The Only 12 Thanksgiving Movies You Need This Year

Thanksgiving movies never get the same hype as Christmas movies, but they should. The holiday is built for stories about family stress, awkward dinners, bad travel, and kitchen disasters that look a lot safer on a screen than in your own house. 

So here is a list of a dozen Thanksgiving themed movies that work well when everyone is too full to move. After the second slice of pie, no one wants a project. People just want to crash in front of the TV and let other families embarrass themselves for a change.

1. A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving (1973) – Run time: 25 minutes – Rating: G

This short animated special shows Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Linus, and Woodstock trying to throw a Thanksgiving meal for their friends even though their cooking skills peak at toast and popcorn. The story is simple and low key, but it hits the basics about gratitude, guests, and making do with what you actually have in the kitchen. It works for kids and adults, especially anyone who has ever burned a side dish and called it “rustic.” The film follows Charlie Brown as he learns what Thanksgiving is supposed to mean while dealing with the usual Peanuts crew. It is also the only Peanuts TV special that did not come straight from a comic strip storyline, with Jimmy Ahrens, Todd Barbee, and Christopher DeFaria among the voice cast and Bill Melendez and Phil Roman directing.

2. Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987) – Run time: 92 minutes – Rating: R

By popularity, the 1987 dramedy Planes, Trains and Automobiles usually comes out on top, with a large number of user ratings and a strong average score on major movie sites. The story follows an advertising executive who is desperate to get home for Thanksgiving and ends up stuck on a misbegotten trip with an oddball salesman who will not go away. The film leans into familiar Thanksgiving themes like patience, clashing personalities, and the uneasy truce that passes for family harmony. 

This John Hughes comedy centers on Neal Page, an advertising executive played by Steve Martin, who just wants to get home to Chicago for Thanksgiving. Bad weather sends his flight off course, and every attempt to fix things pulls him back into the orbit of Del Griffith, a talkative shower curtain ring salesman played by John Candy. As the title suggests, their long, miserable sprint home runs through a series of planes, trains, cars, and one charred vehicle that should not be on the road. Their slow move toward mutual respect feels earned, even if both men behave like people who should probably be banned from public transportation. Watch it on Prime Video here.

3. Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009) – Run time: 1 hour 27 minutes – Rating: PG

In this stop motion film, Mr. Fox, voiced by George Clooney, plans one more big heist against three local farmers with violent tendencies. His wife Felicity, voiced by Meryl Streep, wants a stable life and is not thrilled that he is sneaking back into crime after promising to stop. The setting feels like late autumn, and the story builds to a feast scene packed with food, which gives it a Thanksgiving flavor even without a turkey on the table. As Mr. Fox’s final scheme puts his family at risk, he has to face what kind of husband and father he actually wants to be. The film earned Academy Award nominations for Best Animated Feature and Best Original Score. Watch it on Prime Video here.

4. Miracle on 34th Street (1947) – Run time: 96 minutes – Rating: G

As one contributor in another outlet put it, “This is one of my all-time favorite holiday movies and certainly one that has stood the test of time, thanks to the stellar performances that bring this heartwarming story to life.” The story begins at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City, which makes it fair game for November viewing and not just December nostalgia. When a department store Santa insists that he is the real Kris Kringle, a skeptical 6 year old girl named Susan, played by Natalie Wood, learns that faith and common sense do not always agree. The movie picked up three Academy Awards, including Best Supporting Actor for Edmund Gwenn as Kris Kringle, and Oscars for the original story and screenplay. It was nominated for Best Picture and later joined the United States National Film Registry in 2005.  Watch it on Prime Video here.

5. Hannah and Her Sisters (1986) – Run time: 106 minutes – Rating: PG-13

This comedy drama follows three sisters, Hannah, Holly, and Lee, played by Mia Farrow, Dianne Wiest, and Barbara Hershey. The film checks in on them across three consecutive Thanksgiving dinners as careers, marriages, and affairs blow up around the table. Hannah’s husband starts an affair with Lee, Holly writes a script that steals from her family’s private life, and everyone else copes through denial, food, and bad decisions. The story also threads through an ex husband’s midlife crisis and parents whose drinking and cheating would be shocking if they were not so predictable. Directed by Woody Allen, the film is widely cited as one of his central works and received strong reviews on release along with several major awards. Watch this on Prime Video here.

6. Home for the Holidays (1995) – Run time: 103 minutes – Rating: PG-13.

Jodie Foster directs this story about Claudia Larson, who heads home for Thanksgiving after losing her job for kissing her boss, which is one way to clear up your schedule for the holidays. The cast includes Robert Downey Jr. and Dylan McDermott, plus a full slate of relatives who behave like an argument in search of a trigger. Over the course of the visit, Claudia deals with her brother’s supposed new boyfriend, an aunt with dementia, a dropped Thanksgiving turkey, and the surprise of a secret wedding. The film did not dominate the box office at the time, but it has since built a reputation as a cult favorite for viewers who watch their own family drama and think, “At least it is not that bad.” Watch it on Prime Video here.

