40 Best Thanksgiving Movies to Watch While You Eat Your Pumpkin Pie
.jpg)
As far as holiday-themed movies go, the attention is always on Halloween, Christmas, and Valentine’s Day. Thanksgiving movies are far less considered. And that’s a shame considering all the drama—or joy!—that comes with putting your entire family in a room filled with turkey and potatoes.
There are so many options for movies to watch on Thanksgiving too. Planes, Trains and Automobiles, for example, tells the relatable story of a man forced to navigate the November holiday’s nightmarish travel just to be with his loved ones. And have you seen Pieces of April or Krisha? Both are about women reuniting with their estranged relatives for the big meal. She’s Gotta Have It includes a scene in which a woman invites the three men she’s sleeping with to dinner. Such high stakes! In Brokeback Mountain, Jake Gyllenhaal’s character screams across the table at an overbearing father-in-law. While Addams Family Values unveils the uncomfortable truth behind the holiday. Like I said, drama abounds.
Not all are movies about Thanksgiving, either. There are plenty of films in here that simply include heartwarming lessons about gratitude and the importance of family. See: The Joy Luck Club, a moving drama about the relationships between Chinese American women and their mothers that also happens to feature some delicious-looking food.
So I think it’s time to give the best Thanksgiving movies some due. Of course, November looks different for many and not all will be gathering at the dinner table this year. Whatever your plans may be, I bet there’s room in the schedule for a movie night. So enjoy this list of the best Thanksgiving movies for families—and where to stream them—below. (Need more? We have a list of best Thanksgiving shows too.)
Paramount/ Everett Collection1/40Addams Family Values (1993)
While Thanksgiving is mostly considered a time for gratitude and family bonding these days, there’s a dark truth behind the American holiday: that the Pilgrims and other white Europeans profited off land stolen from Indigenous peoples. Addams Family Values is one of the few movies that directly address this with biting social commentary. In a play at Wednesday’s camp, she delivers this speech as Pocahontas: “We cannot break bread with you. You have taken the land which is rightfully ours. Years from now, my people will be forced to live in mobile homes on reservations. Your people will wear cardigans and drink highballs. We will sell our bracelets by the roadsides. You will play golf and enjoy hot hors d’oeuvres. My people will have pain and degradation. Your people will have stick shifts. The gods of my tribe have spoken. They have said, ‘Do not trust the pilgrims.’ And for all these reasons, I have decided to scalp you and burn your village to the ground.”
- Paramount Pictures2/40
Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987)
When I was growing up, my whole family—parents, grandparents, cousins, aunts, uncles—would gather ’round as we ate our pumpkin pie to watch Steve Martin and John Candy’s road-trip comedy Planes, Trains and Automobiles. Though we’ve since dropped the tradition, I highly recommend adding it to your queue. But warning: It might feel a little too real for anyone who’s had to travel during the holidays. When it comes to classic Thanksgiving movies, it doesn’t get much better than this.
©20thCentFox/ Everett Collection3/40Antwone Fisher (2002)
Antwone Fisher was Denzel Washington’s directorial debut, and he also stars in the film as Jerome Davenport, the psychiatrist for a young Navy man named Antwone Fisher. Together they work through the painful trauma from Fisher’s past and how to move forward—and a pivotal moment happens over Thanksgiving dinner.
Everett Collection4/40Alice’s Restaurant (1969)
Arlo Guthrie plays himself in this 1969 movie, which is based on the musician's folk song “Alice’s Restaurant Massacree.” After Thanksgiving dinner with friends, Guthrie and his cohorts try to help the hosts out by taking all the garbage to the town dump…which, they learn, is closed for the holiday.
©20thCentFox/ Everett Collection5/40Miracle on 34th Street (1947)
Many consider Miracle on 34th Street to be a Christmas movie—and they’re not wrong—but it does involve the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade, a hallmark of the November holiday. There’s a 1994 remake produced by John Hughes, but for the purpose of this list we’re going to suggest streaming the original 1947 version.
Relativity Media/ Everett Collection6/40Free Birds (2013)
You might look at the roast turkey at your meal a little differently after watching Free Birds, which follows a group of turkeys trying to forever change the holiday’s most famous menu item. Still, it’s a good option in terms of Thanksgiving movies for kids. Owen Wilson, Woody Harrelson, Amy Poehler, and George Takei voice this family-friendly animated film.
