National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, A Bad Moms Christmas, A Very Harold and Kumar Christmas and Candy Cane Lane Courtesy Everett Collection; Hilary Bronwyn Gayle/STX Entertainment/Courtesy Everett Collection; Warner Bros. Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection; Claudette Barius/Amazon Prime Video/Courtesy Everett Collection

25 Christmas Comedies to Watch This Holiday Season

While waiting to open your gifts with loved ones on Christmas Day, enjoy the holidays and laugh it up with these movies.

The holiday season is a particularly busy time for just about everyone. People are frantically shopping for last-minute gifts, waiting in long parking lines to enter the malls and spending time with their loved ones. There’s always something happening during this time of year. Amid all the hectic activity, people have their own ways of de-stressing and taking a moment for themselves so they can make it through the holiday season. One fun way to de-stress from all the craziness? Watching a Christmas comedy.

We’ve compiled a list of options, whether you’re watching a movie by yourself, or with family and loved ones. If this were a more general Christmas movie round-up, of course, we could have some debate about whether Die Hard should be on the list, but this isn’t one of those lists. This one is specifically looking at Christmas comedy movies. These movies range from fun R-rated action comedies to family-friendly timeless classics that can be watched with your young ones. Here are 25 Christmas comedies to pick from during this holiday season.

‘A Bad Moms Christmas’

Mila Kunis, Kristen Bell and Kathryn Hahn reprise their roles from 2016’s Bad Moms. This time, they’re dealing with their own mothers who are visiting for Christmas. The three new mothers are played by Christine Baranski, Cheryl Hines and Susan Sarandon.
‘Bad Santa’

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This 2003 film will give you something to chew on if you’re looking for raunchiness in your comedy. Billy Bob Thornton plays a Santa Claus who travels the country with his elf and goes around robbing malls blindly until he meets an 8-year-old boy who helps him develop a change of heart. Bernie Mac stars alongside in the film, which was directed by Terry Zwigoff and written by Glenn Ficarra and John Requa. The Coen Brothers are executive producers as well. A sequel was released in 2016.
‘Candy Cane Lane’

Eddie Murphy stars in this 2023 film, directed by Reginald Hudlin. The film follows Murphy’s character making a deal with a Christmas elf to win the house-decorating contest on his neighborhood block. Candy Cane Lane — which also stars Tracee Ellis Ross, Jillian Bell, Thaddeus J. Mixon, Ken Marino, Trevante Rhodes, David Alan Grier and Nick Offerman — is available to stream on Amazon Prime Video.
‘A Christmas Story’

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An holiday classic that is an annual must-watch, A Christmas Story is adapted from the 1966 book In God We Trust: All Others Pay Cash, the third installment in the Parker Family saga. The film follows a young boy named Ralphie, played by Peter Billingsley, who really wants a Red Ryder BB gun for Christmas, and his family during the holidays in 1939.
‘Christmas With the Kranks’

Directed by Joe Roth and with a screenplay from veteran screenwriter Chris Columbus, Christmas With the Kranks is based on the 2001 John Grisham novel Skipping Christmas. The cast is led by Tim Allen, Jamie Lee Curtis and Dan Aykroyd. The film follows a family who must contend with their daughter, played by Julie Gonzalo, unexpectedly returning home for the holidays after enrolling in the Peace Corps.
‘Deck the Halls’

This film stars Danny DeVito and Matthew Broderick as neighbors who are competing against each other to see who can have the best decorated house for Christmas.
‘Elf’

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Will Ferrell stars in this film as a human who was raised by Santa’s elves. He decides to go back to New York City and discover his human roots, which leads him on a path to meeting his biological father (James Caan). The cast also includes Zooey Deschanel, Ed Asner, Bob Newhart, Peter Dinklage and Jon Favreau (who also directed).
‘Four Christmases’

This film follows a couple who travel to four different family parties during Christmastime. The cast includes Vince Vaughn, Reese Witherspoon, Robert Duvall and Jon Favreau.
‘Fred Claus’

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This Christmas film stars Vince Vaughn, Paul Giamatti, Miranda Richardson, John Michael Higgins, Elizabeth Banks, Rachel Weisz, Kathy Bates, Trevor Peacock, Ludacris and Kevin Spacey. The film is inspired by “A Legend of Santa and His Brother Fred,” a poem written by Donald Henkel.
‘Friday After Next’

Ice Cube and Mike Epps return in Friday After Next, the third installment of the Friday trilogy ,as Craig and Day-Day. A Santa Claus-costumed robber breaks into their apartment and steals their presents alongside the rent money. The film also has appearances from Terry Crews and Katt Williams.
‘Home Alone’

