18 holiday movies you forgot starred your favorite celebrities

Parton plays Ruby Diamond, a self-absorbed singer who dies in a car accident. While in heaven, she is told she can earn her wings if she helps put a shattered family back together on Earth. Diamond dresses as a housekeeper in an undercover mission to become an angel.

"Dolly makes one very shimmering, cleavage-rich nanny, looking like a Vegas showgirl who took a wrong turn at Stateline. Talk about your unlikely angels," Variety wrote in 1996. "When the going gets tough, she pulls out the guitar and starts a-strummin'."

In "Three Days," Davis' character, Beth Farmer, fights with her husband, Andrew Farmer (played by Reed Diamond), on Christmas Eve. She runs from the house and is hit by a car. An angel allows Andrew to relive the last three days of his wife's life in order to save her and their relationship.

"Diamond and Davis are fine, and actually pretty convincing as a husband and wife who are used to each other but whose spark has been extinguished," Variety's Steven Oxman wrote in 2001. "The film, though, is never convincing in regenerating that spark, no matter how desperately it tries. What we're left with is a story that always feels driven emotionally by guilt rather than love, and that's not especially cheery."

Davis has returned to holiday movies in recent years, starring in Hallmark's "A Heavenly Christmas" in 2016 and Netflix's "Holiday in the Wild" in 2019, among others.

Affleck plays Drew Latham, a powerful and rich advertising executive who pays a family (Applegate, Catherine O'Hara, and James Gandolfini) to spend Christmas with him.

The movie was a failure at the box office, earning only $4.4 million domestically opening weekend, Box Office Mojo reported.

Harris' character, Nathan Andrews, is a doctor who just lost a patient on the operating table. Determined to find a new path, he returns to his hometown to spend time with his father. During that time, he meets a young boy and a woman who change his life forever.

"As for the acting, well to be honest, the characters are not that great, but all the actors have a certain likeability about them," film blog The Movie Scene wrote in a review that is no longer accessible on its website. "Neil Patrick Harris is well cast to play Nathan as he has such an easy-going style that you warm to him also."

This holiday rom-com starts when Reynolds' character, Chris Brander, tells his best friend in high school (Amy Smart) that he loves her, but she wants to be just friends. After being humiliated, Brander leaves town for college and doesn't come back. A decade later, Brander is a powerful record executive who returns to his hometown with pop star Samantha James (Faris) and tries to reconnect with his high school crush.

"The role is actually a perfect fit for Reynolds, as the dichotomy between his impossibly good looks and goofy comedic sensibility is put to good use as a formerly chubby, sensitive-type who is now a trim, successful music producer," Collider wrote in 2018.

Parker plays Meredith, an uptight woman who goes to meet her fiancé's family for the holidays. She doesn't fit into the loud, eccentric, and free-spirited family, and hilarity — and some partner swapping — ensues.

"'The Family Stone' is silly at times, leaning toward the screwball tradition of everyone racing around the house at the same time in a panic fueled by serial misunderstandings," Roger Ebert wrote about the film in 2005.

Paulson plays Emily, a bride-to-be who plans to marry her fiancé Ben on Christmas Day. When she gets called away for work, she must leave the last-minute wedding planning to her unreliable future husband (Eric Mabius), and it doesn't go according to plan.

"For his part, Mabius injects what could be a vanilla role with some flavor, while Paulson, who endures a series of bad wardrobe and hairstyle choices, could tone down the sweetness," Laura Fries wrote for Variety in 2006.

When a snowstorm shuts down an airport on Christmas Eve, a group of unaccompanied minors — including Williams' character — find ways to have fun, much to the dismay of their supposed handlers.

While, according to Rotten Tomatoes, The Boston Globe's Wesley Morris wrote that the film was a "clumsily made but disarming enough movie about the joys of getting away with everything," Time Out's Derek Adams was less forgiving, calling it "the low standard of filmmaking that really defies belief."

In "The Perfect Holiday," a little girl tells a mall Santa that she wants a man to fall in love with her single mother, played by Union. Morris Chestnut co-stars as Nancy's love interest, Benjamin, while Queen Latifah plays Mrs. Christmas.

"'The Perfect Holiday' is a big-hearted romantic comedy based on Meet Cutes ... and Gabrielle Union, whose only Christmas wish is that a nice man would pay her a compliment. The movie's biggest suspension of disbelief involves Gabrielle Union having that problem," Roger Ebert wrote in 2007.