.jpg)
©Saban Int'l/ Everett Collection7/40Friendsgiving (2020)
One of the newer movies on this list, Friendsgiving stars Malin Akerman, Kat Dennings, Aisha Tyler, Wanda Sykes, Margaret Cho, Chelsea Peretti, and more of your favorites in a lighthearted ensemble comedy about embracing your chosen family. Akerman plays Molly, a woman whose plans to have a quiet Turkey Day end in chaos after her friends decide to crash.
©Netflix/ Everett Collection8/40Holidate (2020)
If you’re looking for Thanksgiving movies on Netflix, try Holidate. It might be a stretch to include this one considering it covers every holiday in the year, but T-Day is indeed represented! Emma Roberts and Luke Bracey play two singles who agree to serve as each other’s dates at awkward family functions in this romantic comedy.
©Lions Gate/ Everett Collection9/40Knives Out (2019)
Though Knives Out isn’t set specifically on Thanksgiving Day, the mystery movie did come out on the holiday with the intention of being watched with the entire family. “This is a movie we are putting out on Thanksgiving for families to go see,” Daniel Craig, who plays a private investigator looking into the death of a wealthy crime novelist, said at the time. “You can go and read a message into it or you can go and just have a good time. If the movie’s use of political points raises a discussion over the Thanksgiving table, then all the better.”
Courtesy of Netflix © 202210/40Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (2022)
This Knives Out sequel also hits theaters on Thanksgiving Day, making it a good option for families looking to get out of the house for a bit.
In theaters; streaming on Netflix on December 23.
©Universal/ Everett Collection11/40Funny People (2009)
Adam Sandler plays a retired stand-up comedian turned actor who is diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia in this dark comedy. And in one scene he gives a Friendsgiving toast that starts with “First, let’s give thanks to our families not being here. It’s always easier without the family.”
Everett Collection12/40Lez Bomb (2018)
Jenna Laurenzo plays a closeted woman who decides to come out to her family at Thanksgiving—and bring her new girlfriend to dinner. Naturally, because this is a movie, things go awry. “How many other queer feature films can you point to that are maddening comedies and sweet rom-coms, wrapped up like the warm holiday films we grew up watching about straight people?” asks Heather Hogan in her Autostraddle review. “Queering heteronormative tropes is certainly my favorite way to spend Thanksgiving.”
©Fox Searchlight/ Everett Collection13/40Mistress America (2015)
Like many other Thanksgiving movies before it, the drama in Mistress America—a witty comedy from indie king Noah Baumbach—concludes over the holiday meal. Lola Kirke plays a lonely college student who befriends her future stepsister (Greta Gerwig, charming as always) in this entertaining film.
Everett Collection14/40Krisha (2016)
Warning: Krisha is not an uplifting watch, but it is incredibly moving. Krisha Fairchild plays the titular character, a troubled woman with addiction issues who is reunited with her estranged family on Thanksgiving Day. Adding to the realness, director Trey Edward Shults employed his own relatives—including Fairchild, his aunt—as the actors.
©Roadside Attractions/Everett Collection15/40The Oath (2018)
The Oath could make for a very interesting watch with your family depending on everyone’s worldviews. The premise of the movie? Ike Barinholtz and Tiffany Haddish play a couple who learn US citizens are being asked to sign a “loyalty oath” by Thanksgiving.
©Focus Films/ Everett Collection16/40Brokeback Mountain (2005)
How is Brokeback Mountain, a romantic drama about two cowboys who fall in love while herding sheep, a Thanksgiving movie? Well, it really isn’t. But there is a Turkey Day dinner that involves tension and fighting between Jack (Jake Gyllenhaal) and his father-in-law John (Peter McRobbie), so there’s that!
©Warner Bros/ Everett Collection17/40You’ve Got Mail (1998)
You’ve Got Mail—a charming romantic comedy directed and written by Nora Ephron—spans multiple seasons and holidays. And that includes Thanksgiving, which serves as the backdrop for a scene in which Kathleen (Meg Ryan) tries to avoid Joe (Tom Hanks) while shopping for the big meal at New York City speciality food store Zabar’s. The perfect movie to turn on while you work on those Thanksgiving nails.
