43 Thanksgiving Movies to Prep You for the Holidays
Here’s what to queue up for a Turkey Day binge.
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While there are no shortage of tasks on your holiday to-do list, a good Thanksgiving movie is the kind of holiday tradition it’s worth making time for. Whether you’re looking for a family flick to pop on for the kids while you’re busy with the feast or something sweet to curl up with once all of the leftovers have been tucked away, there’s something for everyone in these Thanksgiving movies.
1
Planes, Trains & Automobiles (1987)
Quintessential Thanksgiving Factor: Travel stress is nobody’s favorite part of Thanksgiving, but watching Steve Martin and John Candy as an odd-couple duo of hapless travelers trying desperately to get home for Turkey Day will help you laugh off your own struggles.
2
The Big Chill (1983)
Quintessential Thanksgiving Factor: Though the film doesn’t take place over the holiday (it centers around 8 friends who come together for the funeral of a college buddy), it does take place in the fall and has plenty of ensemble-cast drama and long talks around kitchen tables that will feel perfectly in-tune for your Friendsgiving.
3
You’ve Got Mail (1998)
Quintessential Thanksgiving Factor: While the whole movie (centered on a small bookshop owner and a mega-store mogul who unwittingly begin an email romance) has great foliage scenes and a crisp, autumnal vibe, the scene where Joe rushes to the front of Zabar’s cash-only line to vainly save a work enemy (or so he thinks…) actually happens on Thanksgiving Day.
A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving (1973)
Quintessential Thanksgiving Factor: Watching Woodstock and Snoopy pull apart a wishbone and eat a piece of pumpkin pie together. This classic Peanuts gang tale has been a must-watch for the holiday for over 50 years, and who are we to argue with that kind of staying power?
One True Thing (1998)
Quintessential Thanksgiving Factor: A more emotional holiday film, this movie follows a (Renée Zellweger) as she travels back home to spend time with her parents. While there, she finds out that her mother (Meryl Streep) is very sick and the family faces spending their last autumn and holiday season together.
6
Scent of a Woman (1992)
Quintessential Thanksgiving Factor: A prep school teen’s (Chris O’Donnell) Thanksgiving weeks goes way off the rails when his job looking after a blind former army officer (Al Pacino) turns into a wild, bucket list-ticking adventure in NYC.
Pieces of April (2003)
Quintessential Thanksgiving Factor: Awkwardness that ensues when April (played by a young Katie Holmes) invites her mother and estranged family to her tiny NYC apartment for Thanksgiving dinner.
8
Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009)
Quintessential Thanksgiving Factor: The family, friends, and feasts in this star-studded Wes Anderson-directed animated adaptation of the Roald Dahl children’s classic make it a great option for the whole family.
9
Home for the Holidays (1995)
Quintessential Thanksgiving Factor: Chaos ensues when family gets together, and secrets come out in this Jodie Foster-directed dramedy about a single mom (Holly Hunter) who gets unwillingly pulled into debacles and misunderstandings when she heads home for the holidays.
10
Addams Family Values (1993)
Quintessential Thanksgiving Factor: While you may think of the everyone’s favorite creepy, kooky family as Halloween fare, everyone needs to brush up on their Thanksgiving facts—the hilarious, iconic Thanksgiving play in this movie proves as much.
11
Garfield’s Thanksgiving (1989)
Quintessential Thanksgiving Factor: It’s hard to decide who’s more relatable—Garfield, miserable at being put on a diet the day before Thanksgiving; or John, clueless as to how to actually prepare a Thanksgiving dinner, but desperate to impress his guest of honor in this animated favorite.
12
What’s Cooking? (2000)
Quintessential Thanksgiving Factor: Get a taste of four vastly different Thanksgivings from this quintessential 2000s flick, which showcases what the holiday can mean from family to family.
13
Autumn in New York (2000)
Quintessential Thanksgiving Factor: The entire “fall in Manhattan” atmosphere will give you all of the Thanksgiving feels in this Richard Gere and Winona Ryder-starring flick about a playboy restaurateur who finally meets his match in a terminally ill young woman.
14
The Ice Storm (1997)
Quintessential Thanksgiving Factor: An early winter storm, a wealthy suburb, bored teenagers sneaking booze and hooking up, and troubled adults realizing their lives are nothing like they thought: a recipe for a Thanksgiving classic.
