Christmas-Adjacent Movies to Watch for the Holidays

Just as Joni Mitchell’s “River” isn’t nominally a Christmas song but finds its way onto many a holiday playlist, there are certain movies that aren’t technically Christmas movies but which get regular airtime each December.

Our household’s holiday must-see list is stacked with the classics — Muppets Christmas Carol, Home Alone, Christmas Vacation, Merry Christmas Mr. Bean, A Charlie Brown Christmas, etc. — but there are a whole bunch of other movies that I always get the craving to re-watch this time of year.

These feature Christmas in one way or another, but they’re not plot-driven by Christmas as an event or concept. So let’s call them Christmas-adjacent movies and not worry about it too much, OK?

Here are four Christmas-adjacent movies I adore:

Bridget Jones’ Diary

I will fully admit that Dan and I have had multiple heated discussions over whether or not this Officially Qualifies as a Christmas movie. He says it’s not, but this is one I watch every year (on my own) to get the holiday feels.

There’s just something so festive about the misadventures of Miss Bridget Jones that I want to curl up under a blanket and enjoy every moment of Colin Firth in his reindeer jumper, the snowy streets around Bridget’s flat, mini gherkins and turkey curry buffets, dinner parties of smug marrieds and ruby wedding jubilees, and of course absolutely enormous panties. Hello, mummy!

My West Coast bestie Lauren is also on Team Bridget Jones Holiday here. (However, Lauren and I have also been known to watch Love Actually together in the middle of August, so you may not necessarily trust our judgment.)

About A Boy

“Look who’s coming round the bend, it’s Santa and his reindeer friends…” Sure, the fact that the main character lives off royalties from a Christmas song doesn’t automatically make this a Christmas movie.

But. I dare you to fight off the warm holiday fuzzies when you watch Will slowly thaw his Grinchy heart enough to save Marcus and wail to “Killing Me Softly” at the school talent show.

Plus, like Bridget Jones, this is a movie set in Britain , so we get a scene with those adorable paper crowns that come in Christmas crackers. And we all get the gift of Badly Drawn Boy’s perfectly jingle-y Christmas tune “Donna and Blitzen” that plays over the end credits.

(Plus plus, even though I’ve mellowed out so much over the past 20 years and am continuing to work through my Aries South Node tendencies, I still feel like Nick Hornby looked deep into my soul when he wrote Will Freeman and Rob Gordon.)

Beautiful Girls

Maybe you missed this ‘90s gem when it was released, but this is actually a good one to watch in January when you’re feeling the holiday comedown. You get the comfortingly depressive vibe of post-Christmas New England winter (what? if you grew up in the Northeast, you get it) mixed in with the dim warmth of wood-paneled bars and, as Jack Kerouac termed it, the “faint not-painful nostalgia” of your reckless youth slipping away.

I personally want to be hanging out eating apps at the Johnson Inn at the holidays and all winter long.

And this has nothing to do with Christmas, but I’ll just note that Beautiful Girls was released in 1996 with this scene, and “Sweet Caroline” was first played at a Red Sox game in 1997.

When Harry Met Sally

Let me be clear: There is never a bad time of year to watch When Harry Met Sally. It is, in fact, the greatest movie of our time. Therefore, you could watch it every single day and live your best life.

But because the climactic scene occurs on New Year’s Eve, it’s a perfect excuse to throw it on yet again and recite every single line along with the movie. Because who needs to be at a big, crowded party pretending to have a good time? You could be at home watching the most perfect film in the world instead. (Don’t forget the Mallomars.)

And while we’re here, let’s talk about Die Hard…

Like the swallows returning to San Juan Capistrano, every December the entire internet rehashes the question: “Is Die Hard a Christmas movie?”

For me, personally, Die Hard IS a Christmas movie. I know I’m unlikely to change anyone’s mind on this point and I’m not going to go point by point here (cough it’s set at an office Christmas party cough), but there’s too much holiday-related tomfoolery in this film for me to consider it any other way.

However, if you enjoy watching Die Hard in December but don’t want to officially add it to your holiday movie list, you can call it Christmas-adjacent. Or just good old fashioned family fun.