©Warner Bros/ Everett Collection18/40Prisoners (2013)
This bleak but gripping thriller begins with every parent’s worst nightmare: Two young girls go missing after a late Thanksgiving dinner. Jake Gyllenhaal plays the detective assigned to the case, while Viola Davis, Terrence Howard, and Hugh Jackman star as the distraught parents who debate taking matters into their own hands.
©Universal/ Everett Collection19/40Tower Heist (2011)
It can be hard to find something that appeals to everyone, but this comedy is a reliable pick. Ben Stiller, Casey Affleck, Michael Peña, Eddie Murphy, Gabourey Sidibe, and Matthew Broderick star as the employees and residents of a luxury New York City building who plan a complicated heist during the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade.
©Warner Bros/ Everett Collection20/40Grumpy Old Men (1993)
Two Minnesota retirees (played by Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau) are next-door neighbors who have a long-standing feud with each other. Things escalate even further when both men become interested in an attractive women (Ann-Margaret) who moves to town and invites their mutual friend Chuck (Ossie Davis) over for Thanksgiving dinner instead of them.
©20thCentFox/ Everett Collection21/40Dutch (1991)
Written by John Hughes, Dutch is another Thanksgiving road-trip comedy in the vein of the filmmaker’s popular Planes, Trains and Automobiles. When Dutch (Ed O’Neill) offers to drive his girlfriend’s son Doyle (Ethan Embry) home from Atlanta to Chicago for the November holiday break, an unlikely friendship is born.
©20thCentFox/ Everett Collection22/40The Ice Storm (1997)
Directed by Ang Lee, The Ice Storm boasts an A-list cast that includes Kevin Kline, Tobey Maguire, Christina Ricci, Elijah Wood, Katie Holmes, and Sigourney Weaver. Set during Thanksgiving week, the film follows the drama of two families in Connecticut as the neighbors navigate the social changes happening in 1973.
©Buena Vista Pictures/ Everett Collection23/40The Joy Luck Club (1993)
Okay, to be clear: The Joy Luck Club has nothing to do with Thanksgiving. But the drama, based on the best-selling novel of the same name, centers so much around family and food that it feels appropriate to watch with your nearest and dearest on the November day.
©20thCentFox/Courtesy Everett Collection24/40Soul Food (1997)
Another movie that may not be about Thanksgiving, per se, but has everything you love about the holiday: food, family, and tradition. Vanessa Williams, Vivica A. Fox, Nia Long, and more star in this comedy-drama so popular that a sequel is reportedly in the works almost 20 years later.
©20thCentFox/ Everett Collection25/40Jingle All the Way (1996)
While Jingle All the Way is typically considered a Christmas movie—and it is, really—we’re including it here because there is no better film depiction of the consumer mania that sweeps America every Black Friday. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sinbad play two dads determined to buy their sons the season’s hottest toy: an action figure called Turbo-Man.
©Paramount/ Everett Collection26/40Home for the Holidays (1995)
Jodie Foster directed this comedy-drama about a newly unemployed single mother (Holly Hunter) who spends Thanksgiving with her dysfunctional family. Naturally, chaos ensues...but it all wraps up with a happy ending. Spending the holiday with stars like Hunter, Robert Downey Jr., and Dylan McDermott? We're in.
©Universal/ Everett Collection27/40Scent of a Woman (1992)
A prep school student named Charlie (Chris O’Donnell) takes a job over Thanksgiving break to watch over retired Lieutenant Colonel Frank Slade (Al Pacino), who is blind and an alcoholic. Pacino won the Academy Award for his performance, and the movie was also nominated for Best Picture.
©Island Pictures/ Everett Collection28/40She’s Gotta Have It (1986)
Written, produced, directed, edited, and starring Spike Lee, She’s Gotta Have It follows Nola Darling (Tracy Camilla Johns) as she juggles her relationships with three very different men. As if that’s not complicated enough, she invites them all over for an awkward Thanksgiving dinner. After you watch, we recommend turning to the 2017 series remake for Netflix.
