Jingle Bell Heist review (2025)

December 4, 2025 Jeffrey Lyles Connor Swindells, Jingle Bell Heist, Lucy Punch, Michael Fimognari, Michael Salami, Olivia Holt, Peter Serafinowicz

Jingle Bell Heist is a solid Christmas caper even if it can’t quite crack the romance angle.

Sophia (Olivia Holt, Totally Killer) is spending the holidays working at London’s largest department store. She works for a harsh and terribly impatient manager, Maxwell Sterling (Peter Serafinowicz), whose only joy in the Christmas season is the slew of customers coming in to help line his pockets.

For Sophia, the season has been rough as her mother, Rita (Natasha Joseph), is undergoing cancer treatment. The free healthcare is why Rita returned to London with her daughter, who she raised in the United States.

Screenwriters Amy Reed and Abby McDonald explain that backstory early on in Jingle Bell Heist to explain why viewers shouldn’t be upset for her Robin Hood acts. Sophia steals a wallet from a grumpy old man telling carolers to leave his storefront and nabs a diamond dog collar from a pesky customer berating one of Sophia’s co-workers.

While she clearly has a kind heart, Sophia has some selfish motives as she’s working on a scheme to steal valuable jewelry in the store’s basement safe. In addition to being a skilled pickpocket, Sophia also got a few tricks from her magician grandfather, which come in handy.

Sophia isn’t alone with her big jewelry dreams agenda. Nick (Connor Swindells, Barbie) also has his eyes on the jewelry literally via a surveillance camera he installed in the basement.

Like Sophia, Nick has a personal stake in scoring a huge payday. In his case, it’s so he can afford a place of his own to better provide for his daughter, Maddie (Alara-Star Khan), whom he co-parents with his ex-wife. For now, Nick is crashing over his best friend Ralph’s (Michael Salami) apartment.

Noticing Sophia’s suspicious actions on the surveillance camera, Nick seeks her assistance and the two become reluctant crime partners in trying to take down Sterling. Jingle Bell Heist has an unusual theme for a Christmas movie making the setup stand out against the standard plot point of big city girl returns home and rekindles a romance with the guy she left behind.

Director Michael Fimognari (To All the Boys: P.S. I Still Love You) has the formula down to make the premise work, including a subplot involving Maxwell’s frustrated wife, Cynthia (Lucy Punch, Into the Woods). Realizing they have more in common than they initially thought as purely heist partners, Sophia and Nick start to bond and develop different feelings.

Holt and Swindells have solid chemistry though it’s far more on a platonic level. Given Sophia and Nick’s distinct subplots, the romantic angle seems unnecessary. It almost feels like Jingle Bell Heist would have worked better just focusing on the caper in which case Nick and Sophia could just as easily have been old friends or co-workers reuniting for a common goal. They’re both very solid in their roles as a want to do right father and a caring daughter making them easy characters to root on even as they’re committing crimes.

Fortunately, Jingle Bell Heist resists the silly misunderstanding to drive Nick and Sophia apart once they both make their feelings for each other clear. Since the romance is more of an afterthought, Fimognari devotes most of Jingle Bell Heist’s 96-minute run time on the heist although it’s not easy for them. With such a focused plot, there’s no room for distractions, but Reed and McDonald’s script does allow for some well-timed obstacles and unexpected challenges that makes the caper more engaging.

Credit the screenwriters for finally working in the conversation about Batman Returns being a Christmas movie.

There’s a clever twist in the final act that ties the various plot points together nicely. The simplicity of it is more rewarding than the elaborately staged ones seen in Now You See Me Now You Don’t.

Jingle Bell Heist doesn’t need a lot of pomp and circumstances. It’s an enjoyable enough film for viewers seeking something different from the norm with their Christmas movies.