7. Addams Family Values (1993) – Run time: 94 minutes – Rating: PG-13

Before streaming platforms started churning out dirivitave spinoffs, this sequel to The Addams Family gave Wednesday the spotlight she deserved. The story picks up with a new baby, Pubert, and a new nanny, Debbie Jellinsky, whose idea of child care involves marrying Uncle Fester and going after his money. Gomez and Morticia send Wednesday and Pugsley to summer camp, where the staff tries to force them into a cheerful Thanksgiving play called “A Turkey Named Brotherhood.” The kids respond by staging a fiery revolt that probably violates every fire code in the country and delivers a dark little civics lesson about what people like to pretend the holiday means. Watch it on Prime Video here.

8. Friendsgiving (2020) – Run time: 95 minutes – Rating: R

Best friends Molly and Abby, played by Malin Åkerman and Kat Dennings, try to keep Thanksgiving quiet as Molly deals with motherhood and divorce and Abby recovers from a breakup. That plan dies quickly as both women start inviting other people, including exes, maybe future partners, random friends, and stray relatives. The day slides into full chaos, as these events tend to do when no one is honest about who is actually on the guest list. The ensemble also includes Wanda Sykes, Margaret Cho, Jane Seymour, and Chelsea Peretti, which means the snark level stays high even when the story turns sentimental.  Watch it on Prime Video here.

9. Tower Heist (2011) – Run time: 104 minutes – Rating: PG-13

Ben Stiller plays Josh, the manager of a high end New York apartment building whose top tenant, billionaire Arthur Shaw, played by Alan Alda, runs the staff’s pension fund. When Shaw is exposed as a Ponzi scheme operator who has stolen billions, Josh realizes his people have lost their savings and decides to hit back. He pulls together a small crew that includes childhood friend and crook Slide, played by Eddie Murphy, maid Odessa, concierge Charlie, and elevator operator Enrique. Their goal is to rob Shaw on Thanksgiving Day and recover the money they are owed. What follows involves an empty safe, a solid gold Ferrari, and a hidden ledger. The movie was first pitched as a story about black employees planning to rob the Trump International Hotel, which explains why some of the bite still shows through the studio polish. Watch it on Prime Video here.

10. For Your Consideration (2006) – Run time: 86 minutes – Rating: PG-13

This mockumentary follows three actors making a low budget drama called Home for Purim. A rumor starts that the lead actors, played by Catherine O’Hara, Harry Shearer, and Parker Posey, might receive Oscar nominations, and everyone on set loses perspective almost instantly. The studio responds to the early buzz by forcing changes, including a new title, Home for Thanksgiving, after deciding the original title is “too Jewish.” As the cast runs through the press tour and award speculation, they learn that show business approval is not nearly as satisfying as they once imagined. O’Hara’s performance earned her a National Board of Review award for Best Supporting Actress and an Independent Spirit nomination, and critics even speculated she might receive an Oscar nod, but the film ended up with no Academy Award nominations at all. Watch it on Prime Video here.

11. Grumpy Old Men (1993) – Run time: 103 minutes – Rating: PG-13

This comedy centers on two retired neighbors in Minnesota, John Gustafson and Max Goldman, played by Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau, who spend their days insulting each other and plotting small acts of revenge. Their long running feud moves up a notch when Ariel Truax, an English professor, moves into the neighborhood and has Thanksgiving dinner with a mutual friend. Both men start competing for her attention, which digs up old grudges and forces them to deal with the reasons they became enemies in the first place. The movie surprised analysts with its box office success and took in far more than its production budget, which led to the inevitable sequel, Grumpier Old Men. Watch it on Prime Video here.

12. The New World (2005) – Run time: 135 minutes – Rating: PG-13

This historical drama looks at the early days of the Jamestown settlement in Virginia instead of the cleaned up folk tale version trotted out in school plays. The story follows the relationship between Captain John Smith, played by Colin Farrell, and Pocahontas, played by Q’orianka Kilcher, against the backdrop of conflict between English colonists and Native Americans. There is politics, betrayal, and cultural collision, with very little of the cartoon style optimism that usually gets stapled onto the Thanksgiving myth. The film offers a slower and more uncomfortable picture of that era, which might be useful to keep in mind before everyone holds hands around the table and pretends history was one big potluck. Watch it on Prime Video here.

Did I skip any of your favorite Turkey Day treats? Sound off in the comments!

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