©20thCentFox/ Everett Collection29/40The Object of My Affection (1998)
Jennifer Aniston plays Nina, a pregnant social worker who plans to raise her baby with her gay best friend and roommate George (Paul Rudd). Things get complicated when Nina falls in love with George, who of course doesn’t reciprocate her romantic feelings. And it all comes to a head when Nina invites George’s new boyfriend (Amo Gulinello) over for Thanksgiving.
©United Artists/ Everett Collection30/40Pieces of April (2003)
Enjoy watching an angsty, punk Katie Holmes prepare Thanksgiving dinner for her estranged family in a small New York City apartment. “Nobody likes it from the can,” says one character about Holmes’s choice to use a questionable cranberry sauce. Have truer words ever been spoken?
©Trimark Pictures/ Everett Collection31/40What’s Cooking? (2000)
If the main draw of Thanksgiving for you is the food, then perhaps What’s Cooking? is the best movie pick. The film features a well-known cast—including Julianna Margulies, Alfre Woodard, Kyra Sedgwick, and Joan Chen—in this film about a group of diverse families as they prepare their traditional dishes for the holiday meal.
Courtesy Everett Collection32/40A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving (1973)
Some movies are a classic for a reason. A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving follows the Peanuts gang as they prepare for a Friendsgiving dinner, followed by a more traditional one prepared by Charlie Brown’s grandmother. It’s definitely the most heartwarming and wholesome choice on this list of Thanksgiving family movies.
©United Artists/ Everett Collection33/40Rocky (1976)
Thanksgiving Day makes a fairly minor cameo in Rocky, but it’s still a memorable part of the film nonetheless. And that’s enough for us to include this movie about an unknown boxer named Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone) taking on the world heavyweight champion Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers).
©Warner Bros/ Everett Collection34/40Sweet November (2001)
This romantic drama stars Keanu Reeves as Nelson, a man who meets a free-spirited woman named Sara who is played by Charlize Theron. Sara convinces Nelson to give her one month—November!—and promises she’ll change his life for the better. They fall in love, but it gets complicated after she reveals she’s been keeping a secret.
©Hulu/ Everett Collection35/40Into the Dark: Pilgrim (2019)
Sometimes you choose a movie because it makes everyone will say “no thanks” and leave you in peace. When you’ve had too much family bonding time, just turn on a Thanksgiving horror movie like Into the Dark: Pilgrim. The film’s about a woman who hires historical reenactors posing as Pilgrims to spend the holiday with her family. Unfortunately, they take their roles a little too seriously….
©Lifetime Television/Courtesy Everett Collection36/40Jim Henson’s Turkey Hollow (2015)
Ludacris narrates this tale of a recently divorced man (Jay Harrington) and his kids (Graham Verchere, Genevieve Buechner) as they visit the farm of an eccentric aunt played by Mary Steenburgen. As you can guess from the title, they encounter several creature friends created by Jim Henson.
©Buena Vista Pictures/ Everett Collection37/40Son in Law (1993)
To be frank, Son in Law is not a good movie…but we’re starting to hit the limit on films that feature Thanksgiving scenes. Sorry! If a Pauly Shore comedy sounds fun to you and your family, enjoy this fish-out-of-water tale that also stars Carla Gugino and Tiffani Thiessen.
Warner Bros/Courtesy Everett Collection38/40For Your Consideration (2006)
Thanks to The White Lotus, we’re in the midst of Jennifer Coolidge renaissance. And Coolidge is at her best in this sharp satire of Hollywood that follows the production of a fictional movie about a Jewish family in the southern United States. Titled Home for Purim, it’s later renamed Home for Thanksgiving after the foolish studio heads deem the original title “too Jewish.”
Paramount/ Everett Collection39/40The Prince & Me (2004)
If your sister shows up with an unexpected guest this year, take notice: When Paige (Julia Stiles) invites her hot lab partner, “Eddie,” (Luke Mably) to spend Thanksgiving break with her family, she doesn’t realize he’s actually the crown prince of Denmark.
Courtesy Everett Collection40/40The Last Waltz (1978)
For the family that’s more into documentaries or loves live music. The Martin Scorsese–directed performance film follows the Band’s farewell concert, which took place on Thanksgiving Day, November 25, 1976, in San Francisco. So many rock icons make appearances, including Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, and others. Good inspo for your Thanksgiving playlist as well.
