10 Underrated Christmas Comedies Worth Watching This Holiday Season

There's nothing like decorating the tree with "Home Alone" or "The Santa Clause" playing in the background, or gathering around the TV for both versions of "Miracle on 34th Street." These films are well-worn and comfortable, already popular for decades. But while friends and families may appreciate these ubiquitous favorites, they likely watch a few hidden gems every season, too — those films that, while they may not dominate the airwaves, are considered classics by the people who love them most.

Long before Hallmark became the biggest purveyor of holiday rom-coms, theaters showcased a great range of Yuletide fare. This was particularly true in the 1940s, which the British Film Institute called "the golden age of the Christmas movie." There's much more to that decade than "It's a Wonderful Life," but as time marches on, more and more holiday films fail to get the recognition they should. 

Christmas comedies are especially fun to watch as winter sets in. During a time of year that tends to cause stress and fatigue, kicking back and laughing as characters sort out their love lives, family dynamics, and futures can be helpful, and finding new (or new to you) treasures makes for even sweeter movie marathons. So, enjoy these underrated holiday comedies, plucked from several chapters of both cinema and television history.

As Jeremy Arnold observes in his book "Christmas in the Movies," "Christmas no doubt resonated on the screen in [the 1940s] because it was so often used to represent romance, nostalgia, and the idea of a complete family unit — all while millions of moviegoers were separated from loved ones or rebuilding their own families." Arnold's point is proven in "Christmas in Connecticut," a farmhouse romance brimming with situational irony.

Barbara Stanwyck portrays Elizabeth Lane, a magazine writer specializing in food, home, and lifestyle. She pens her column as though she's looking out the window of her idyllic Connecticut home, complete with a husband, baby, and farm animals. In reality, however, Elizabeth is a single woman living in a tiny New York apartment. Her ruse is jeopardized when a kindly nurse writes to Elizabeth's boss, Mr. Yardley, asking if a recovering soldier may spend Christmas at her farmhouse. Yardley thinks it's a splendid idea, so he commands Elizabeth to play hostess and invites himself along. Conveniently, the writer accepts a marriage proposal from Mr. Sloan, an architect she's not in love with, who just happens to have a farmhouse. Throw in a borrowed baby and some culinary help from her friend Felix, and Elizabeth might be able to pull off this whole charade.

I can think of few films that balance romance and comedy as well as this one does. The soldier, Jefferson Jones (Dennis Morgan), is thrilled to have a real old-fashioned Christmas, but he's even more excited by the beautiful Elizabeth Lane. She feels the same way about Jones, so she intentionally postpones her marriage to Sloan. You won't want to miss the passionate ending!

Freeform has undergone many evolutions. For our purposes, though, the important thing to know is that in 1996, when the network was known as The Family Channel, the 25 Days of Christmas programming block was born, making a monumental mark on Christmas cable history. One of the first original films to debut under this banner was "Christmas Every Day," a family film starring eventual "The Princess Diaries" actor Erik von Detten. 

Von Detten's character, Billy Jackson, isn't exactly full of the Christmas spirit, but he does have one heck of a '90s attitude. "Why don't you just put the store on the computer, Dad? We're living like the Flintstones," he says while operating an old-fashioned cash register at his father's general store. The next day is Christmas, of course, and after Billy blows off his family's traditional carol singing, he sabotages the community pageant and goes to bed wishing for no more Christmases. His rich uncle is plotting to build a big box store in their small town, and everything else seems to be changing too, so Billy tells his sister Sarah she'd better wish for "Christmas every day" if she wants to see the holiday again. Sarah does just that, and won't let Billy sleep until he makes the same wish. You can guess what happens next.

Though this telefilm is somewhat dated and leans more into drama than some other movies on this list, there are moments of both sweetness and humor as Billy goes through his Christmas time loop. Von Detten brings a wide range of emotions to the role, making Billy's evolution toward helping others believable.

Melody Parris (Mimi Rogers) is one of my favorite Christmas rom-com leads. An early original for the 25 Days of Christmas, "The Christmas List" asks the viewer to indulge in some wishful thinking. Melody is a perfume sales associate at a department store who, with some encouragement from her friend and colleague, Naomi, starts dropping Christmas lists in Santa's mailbox. Surprisingly, Melody's wishes come true. She hears bells jingling and sees the granter of each request smiling while wearing a Santa hat.

