60 Thanksgiving Movies to Put You in the Holiday Spirit
The perfect pregame to the big feast
Thanksgiving is a time for stuffing your face, showing some gratitude, and spending the entire holiday weekend in a tryptophan coma with your eyes glued to a screen. So, we're rounding up a whole cornucopia of comedies, dramas, slashers, thrillers, and more to keep your movie marathon queue booked and busy.
A bountiful harvest of the best Thanksgiving movies, the following picks dish out the laughs, sprinkle in the family dysfunction, and carve out their own special nooks in the pantheon of holiday films. There are heartwarming pilgrimages to self-discovery like Holidate and Dutch, chaotic dinner gatherings like Friendsgiving and The Oath, and even whodunits that celebrate carving up both the bird and the fellow man, as in Thanksgiving
and Knives Out. Consider them be the perfect complement to your own festivities.
When you’re done giving thanks, fill up on the best Black movies to stream on Netflix, the best classic Christmas films, and the funniest Christmas films ever.
A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving
This 25-minute animated classic follows the Turkey Day traditions and festivities of Charlie Brown and the Peanuts crew. You might think it's just for the kids, but good luck resisting its charms. Watch Now
You've Got Mail
When booksellers Kathleen Kelly (Meg Ryan) and Joe Fox (Tom Hanks) meet in an anonymous chat room, they quickly fall into an e-romance. Little do they know they actually know each other—as business rivals, no less. Join in on both Kathleen and Joe's Thanksgiving celebrations, both of which feature a little song and dance, in this classic rom-com. Watch Now
Tower Heist
Nothing like a little humor and action to lull you out of a tryptophan coma. Enter: Rush Hour’s Brett Ratner, who directs this New York City-set heist flick starring Ben Stiller, Eddie Murphy, Matthew Broderick, Gabourey Sidibe, and Alan Alda. The gist: Alda plays a Ponzi crook whose victims, rounded up by Stiller’s character, get even on the very same day families dedicate to watching oversize parade balloons and eating way too much turkey. Watch Now
Friendsgiving
The cast in Nicol Paone's dysfunctional comedy is as eclectic as the dinner spread on their tablescape. Starring Malin Akerman, Kat Dennings, Aisha Tyler, Jack Donnelly, Deon Cole, Jane Seymour [pauses for a breath], Chelsea Peretti, Ryan Hansen, Christine Taylor, Andrew Santino, Carla Jimenez, and seriously so many more, this ensemble comedy sees a Turkey Day with the company you keep turn into a Turkey Day with the company you can't stand.
Holidate
To be fair, every celebrated occasion, including weddings and St. Paddy’s Day, gets a little play in this Netflix Original rom-com. But the Thanksgiving tableau is one for the books. Emma Roberts and Luke Bracey star as singles who agree to be each other's amicable plus-one for obligatory get-togethers throughout the year, and by the time that one Thursday in November rolls around, the drama hits an all-time high. Secrets are revealed, and chaos is served with a side of cranberry sauce.
Thanksgiving
In 2007, Eli Roth unleashed a fake trailer for the Grindhouse double feature showing Quentin Tarantino's Death Proof and Robert Rodriguez's Planet Terror. Since then, the fear-flick maestro has been trying to get the full version made. This year, it’s finally done. With a zany script co-written by Jeff Rendell (they guy who plays the pilgrim in the retro trailer) and plenty of carving to suit the holiday title, gore buffs are in for a real treat.
The Pilgrims
Looking for an authentic take on the Thanksgiving tale? Ric Burns, the brother of iconic documentarian Ken Burns, is an award-winning filmmaker himself and he gives the pivotal first decade of American history center stage in this PBS film. It’s part of the network’s American Experience and focuses primarily on William Bradford and his manuscript, Of Plymouth Plantation. Wanna keep the parents from prying into your social life? Distract them with this one.
The Vanished
Anne Heche and Thomas Jane star in this completely bonkers abduction thriller about a married couple who lose track of their 10-year-old over Thanksgiving weekend. Jason Patric stars as the sheriff on the case, and we're wondering why his first question isn’t, “Why are you here? It’s Thanksgiving!” Lucky for us, though, the dubious decision making doesn't end there, sending the leading couple spiraling down a twisty-turny rabbit hole of wild and fatal consequences.
Alice's Restaurant
Based on the song of the same name by Arlo Guthrie, the film follows the melee that ensues when Guthrie (playing himself) and his friends are arrested for littering after Thanksgiving dinner. Watch Now on Youtube
Knives Out
The perfect fall movie that celebrates Turkey Day’s favorite pastime—a.k.a. carving stuff up—this gleefully dark whodunit pivots around one of the most despicable families to ever disgrace the screen. Not to mention, the toxic Thrombey-Drysdale clan are played by grade-A meat: Christopher Plummer, Chris Evans, Michael Shannon, Jamie Lee Curtis, among many others. And even though Rian Johnson’s autumnal setting is really the only tie to the holiday here, there’s just no better film to combat inevitable tryptophan lethargy.