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The original Home Alone has become a holiday staple. It shot Macaulay Culkin to fame as a successful child star in the ‘90s. Who could forget moments like the flame thrower setting Joe Pesci’s head on fire or “keep the change, you filthy animal”?
‘Home Alone 2: Lost in New York’

Home Alone 2: Lost in New York is just as much of a classic as the original. Culkin reprises his role as Kevin, but this time he takes on Marv and Harry in the Big Apple. All the original cast members return for the second film. One of the memorable moments from this film is seeing Marv’s skeleton inside his body when he gets electrocuted.
‘The Holiday’

Nancy Meyers wrote, directed and co-produced this 2006 Christmas rom-com film. The film stars Kate Winslet, Cameron Diaz, Jude Law and Jack Black.
‘How the Grinch Stole Christmas’

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Based on Dr. Seuss’ 1957 children’s book, How the Grinch Stole Christmas became the first live-action adaptation of the beloved classic. The film stars Jim Carrey as The Grinch and has all the classic Jim Carrey physical comedy you might to expect from his movies. Grinch also marked the first full-length feature film adaptation of a Dr. Seuss book.
‘Jingle All the Way’

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Arnold Schwarzenegger stars in this 1996 comedy alongside Sinbad. Schwarzenegger and Sinbad are two fathers who are competing against each other to buy an action figure for their respective sons on Christmas Eve. The film was co-written by Chris Columbus.
‘Love Actually’

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Love Actually follows 10 different stories involving different groups of people as they deal with different aspects of love during the holidays. The 2003 rom-com classic stars an ensemble cast that includes Liam Neeson, Colin Firth, Keira Knightley, Alan Rickman, Emma Thompson, Hugh Grant and Bill Nighy.
‘A Madea Christmas’

Tyler Perry returns in the eighth installment in the Madea franchise. This is Perry’s first Christmas-themed screenplay. The cast also includes Kathy Najimy, Chad Michael Murray, Anna Maria Horsford, Tika Sumpter, Eric Lively, JR Lemon, Alicia Witt, Lisa Whelchel and Larry the Cable Guy.
‘Miracle on 34th Street’

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Miracle on 34th Street is one of those movies that feels like a Christmas miracle (no pun intended). The movie is about a department store Santa Claus who claims to be the real Santa. The movie was nominated for four Academy Awards, including best picture, and it went home with three awards.
‘Mickey’s Once Upon a Christmas’

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The 1999 animated movie was released as a direct-to-video film before direct-to-streaming was ever an idea. The Christmas anthology features three short stories: Donald Duck: Stuck on Christmas, A Very Goofy Christmas and Mickey and Minnie’s Gift of the Magi.
‘National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation’

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The third installment in the Vacation film series was directed by Jeremiah S. Chechik and has a screenplay written by John Hughes. The previous installments in the series followed the Griswold family (Chevy Chase, Beverly D’Angelo and their rotating cast of kids) as they take a vacation and the chaos ensues. Christmas Vacation has the same craziness and wackiness one has grown to expect from the series.
‘Scrooged’

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Scrooged is a modern retelling of A Christmas Carol, the 1843 novel written by Charles Dickens. Directed by Richard Donner, the film stars Bill Murray as Frank Cross. Scrooged, which takes place on Christmas Eve, finds Frank visited by several Christmas ghosts who help him regain his Christmas spirit.
‘Spirited’

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Ryan Reynolds and Will Ferrell team up in this Christmas comedy, which is a retelling as well as a satire of Charles Dickens’ 1843 novel A Christmas Carol. Ferrell is the Ghost of Christmas, and Ryan Reynolds is the “irredeemable” man who helps the Ghost in more ways than he expected. The film is available to stream on Apple TV+.
‘Trading Places’

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This film, one of the most iconic comedies from the ’80s, sees the cinematic pairing of Eddie Murphy and Dan Aykroyd. Directed by John Landis, Trading Places stars Aykroyd as a commodities broker and Murphy as a street hustler who switch financial circumstances to see how they each handle it.
‘Violent Night’

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Violent Night stars David Harbour as Santa Claus, who must save a wealthy family who was taken hostage by a group of armed mercenaries. The 2022 action-comedy, which is rated R, also stars John Leguizamo, Alex Hassell and Beverly D’Angelo.
‘A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas’

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The Harold & Kumar franchise returned with a Christmas-themed third installment. Stoner buddies Harold and Kumar, played by John Cho and Kal Penn, respectively, are back, and this time they’re looking to acquire a Christmas tree after Kumar unintentionally burns the Christmas tree belonging to Harold’s father-in-law.