Doherty's character, Cate Dove, is a thief and criminal in "Christmas Caper." But when one crime goes bad, she decides to lay low in her hometown in Connecticut where she begins to question her criminal lifestyle.

"This is a mediocre movie at best even with Shannen Doherty in the lead role," a Rotten Tomatoes audience member wrote in 2008. "I guess it being a Christmas movie, the ending where everyone lives happily ever after is OK. I thought the movie would have been better if they would have developed Shannen's role a bit more."

Witherspoon and Vaughn play Kate and Brad, a couple who takes a trip abroad every Christmas to avoid their families. But when a fog grounds all outbound planes in San Francisco, they are forced to spend the holidays with their four parents.

"Ms. Witherspoon serves as a game comic sidekick to the irrepressible Mr. Vaughn, who basically does what he always does, which is to stammer, bluster, and wheedle his way through a performance that scrambles the distinction between brute and wimp," A.O. Scott wrote for The New York Times in 2008.

In "Nothing Like the Holidays," a Puerto Rican family in Chicago celebrates Christmas in what may be their last holiday together after the matriarch announces she wants a divorce. Messing plays Sarah, the outcast wife of the lead character, Mauricio (played by Leguizamo).

The San Francisco Chronicle's Ruthe Stein wrote in 2008 that the film "seems fresh and enticing — like a Christmas present you didn't know you wanted but are delighted to receive."

Chenoweth plays E.J. Baxter, a powerful publicist in New York. One day, she catches her fiancé having an affair with her boss, so she takes a job in Montana at the Chamber of Commerce. There, she is tasked with raising money for the Kalispell Search & Rescue team, and one member really catches her eye.

"Although Broadway star Chenoweth never unleashes her golden pipes, when she sits teary-eyed and alone watching 'Miracle on 34th St.' and the Times Square ball drop, it's a reminder that with the right talent, it's possible to make even the moldiest of material sing just a little," Brian Lowry wrote for Variety in 2009.

When Daniel Burton's (Cyrus) son DJ gets into a fight with a Black classmate, Rodney, on the school bus, Burton comes up with a plan to bring the boys closer together during the holiday season. Over time, the two boys become inseparable against the backdrop of racial unrest in 1960s Texas.

"Sporting a rare, cropped 'do, Cyrus (displaying better acting chops than his work on 'Hannah Montana' would have viewers believe) stars as widower Daniel Burton, struggling to raise his family and keep his farm afloat in 1960s Texas," Variety's Laura Fries wrote in 2009.

McAvoy voices title character Arthur Christmas, Santa Claus' youngest son who must save a young girl from disappointment after her gift is accidentally forgotten.

The film received a 92% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with NPR's Trey Graham writing that the film was "the surprise gift of the season: a sharp, savvy holiday comedy that doesn't get its laughs at the expense of those who start to glow in the early days of December."

Based on Langston Hughes' play of the same name, "Black Nativity" follows Langston (Latimore), the teenage son of a troubled single mother (Hudson) who's sent to New York City to spend the holidays with his estranged grandparents (Bassett and Whitaker). While there, Langston grows closer to his grandparents and his faith.

"Ms. Hudson is an innately warm presence who's still finding her way as an actress, but she generates so much goodwill that even when she's not letting loose that torrent of a voice, she holds your attention," Manohla Dargis wrote for The New York Times in 2013. "The same goes for Mr. Latimore, whose character leads with his petulant child's chin but follows through with beseeching eyes."

When Suzy Mayor (Mary-Louise Parker) leaves the hospital to die at home, she's accompanied by a hospice nurse, Natalie Springer (Moore), to help with the process. But Mayor's husband (Andy Garcia) has his own idea of how to best help: building her a Ferris wheel in their backyard for Christmas.

"Sappy isn't always bad, and you'd have to be a pretty heartless curmudgeon not to get a bit twinkly once the snow starts falling and Geoff Zanelli's score kicks into high gear," Brian Lowry wrote for Variety in 2013. "But 'Christmas in Conway' isn't so much a movie as an extended prelude to what could be dashed off in a holiday-themed commercial."

Directed by Joe Swanberg, "Happy Christmas" follows Kendrick as Jenny, a loose-cannon-type who moves in with her brother and his wife, Kelly (Lynskey), during the holidays after a breakup. During that time, Jenny and Kelly butt heads and eventually change each other's lives for the better.

"Whenever Swanberg puts Kendrick and Lynskey in a room together — and especially when he adds Lena Dunham to the mix as Jenny's slightly more together friend, Carson — their conversations park in amusing, revealing spaces," Jen Chaney wrote for The Washington Post in 2014.