bitter. He is even ready to team up with his old partner Marcus to bring down a Christmas charity on Christmas Eve.
The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992)
This retelling of the classic Dickens tale of Ebenezer Scrooge, miser extraordinaire, it’s a classic family Christmas movie which we can find on almost every channel around Christmas. In the role of old Ebenezer we see Kermit the frog, he is held accountable for his dastardly ways during night-time visitations by the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and future.
Scrooged (1988)
Bill Murray is his usual delightful self in this modern rendition of Christmas Carol. Francis Xavier Cross is a cynical and self- obsesses television star who isn’t beyond sacking a man on Christmas Eve. At night he is confronted by spirits and learns a lesson. Bill Murray is always funny and never misses to deliver, and this movie is not an exception.
A very Murray Christmas (2015)
Once again Bill Murray delivers a light hearted and delightful movie, this time playing himself trying to avoid a manager who is trying to represent him, all the while having to on with his Christmas show. A show that is facing a disaster after a show storm leaves them snowed in and many of the artists blocked from reaching the venue.
Trapped in Paradise (1994)
Here’s another amusing Christmas story about a heist gone wrong, and the Christmas kindness and spirit sending a gang of robbers on the right path. This time three brothers who think that robbing the bank of a small town will be an easy job around Christmas and the only problem will be managing to get out before they are stormed in. However, the kindness of the townsfolk could turn more dangerous for their plan than the snowstorm or the police.
Ernest Saves Christmas (1988)
A little goofy, a little repetitive, but still a very funny family movie. Ernest is tasked to save Christmas by finding a replacement for Santa shortly before Christmas Eve as there would be no Christmas without Santa.
A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965)
This amusing and short, children’s tale of how Charlie Brown is trying to find the true meaning of Christmas, keeps the kids occupied while the parents prepare Christmas meal. Our parents used to put it on screen every Christmas during the day.
Just Friends (2005)
Ryan Reynolds is in his element as a witty womaniser in this romantic comedy about a man who had been rejected by the girl he loved in the past and is returning to town accidentally meeting her. However, this time he is returning as a sexy and successful musical producer and she is having second thoughts about remaining only friends this time around.
National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation (1989)
Who doesn’t dream of the perfect Christmas family dinner? We sure do when we get together for Christmas and watch the festive rom coms. In this one a family is trying to get together for a nice Christmas dinner but things never ever run smoothly for the Grisworld’s family. This is probably one of the most hilarious movies to watch at Christmas.
A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas (2011)
A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas might not be very family friendly (it is Harold and Kumar unleashed on New York after all), however, it is one of my favourite Christmas movies. Kal Penn and John Cho are hilarious as always. Thirteen years after the debacle at Guantanamo Bay, Harold and Kumar are back together again this time trying to find a replacement to Harold’s uncle’s Christmas tree after Kumar had managed to burn it down, and in classic style running into trouble at any turn.
Four Christmases (2008)
Brand and Kate are living together for a year and thinking that they are having the best they could of live and are not thinking of marriage or kids. Come Christmas eve they have to visit their parents, which both sets are divorced and are now four people they have to visit individually. During the progression of the movie, the have an eye opening experience and re-evaluate the quality of their status quo.
Bridget Jones’s Diary (2001)
Although, this is not strictly a Christmas movie, don’t we all love to sit in front of the TV with a tub of an ice cream and cry and laugh with our ditzy, clumsy and funny girl Bridget at any day, but especially at Christmas? We love her because she is an average woman struggling with her age, weight, job and single status. A lot of women can find themselves in her as she goes on a search of love through a year which she records in her diary.
Trading Places (1983)
Could this movie be any funnier? Murphy is in his element in this movie about a big shot business man and a bump trading places. After an argument between the two brothers owning the business on nature versus nurture they decide to do an experiment and trade one of their men Louis Winthorpe with an arrested bump to see how he would come and resolve the argument.
The Holiday (2006)
Two women with problems with their men around Christmas swap holiday houses and unexpectedly find love without even looking for it. Iris Simpkins who lives in London and writes a wedding column trades her home in Surrey with the Los Angeles based movie-trailer maker Amanda Woods. Iris is hopelessly in love with a colleague who is getting married, and Amanda has just been cheated on. They trade places over Christmas and while Amanda meets Iris’ brother in Surrey, Iris meets one of Amanda’s neighbours.
I’ll Be Home For Christmas (2016)
After a prank by his peers a student is left in the desert with no money and a way to get home but walk and it’s only a few days until Christmas. While he embarks on the almost impossible journey to reach home before Christmas he undergoes a spiritual journey on his own discovering the true meaning of Christmas.
The Preacher’s wife (2006)
This one is a favourite holiday movie with its heart-warming atmosphere. The Reverent Henry Briggs has his marriage wobbly when he takes too much time at his parish and developing his neighbourhood. The neighbourhood, however, is still falling apart and in his desperation the Reverent prays to God for help. The help comes in the form of an angel.
Mixed Nuts (1994)
In the classic Steve Martin style this movie doesn’t make much sense as a movie, nevertheless is a laugh out loud movie and very memorable. The events focus around a crisis hotline business on one crazy night during the Christmas holidays.
Christmas with the Kranks (2004)
One of our family’s favourite, and absolutely delightful movie about a family so dedicated to creating over board splendour in their neighbourhood for Christmas, that when they decided to forego celebrating they start to receive threats for it. Matters aren’t helped when their daughter is coming back home unexpectedly.
Love Actually (2003)
Love Actually, is definitely a British favourite. A little sad, a little funny, but very much brilliant, with an amazing star cast. Deals with the love live of eight very different couples whose lives are loosely connected with each other and the frantic time around Christmas.