At the beginning of the film, Melody isn't satisfied living in the same apartment complex as her mom, dating her (conceited) boyfriend George, or watching another salesperson get all the glory at work; seeing her get what she wants out of life in her 30s, both personally and professionally, is a big deal. At work, Melody is called "The Nose" for her ability to smell perfume blindfolded and correctly identify each fragrance, a creative touch that adds lots of warmth to the movie. It's also key to the plot: Melody uses her talent to help a young boy named Danny buy a scent that will remind him of his deceased mother.

That's when Marla Maples enters the picture. While married to Donald Trump, Maples appeared in this film as the conniving girlfriend of Danny's father, Dr. David Skyler. However, through her magical wish list, Melody discovers what everyone watching already knows: She and David are meant to be together. As her friend Naomi dramatically says, "You're falling for the doctor!" And boy, does she.

ABC Family returned to the time-loop genre with a grown-up take in 2011, when it aired "12 Dates of Christmas." Here, Amy Smart plays Kate Stanton, who works in advertising and can't get over her ex-boyfriend, Jack. While at the mall on Christmas Eve, a saleswoman spritzes Kate with perfume, which is apparently so strong that it causes her to faint. That night, Kate goes on a blind date with Miles Dufine (Mark-Paul Gosselaar), a widower her dad's girlfriend has set her up with. Kate is distracted the whole time and leaves to meet up with Jack. He has moved on, but Kate is still determined to get him back.

Just before midnight, Kate drifts off as the shopping network plugs its partridge-and-a-pear tree brooch and earring set. Then, the clock rewinds back to the moment when Kate is passed out on the floor of the department store. This repeats throughout the film, giving Kate time to learn to let go of her ex. 

Reliving Christmas Eve also causes Kate to notice small details she missed before, to help others more readily, and to see the people in her life differently. She gradually pays more attention to Miles, and learns that he is a gifted architect who coaches a hockey team made up of young men who live in a group home. From her misguided beginnings to the kiss in the snow that breaks her Christmas Eve curse, Kate's story is a good reminder to pay attention to all that the world has to offer — and all that we have to offer to it.

Walter Lang directed "Desk Set," a brilliant Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy outing that includes a buzzing Yuletide office party. Hepburn's character, Bunny Watson, is the head of the reference department for Federal Broadcasting, which citizens could call to ask questions that they would Google today (for example, what are Santa's reindeer named?). Bunny and her trio of workers are whip-smart, quickly locating the information their callers seek. However, in the leadup to the holidays, Tracy's Richard Sumner threatens their jobs with an invention he's named EMERAC, or Electronic Memory and Research Arithmetical Calculator. 

Anyone seeking Christmas merriment will find plenty here. "Hark the Herald Angels Sing" plays while Bunny and her co-workers decorate the office, and they throw a rousing bash where the champagne flows freely. However, the new year brings a rude awakening when EMERAC is installed. Bunny works to demonstrate that the machine is flawed, and the results are hilarious, especially when EMERAC spits out a poem with thousands of lines while trying to answer an unrelated question.

Despite the film's age, Phoebe and Henry Ephron's script crackles, and the well-established chemistry between Tracy and Hepburn helps elevate "Desk Set" above other comedies from the same era. It's not the most Christmas-focused film here, but if you're in the mood for some classic Hollywood shenanigans this Yuletide, you'll be hard-pressed to find better.

When it premiered in 2021, Andy Fickman's "Christmas...Again?!" was the first Disney Channel Original Christmas movie in 10 years. Set in Chicago, the film follows Rowena (Scarlett Estevez) as she experiences, you guessed it, another Christmas Day time loop. This time, though, Ro actually wants a do-over, because she disappointed her relatives on the holiday. As she repeats the festivities with her blended family, Ro experiences several different Christmases. With a little help from Santa, she crosses some items off her ultimate Chicago fun list, tries to get her parents back together, and finally accepts that her family will not be the same as it was before.

This film balances both the growing pains and the humor of navigating a new family dynamic. Ro's mom tries to explain to her that more family members equals more love, but Ro must come to that realization on her own. Toward the end of the film, Ro's mother notices that she has been reading Dickens' "A Christmas Carol." Ro says Scrooge "needed to go through it ... so that he could become a better person. Someone who isn't afraid of letting new people in. It's never too late for a reset." "Christmas...Again?!" captures the reality that even if the holidays aren't perfect, what matters most is the love families have for each other.

Netflix released its first-ever queer holiday comedy, "Single All the Way," in 2021. As writer Chad Hodges told Tudum, "I really wanted it to be an accepting family. I didn't want there to be anything about coming out of the closet or there's one member of the family who doesn't like that he's gay." Instead, Peter (Michael Urie) has tons of support from his family members, who cheer him on as he tries to find his one true love.