15
Friendsgiving (2020)
Quintessential Thanksgiving Factor: The trend of hosting a Friendsgiving seems to become more popular every year. This comedy starring Malin Åkerman and Kat Dennings is a little too relatable in its portrayal of how these gatherings are never as quaint as our Pinterest boards imagine them to be.
16
Paul Blart: Mall Cop (2009)
Quintessential Thanksgiving Factor: You’ll probably feel pretty good about your decision to forgo staying up late for Black Friday deals after watching Kevin James play an overzealous New Jersey mall cop facing a Black Friday heist.
Quintessential Thanksgiving Factor: The story of this classic kicks off at the iconic Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade and carries on into Christmas making it a perfect Thanksgiving night watch.
18
Tower Heist (2011)
Quintessential Thanksgiving Factor: Another reason not to attend the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. This hilarious heist movie is all about the staff of a luxury apartment build who, after discovering that their pensions have been embezzled by a scheming resident plan to break in to his home and take their money—during the famous parade.
19
Grumpy Old Men (1993)
Quintessential Thanksgiving Factor: Not everyone grows up, and that becomes increasingly apparent the more friends and family are around the dinner table in this Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau classic about a duo of lifelong frenemies.
20
Sweet November (2001)
Quintessential Thanksgiving Factor: The essential autumn vibes in this bittersweet romance about a mismatched couple (Charlize Theron and Keanu Reeves) who agree to live together for the month of November.
21
Holiday Inn (1942)
Quintessential Thanksgiving Factor: Songs to get you in a holiday (any holiday) mood. This musical classic spans a full year’s worth of holiday, including a slightly glum Thanksgiving and the birth of the song “White Christmas” that makes it a perfect family watch for the end of the day.
22
Krisha (2015)
Quintessential Thanksgiving Factor: Things aren’t always easy with family. This festival darling centers on the titular Krisha who returns to the family she abandoned years before on Thanksgiving.
23
Little Women (2019)
Quintessential Thanksgiving Factor: The sisterly love between the Marches. Gather the girls and snuggle in for this feel-good adaptation of the Louisa May Alcott classic.
24
Ratatouille (2007)
Quintessential Thanksgiving Factor: The timely reminder that cooking is all about love (even if your chefy pedigree is no better than Linguini’s.) This beloved Pixar gem features Remy, a rat who becomes an unlikely leader in one of Paris’s most famous eateries—all from under the toque of a human friend who’s utterly devoid of culinary talent.
When Harry Met Sally (1989)
Quintessential Thanksgiving Factor: The “New York in the fall” vibe of this Nora Ephron classic rom-com will have you reaching for a hot cider before you know it. And, let’s be honest, there’s no bad time to watch this tale of two acquaintances, who become friends, who mess it all up on the way to their happy ending.
26
Julie & Julia (2009)
Quintessential Thanksgiving Factor: The twinned tales of cooking icon Julia Child and Julie, the blogger who cooked her way through Child’s famous recipe tome, are an excellent reminder how how much we all love food—and that even the greats have a disaster or two.
Big Night (1996)
Quintessential Thanksgiving Factor: The combination of delectable feasts and family drama is sure to make you feel the love for your own brood, and maybe want to start a new food tradition too in this film featuring Stanley Tucci and Tony Shalhoub as brothers attempting to save their family restaurant.
28
Hannah and Her Sisters (1986)
Quintessential Thanksgiving Factor: Bookended by Thanksgivings, these intertwined tales of a trio of sisters and their woeful romantic lives will make you appreciate your own crazy family.
The Humans (2021)
Quintessential Thanksgiving Factor: The film version of Stephen Karam’s Tony-winning play, the movie reveals the metaphorical ghosts that can haunt a family as they gather for Thanksgiving.
30
Spider-Man (2002)
![SPIDER-MAN [2002] – Official Trailer (HD) thumnail](https://img.youtube.com/vi/t06RUxPbp_c/hqdefault.jpg "SPIDER-MAN [2002] – Official Trailer (HD) thumnail")
Quintessential Thanksgiving Factor: Nothing good happens that the Thanksgiving parade—at least not in the Marvel universe. While it might not technically be a Thanksgiving movie, there’s no denying that the big celebration becomes a major moment in the film—as are the themes of family, found and otherwise.
