Christmas is a season where everyone gathers and likes to be around one another, but if you’ve seen enough animated Frosty and Santa fare, sometimes you just need a little more mature storytelling.
That’s why I wanted to make a top 10 Christmas movies for adults, stuff that you can watch after everyone goes to bed. Stuff that maybe can be part of your tradition of unwinding, laughing, or just seeing the underbelly of a city.
Let’s dive in.
1. Eyes Wide Shut (1999)
- Director: Stanley Kubrick
- Writers: Stanley Kubrick, Frederic Raphael
- Cast: Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidman, Sydney Pollack, Todd Field
Stanley Kubrick’s final masterpiece is perhaps the ultimate “anti-family” Christmas film. Unless your family is part of an elite sex cult. The film follows Dr. Bill Harford on a surreal, night-long odyssey through New York’s sexual underworld as his marriage flails. It’s nothing short of amazing.
2. Bad Santa (2003)
- Director: Terry Zwigoff
- Writers: Glenn Ficarra, John Requa
- Cast: Billy Bob Thornton, Tony Cox, Brett Kelly, Lauren Graham, Bernie Mac
Bad Santa is the gold standard for holiday cynicism and big laughs. Billy Bob Thornton gives an iconic performance as Willie T. Stokes, a whiskey-soaked, safe-cracking mall Santa who hates children and himself in equal measure. This film stays gleefully nasty and is a pitch-black comedy that manages to find a tiny heart at the end.
3. The Apartment (1960)
- Director: Billy Wilder
- Writers: Billy Wilder, I.A.L. Diamond
- Cast: Jack Lemmon, Shirley MacLaine, Fred MacMurray
Absolutely one of the greatest screenplays ever written. The Apartment is a melancholic romantic comedy that deals heavily with corporate exploitation, adultery, and loneliness. That’s what Christmas is all about! Jack Lemmon plays a pushover insurance clerk who lets executives use his apartment for their extramarital affairs, hoping for a promotion. But this year, he falls for a suicidal gal who’s sleeping with his boss. This movie rules.
4. Carol (2015)
- Director: Todd Haynes
- Writer: Phyllis Nagy
- Cast: Cate Blanchett, Rooney Mara, Sarah Paulson, Kyle Chandler
Set in 1950s New York, Carol is a visually stunning romance that tells the story of an aspiring photographer who falls for an older, glamorous woman trapped in a loveless marriage. The holiday season provides the narrative catalyst for their forbidden love and the brutal custody battles of the era.
5. Die Hard (1988)
- Director: John McTiernan
- Writers: Jeb Stuart, Steven E. de Souza
- Cast: Bruce Willis, Alan Rickman, Bonnie Bedelia, Reginald VelJohnson
While the debate rages on about its genre, Die Hard is undeniably an adult Christmas staple. Although I think all kids should watch it, too. It is a masterclass in action geography and tension, centering on John McClane’s attempt to save his estranged wife from terrorists during a Nakatomi Plaza Christmas party. Yipee Ki Yayyyye.
6. In Bruges (2008)
- Director: Martin McDonagh
- Writer: Martin McDonagh
- Cast: Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson, Ralph Fiennes
This dark crime comedy follows two Irish hitmen hiding out in the medieval Belgian city of Bruges during Christmastime after a job goes horribly wrong. The fairy-tale setting, complete with snow and holiday markets, is the perfect place for the themes of guilt, purgatory, and existential despair.
7. The Ref (1994)
- Director: Ted Demme
- Writers: Richard LaGravenese, Marie Weiss
- Cast: Denis Leary, Judy Davis, Kevin Spacey
In this biting black comedy, a cat burglar (Leary) takes a bickering suburban couple (Davis and Spacey) hostage on Christmas Eve, only to realize he’s trapped in a house with people crazier than he is. As their extended family arrives for dinner, the burglar is forced to act as a marriage counselor to keep his cover. This could totally happen to you this season.
8. Black Christmas (1974)
- Director: Bob Clark
- Writer: Roy Moore
- Cast: Olivia Hussey, Keir Dullea, Margot Kidder, John Saxon
This Canadian horror classic invented many of the slasher tropes we know today. It’s set in a sorority house receiving obscene phone calls during Christmas break. The red blood is the perfect way to deck the halls.
9. Tangerine (2015)
- Director: Sean Baker
- Writers: Sean Baker, Chris Bergoch
- Cast: Kitana Kiki Rodriguez, Mya Taylor, James Ransone
Tangerine is a kinetic, high-energy ride through Los Angeles on Christmas Eve. The iPhone cinematography makes it all feel so gritty and real. The story follows Sin-Dee Rella, a transgender sex worker who tears through the city to find the pimp who broke her heart. Ask Santa to put that in your stocking.
10. The Night Before (2015)
- Director: Jonathan Levine
- Writers: Jonathan Levine, Kyle Hunter, Ariel Shaffir, Evan Goldberg
- Cast: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Seth Rogen, Anthony Mackie, Lizzy Caplan
This stoner comedy is the ultimate “one last hurrah” movie. It follows three best friends who have spent every Christmas Eve partying together since high school, but realize their tradition must end as adulthood and impending fatherhood set in. It’s the perfect movie to light a joint and watch with a candle burning, too.
Summing It All Up
The holiday season is meant to be spent with family, but if you spend enough time with your family, you know it’s nice to just have some time to do adult things without a bunch of kids screaming.
These movies are the perfect ones to enjoy without them.
Did I leave any off this list that should be there?
Let me know what you think in the comments.