Lez Bomb
Jenna Laurenzo, who went from waiting tables to directing queer cinema, writes, directs, and stars in Lez Bomb, a suburbia comedy about a Brooklyn woman who comes out to her family over Thanksgiving weekend in Jersey. Spilling her big news, of course, doesn’t go as planned. But it does make for a raucous fun time. Comic actors Cloris Leachman and Bruce Dern star, along with Steve Guttenberg, Caitlin Mehner, and Brandon Michael Hall.
Soul Food
Admittedly, Soul Food is a film that has nothing to do with actual Thanksgiving. As for the fruits of the November holiday, however, the George Tillman Jr. classic is a cornucopia. Brimming from beginning to end with family, food, and tradition, the film revolves around matriarch Mama Joe, who hosts Sunday dinners for her Chicago family. Then, when she’s hospitalized, cracks in the family become exposed. Starring Vanessa Williams, Vivica A. Fox, Nia Long, and more familiar faces, this one’s a crowd-pleaser.
The Myth of Fingerprints
Before The Family Stone, there was another WASP-y, dysfunctional crew making drama in New England. A 1997 Sundance indie, The Myth of Fingerprints stars Blythe Danner, Julianne Moore, Hope Davis, and Noah Wyle, who all converge over the course of Thanksgiving weekend at their family’s home base for familiar tale of love, pain, and good old-fashioned climaxing. Because apparently, you can’t return to your hometown, and not have a lot of sex.
The Blind Side
Faith, family, football: Sounds like the trappings of a sincere Thanksgiving flick to us. But Disney’s retelling of the real-life story led by stalwart matriarch Leigh Anne Tuohy (Sandra Bullock) as she assumes guardianship of Michael Oher, who goes from homeless teenager to first-round draft pick, does actually include a sentimental Thanksgiving scene. So, yes, it’s a Thanksgiving movie. Watch Now
Addams Family Values
Dare we say the second chapter in the story of the creepy, kooky, and spooky brood is better than the first? We dare, and we do. And it’s thanks in no small part to Wednesday Addams’s stone-cold performance in a school production. In a departure from the script, she rewrites the history of what really happened on the day we now know as Thanksgiving. Watch Now
For Your Consideration
Admittedly, a Christopher Guest production is an acquired taste. But the mockumentary maestro (Dog Show, A Mighty Wind) takes a genius meta approach in For Your Consideration that we’d like you to, well, consider. The film stars pseudo-documentary alums Catherine O’Hara, Eugene Levy, and Parker Posey as actors in a film that changes its title from Home for Purim to Home for Thanksgiving after rumors swirl of Oscar buzz. Shoulder-shaking hilarity ensues. Watch Now
The Oath
The Mindy Project’s Ike Barinholtz brings his bonkers, politically charged comedy to the big screen with a directorial debut that stars himself alongside It comic Tiffany Haddish. With a tax oath deadline looming for the day after Thanksgiving, the two play a married couple who are just trying make it through dinner and the night alive. To give anything else away would be doing you a disservice. Watch Now
What’s Cooking?
No two Thanksgiving feasts are the same in this culturally rich holiday comedy from 2000. Set in the Los Angeles Fairfax District, it stars Mercedes Ruehl (Big), Joan Chen (Lust, Caution), Kyra Sedgwick (The Closer), and Alfre Woodard (See) in completely unrelated Thanksgiving tales, each as diverse in their menus and traditions as they are hilarious in their comedies of manners. Watch Now
The Daytrippers
Greg Mattola, director of cult comedies like Superbad, Paul, and Adventureland, got his directorial start riding shotgun in a Buick Estate wagon on a daytrip into New York City. His film—which begins the day after Thanksgiving with a wife finding a love note written by her husband for someone else—is a comedic odyssey through affairs of the heart. Stanley Tucci, Hope Davis, and Parker Posey costar. Watch Now
Garfield’s Thanksgiving
The orange cat you love more than he loves lasagna hosts a Thanksgiving special that not only tugs on the nostalgic heartstrings, but also offers the kids a distraction as you set the table. The classic toon begins with a trip to the vet and ends with Grandma doctoring a Thanksgiving feast that, in the end, is perfect. Watch Now
DeAnna Janes is a freelance writer and editor for a number of sites, including Harper’s BAZAAR, Tasting Table, Fast Company and Brit + Co, and is a passionate supporter of animal causes, copy savant, movie dork and reckless connoisseur of all holidays. A native Texan living in NYC since 2005, Janes has a degree in journalism from Texas A&M and got her start in media at US Weekly before moving on to O Magazine, and eventually becoming the entertainment editor of the once-loved, now-shuttered DailyCandy. She’s based on the Upper West Side.
Watch Next
See All of Princess Kate's Most Fashionable Looks
The 65 Funniest Christmas Movies of All Time
65 of Prince Harry's Cutest Moments with Kids
In Photos: The Best of '70s Fashion