Soul Food (1997)
![Soul Food (1997, trailer) [Vanessa Williams, Vivica A. Fox, Nia Long, Michael Beach] thumnail](https://img.youtube.com/vi/uqg19AMm07Q/hqdefault.jpg "Soul Food (1997, trailer) [Vanessa Williams, Vivica A. Fox, Nia Long, Michael Beach] thumnail")
Quintessential Thanksgiving Factor: Family coming together—for all of the drama, and all the hilarity—around the table is at the heart of this film about the Joseph family, who struggle with their own issues with each other as they try to maintain the tradition of family dinners together after their matriarch falls ill.
32
Black Friday (2021)
Quintessential Thanksgiving Factor: Transition between Thanksgiving and Christmas with this funny frightener that follows a group of retail workers who fight to survive as their store is mobbed by parasite-infected Black Friday shoppers.
33
Hoildate (2020)
Quintessential Thanksgiving Factor: The stress of being “the single one” at the family Thanksgiving would be enough to make anyone consider a fake relationship, and that’s just what happens to this mismatched couple who agree to play one another’s plus ones at holiday events for a year.
34
Eat Drink Man Woman (1994)
Quintessential Thanksgiving Factor: Family may be messy and complicated, but everything still comes together when you gather around the table in Ang Lee’s tale about a retired chef and his complicated relationship with his three adult daughters.
35
Knives Out (2019)
Quintessential Thanksgiving Factor: No matter how tense things get with your family on Thanksgiving, just remember—it could be worse. At leat your family holiday is unlikely to result in a murder mystery, unlike the celebrations of the dysfunctional Thrombey family in this star-studded whodunit.
36
Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner (1967)
Quintessential Thanksgiving Factor: For anyone who’s introducing your family to your significant other for the holiday, this classic—all about a white woman who brings her Black fiancee home to meet her supposedly liberal-minded parents in the 1960s—goes out to you.
37
My Big Fat Greek Wedding (2002)
Quintessential Thanksgiving Factor: While it may not feature Thanksgiving, the ample family celebrations, and the raw hilarity of the joys and tribulations of loving your weird family, make this rom-com, about a sheltered Greek-American woman and her decidedly un-Greek beau, a perfect film to get the family together for.
38
For Your Consideration (2006)
Quintessential Thanksgiving Factor: Get the group together for some laughs with this off-beat Christopher Guest comedy about the production of Home for Purim an Oscar-buzzy film that gets its title changed to Home for Thanksgiving.
39
Funny People (2009)
Quintessential Thanksgiving Factor: When you’re looking for Thanksgiving toast inspiration, look no further than this melancholy dramedy about a comedian with leukemia and the found family that forms around him.
40
The Hundred-Foot Journey (2014)
Quintessential Thanksgiving Factor: Food, family, and the complicated way that growing as a person can bring us right back to where we started all feature in this sweet watch about an Indian family who open a small restaurant in a French village, opposite one of the country’s most lauded dining destinations, headed up by the hyper-critical Madame Mallory (Helen Mirren) who wants to see them gone.
41
Free Birds (2013)
Quintessential Thanksgiving Factor: It’s all about the gobblers in this animate flick about a pair of time-traveling turkeys who head back to the first Thanksgiving to try and stop poultry from becoming synonymous with the holiday.
42
Nobody’s Fool (1994)
![Nobody's Fool (1994) Original Trailer [HD] thumnail](https://img.youtube.com/vi/Zh4nKGloiHk/hqdefault.jpg "Nobody's Fool (1994) Original Trailer [HD] thumnail")
Quintessential Thanksgiving Factor: A family, of a less conventional sort forms with n’ere-do-well Sully (Paul Newman) finds himself stuck with his down-on-his-luck son and grandson—because sometimes things are just complicated.
43
Waitress (2007)
Quintessential Thanksgiving Factor: If your favorite part of Thanksgiving is the pie, this one’s for you. In it, smalltown waitress Jenna takes refuge in a world of creative pie-making. in order to escape from the realities of her overbearing husband, an unwanted pregnancy, and her secret affair with the new local doctor.
