“A Very Jonas Christmas Movie” certainly lives up to the “very” in its title. It’s very fan-oriented and attuned to its maturing audience (Will Ferrell, playing himself, sets the tone). It’s also very much the kind of movie you make when you’re a millennial boy band that knows the inherent comic contrast between being pop heartthrobs and, as Nick Jonas puts it, “three extremely exhausted dads in our 30s” — and is fully in on the joke.
The last time the brothers fronted a Disney project, their purity rings were still a punchline. In this movie, they all have kids they need to get home to before Christmas, while Joe — deemed the “lovable tramp” by Kevin — also leans into whatever mischief single-dom still allows. Kevin, meanwhile, is still chasing his solo vocal moment.
Oh, and there is something of a plot: The brothers make the terrible decision to leave the venue on their own to let loose, without any handlers, after a London gig. Enter Santa (Jesse Tyler Ferguson), who promptly blows up their tour plane and traps them under a spell. They can’t go home until they can rediscover the brotherly harmony they’ve lost. Amid all the fantasy, their sibling struggles feel real.
The musical-comedy is pure festive sugar rushes and nostalgic kitsch — very Jonas, indeed. It might sound dumber than it actually is, but Isaac Aptaker and Elizabeth Berger’s self-mocking script includes sly commentary on the famous siblings. While the vanilla songs lack magic, the dad jokes and brotherly roasting feel like their own kind of delightfully unserious gift.
A Very Jonas Christmas Movie
Not rated. 1 hour 19 minutes. Watch on Disney+.
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