Don't let the sleek establishing shots fool you. This is not an episode of "Selling Sunset." Though the film begins in Los Angeles, Peter is about to head home for Christmas with his family in New Hampshire when he is crushed to learn that his boyfriend is married to a woman. Instead of flying solo, Peter gets his gay roommate and best friend, Nick (Philemon Chambers), to accompany him and pretend to be his new partner. However, the boyfriend scheme goes awry when Peter's mother Carole (Kathy Najimy) announces that she's set her son up on a blind date with the town's sexy fitness trainer. 

"Single All the Way" is a largely conventional Christmas rom-com, with all the tropes you associate with the genre, but that's not a knock against it. In a way, that's the entire point. As Hodges says, he wanted to create a holiday film that, as per tradition, celebrates love, not suffering. Mission accomplished.

I worked backwards when it comes to "The Shop Around the Corner." I was first introduced to its '90s remake, "You've Got Mail," an AOL love story starring Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks. Many years later, I watched Judy Garland and Van Johnson lead "In the Good Old Summertime," a 1949 musical remake of the 1940 film. Meanwhile, Lubitsch's 1940 movie was actually a remake itself; it's based on Miklós László's 1936 play "Parfumerie," which also inspired the Broadway musical "She Loves Me" and its film adaptation.

"The Shop Around the Corner" creates a romance between pen pals Alfred Kralik (James Stewart) and Klara Novak (Margaret Sullavan). In their letters, Klara and Kralik don't know one another's names or real identities. As such, Kralik isn't thrilled when Klara come work with him at Mr. Matuschek's shop in Budapest. That changes one fateful night, when Kralik and a co-worker peer into the window of a restaurant where he and his mysterious pen pal are supposed to meet, and Kralik learns that she and Klara are one and the same. 

The chemistry between Stewart and Sullavan lights up the film's holiday setting, and their banter elevates "The Shop Around the Corner" into one of the finest romantic comedies ever made, Christmas-themed or otherwise. Just look at the finale, in which Kralik finally tells Klara, "My dearest sweetheart, Klara, I can't stand it any longer. Please, take your key and open post office box 237 and take me out of my envelope and kiss me." Swoon.

Tia Mowry showed off her Christmas charm and her cheerful voice in ABC Family's "The Mistle-Tones." This 2012 movie musical pits Mowry's character, Holly, against Marci (Tori Spelling), the leader of The Snow Belles, a Christmas-themed singing group. Holly's late mother founded The Snow Belles, but Marci has long since taken over and put her stamp all over it. The film opens with Holly preparing for her audition for the group, and then arriving late for her hearty rendition of "O Holy Night." Marci won't give Holly a chance, so she decides to start a rival group with her work colleagues: The Mistle-Tones.

It's delightful to watch Holly and her co-workers bust a move after hours and plan their act for a contest at the mall — where they'll go head-to-head against The Snow Belles, of course. In particular, watching Holly's all-business boss, Nick, secretly perform "Burning Love" at a karaoke bar is a hoot. Even better, it leads to Holly blackmailing Nick by threatening to tell everyone his secret if he doesn't help coach The Mistle-Tones. "Under that corporate robot exterior beats the heart of a rock star," she tells him. Some predictable bumps in the road — and a not-so-surprising romance — follow, but the message is worth it. You never know when the people in your everyday life, even those at your office, might surprise you.

Clea DuVall's holiday rom-com "Happiest Season" was set for the big screen, but moved to Hulu in late 2020. Starring Kristen Stewart and Mackenzie Davis as Abby and Harper, respectively, "Happiest Season" is one of the funniest Christmas movies I've ever seen. 

Abby and Harper are both ready to move forward in their relationship, so Harper takes Abby home for Christmas with her family. However, Harper hasn't been truthful with Abby about the fact that she has not come out to her parents or sisters, and doesn't reveal this until they're well into the drive to Harper's family's home. And so, Abby must pretend to be Harper's "roommate" for the holiday. Mary Steenburgen is hilarious as Harper's perfectionist mom, Tipper, and Victor Garber smoothly portrays her father, Ted, who is running for mayor.

Tensions escalate further when Abby becomes fed up with Harper as she pals around with an ex-boyfriend all night, hiding behind some kind of hometown persona. Even Abby's best friend, John (Dan Levy), can't seem to turn things around. But it's not all gloom; despite the extreme awkwardness, "Happiest Season" is as charming as they come. Hopefully, those plans for a sequel pan out — we'd love to spend another holiday with Abby, Harper, and the rest.