I’m Not Ashamed to Admit I Loved the New Jonas Brothers Christmas Movie

No one in my house grew up with the Jonas Brothers. The only brothers in a band my husband and I started were Liam and Noel Gallagher, and my kids, ages 12 and 7, missed the window when Nick, Kevin and Joe Jonas were teen idols with a hit TV show. And yet, I’m here to tell you that everyone in my family loved the new Jonas Brothers movie, A Very Jonas Christmas Movie (available now on Disney Plus), even though none of us are necessarily the target audience.

A Very Jonas Christmas Movie is probably the most generic title that could have been given to this film, so it doesn’t really give you any idea of ​​what to expect when you watch it. In the very first scene, Will Ferrell appears playing an enhanced version of himself and forcing his family to attend a Jonas Brothers concert in London because he is a huge superfan. “If my children fell off a boat and you fell off a boat, I would save you rather than my children!” Ferrell yells at the band as they perform in concert later in the film.

This scene sets the tone for what’s to come: a well-crafted, sharp road trip comedy that mines plenty of jokes about how uncool the Jonas Brothers are now that they’re tired “old” dads in their 30s, with the trio making most of the jokes at their own expense. I used to not identify with the Jonas Brothers, but I too am a tired parent who uses self-deprecation as a survival tool. Maybe I have more in common with these former teen stars than I thought? This makes me forgive myself for opting for such a dull title.

The film begins at the final concert of the Jonas Brothers’ world tour, just days before Christmas. At the end of the show, Nick, Joe and Kevin Jonas all plan to take their private jet from London to New York to see their families. However, the brothers don’t get along, so when Joe accidentally meets Santa (played by Jesse Tyler Ferguson) at a bar, Santa realizes that the Jonases need time together to reconnect. So Santa does what you expect Santa to do and puts a friendly curse on them. Its first effect causes their plane to explode before they can board it, forcing them to work together to find their way home. (That’s not the only plane in the movie that will turn into a fireball, just so you know.)

What follows is a series of accidents and a cavalcade of celebrity cameos, including KJ Apa as a pilot, Andrea Martin as a taxi driver who doesn’t really know how to drive, and Kenny G as himself (whom I won’t spoil for you), as the Jonas Brothers desperately try to get home, with the curse of Santa Claus sabotaging them in every city in Europe.

As a cynic (remember how I grew up with Oasis? Cynicism is the default setting for my generation), I wasn’t trying to be impressed by the long list of cameos. Many movies have tons of cameos and they are garbage. But all the A Very Jonas Christmas Movie celebrities understand the mission here: go big or go home.

While Will Ferrell provides the film’s memorable kickoff, one of the funniest moments is when Nick Jonas encounters a (fictional) nemesis named Ethan, a child star with whom Nick starred in the Broadway musical Home Alone (also fictional, but I wish it was real). Real Broadway actor Andrew Barth Feldman plays Ethan, and while he may not be the biggest celebrity in the film, his performance with Nick, where they sing a fake Home Alone song, is funny on many levels. Chloe Bennet, who starred in Agents of SHIELD and is a former teen pop star herself, also plays a starring role in the film. Not only does she showcase impressive singing skills in a duet with Joe, but she also forces the film to acknowledge that Joe’s love life has been tabloid fodder for years, and it’s approached in a clever way that acknowledges it in a fictional setting. (Turns out I’m not too old to know all the details of Joe Jonas’ divorce from Game of Thrones star Sophie Turner.)

Unsurprisingly, the film’s strength lies in the Jonases themselves. They perform several new, original, festive musical numbers that are all incredibly catchy (and perform a live version of their single, Sucker, over the closing credits), and their impressive comedic abilities are on display in every scene. Kevin is often the butt of jokes for being the least charismatic performer of the trio (a piece of “human cardboard,” is how Nick puts it), but he owns it and turns it into great comedy, while Joe’s romantic history allows him to show the side of him that his brothers call “the lovable tramp.” The siblings’ realistic pet peeves and cheap shots between them feel genuine, but also feel like an acknowledgment that they totally know what’s being said about their public personas, and now they’re in on the joke.

When reviewing movies, most of the time you’re asked to sign an embargo that doesn’t allow you to reveal any plot details or spoilers, and the embargo for A Very Jonas Christmas Movie was pretty strict. Reviewers were asked not to say publicly that they had even received prior reviews. It’s rare that I want to brag about the cool stuff I watch and do for work on social media (I have to keep this a secret), but the fact that I haven’t been allowed to discuss watching the movie for the past two weeks was difficult because I literally wanted to tell as many people as possible to watch this movie when it comes out, it’s so fun. Even though I’ve tried to avoid Jonase for the last 20 years because I thought it wasn’t my thing, well, the joke’s on me, because I missed out. Turns out these guys are talented!

Oh, and it’s not for nothing that the movie ends with Santa, happy to have helped restore Jonas’ brotherly love, rushing off because he needs to help another group in need… Oasis.