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Whether you’re heading home for Thanksgiving next month or camping out with friends, you’ll likely be spending at least a few hours looking for the perfect movie (or movies!) to kindle the holiday spirit. To be sure, the brilliance of classics like A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving, Miracle on 34th Street, and Planes, Trains Automobiles should never be understated, isn’t it a bit more fun to cue up something a little different?
To that end, we’ve crafted a list of slightly more offbeat movies set on, around, or at the very least around the idea of Thanksgiving for your viewing pleasure. So, as you look ahead to a long weekend of eating and drinking next month, browse our favorite unconventional Thanksgiving movies below.
French Girl (2024)
We know, we know, it’s a Zach Braff film. But hear us out: This French-Canadian rom-com is set partly in the food world, which would pair nicely with a vast amount of turkey and sides. Plus, the Vanessa Hudgens bisexuality subplot will be fun to discuss with your grandparents!
His Three Daughters (2023)
If you need a little escape from your own semi-dysfunctional family this holiday season, consider Azazel Jacobs’s intimate drama about three sisters (played by Elizabeth Olsen, Carrie Coon, and the great Natasha Lyonne) who reunite in New York City to care for their dying father. Cue: fierce infighting, some light gambling, and moments of truly touching grace.
The Queen of My Dreams (2023)
This mother-daughter story features Sex Lives of College Girls star Amrit Kaur as a young, queer Canadian-Pakistani woman who returns to her family’s ancestral home after the death of her father. It’s sad, sure, but it’s also got enough humanity to make you tear up over something other than your most conservative family member’s bad political jokes at the dinner table.
The Humans (2021)
Adapted from director Stephen Karam’s own Tony-winning play, The Humans—about a family assembled in a leaking, creaking Lower Manhattan apartment for Thanksgiving dinner—features a winning ensemble cast, including Amy Schumer, Beanie Feldstein, Steven Yeun, and June Squibb. Come November, its sobering drama (and touching humor) may well be just what the doctor ordered.
Little Women (2019)
Yes, it was released on Christmas Day in 2019—and has all of the snow and crackling fires to make that appropriate—but Greta Gerwig’s spirited retelling of Louisa May Alcott’s classic novel goes down easy on Thanksgiving, too. One of history’s great family dramas, Little Women is at once about four sisters finding their way in the world, and the ties that bind them all together.
Lez Bomb (2018)
If you’ve ever brought a queer or trans partner home for the holidays and dealt with all the…surprising things that can come out of doing so, this dramedy (which inexplicably features Steve Guttenberg, in addition to Elaine Hendrix) should be perfect for your long Thanksgiving weekend.
Krisha (2015)
In Trey Edward Shults’s bracing feature-length directorial debut, Krisha Fairchild plays Krisha, a sort of recovering addict who invites her estranged extended family over for Thanksgiving dinner. While the day begins peaceably enough, in time tempers flare, feelings get hurt, and it becomes clear that Krisha isn’t quite as reformed as she’d claimed to be.
Mistress America (2015)
In this deeply charming comedy from Noah Baumbach and Greta Gerwig, Gerwig plays Brooke, the freewheeling soon-to-be stepsister of Lola Kirke’s Tracy, a freshman at Barnard. As Tracy adjusts to life in New York, she finds, in Brooke, a fast friend—and the inspiration for a story—and all kinds of drama ensues. We won’t spoil any of that for you, but suffice it to say that the film concludes with a winningly New York-y Thanksgiving feast.
Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009)
If you’re looking to entertain a mixed audience of Gen Z-ers, millennials, and boomers, look no further—this Wes Anderson film combines the director’s signature wit and visual charm with an all-star lineup of celebrity voice artists—from George Clooney to Meryl Streep to Jason Schwartzman to Bill Murray—that are sure to delight even the most sugar-high child or cranky aunt. Sure, it’s not exactly about Thanksgiving (the vibe is more…theft), but its color palette is gorgeously autumnal.
Funny People (2009)
Don’t be fooled—Judd Apatow’s film starring Seth Rogen and Adam Sandler is definitely more of a tearjerker than a laugh-out-loud comedy. The film’s focus is a comedian who learns he has late-stage cancer and not much time left to live—but there’s an exceptional scene at a Thanksgiving dinner in which Sandler’s George broaches the subject of getting old and being alone that will make you want to hug all your friends and thank them for being so incredibly important to you.
Julie Julia (2009)
Nora Ephron’s film about a Brooklyn cooking blogger who idolizes Julia Child beyond all reason isn’t perfect (though it would be, if it were only the Meryl Streep scenes), but what could make for a happier holiday than watching Streep and Stanley Tucci eat a bunch of butter?
Paul Blart: Mall Cop (2009)
In the years since this Kevin James movie was released, it has gained a cult following, in part due to a late-blooming meme campaign. Yet Paul Blart: Mall Cop leans hard into mindless entertainment, centering on a busy mall taken hostage on arguably the worst day of the year for a mall cop: Black Friday.
Still Walking (2008)
In this moving film written, directed, and edited by Hirokazu Kore-eda, a family comes together not to celebrate a holiday, exactly, but to commemorate the 12-year anniversary of a tragic death. Nevertheless, there’s a strong Thanksgiving-weekend vibe to Still Walking, which takes place over the course of about a day: grandparents play with grandkids, food is lovingly prepared, and old tensions are gradually unearthed.
Dan in Real Life (2007)
In Dan in Real Life, widower and single dad Dan Burns (played by Steve Carell) visits his family for Thanksgiving in the opening scenes. The touching dramedy then follows Dan’s crush on a woman who turns out to be his brother’s girlfriend. Talk about Thanksgiving drama!
For Your Consideration (2006)
As in any Christopher Guest film, much of the dialogue and plot of the mockumentary For Your Consideration is improvised by the cast. When a mediocre film is being produced, nobody thinks much of it—but when a rumor starts that it’s going to be an Oscar winner, things get turned up to 11, and the cast and crew find themselves caught up in hijinks galore. As for how this all relates to Thanksgiving: The film-within-a-film is titled Home for Purim before it’s changed to Home for Thanksgiving.
Brokeback Mountain (2005)
Though Brokeback Mountain takes place, for the most part, outside on the plains, one of the most important scenes in the film is set on Thanksgiving, when Ennis’s ex-wife finally confronts him about his relationship with Jack.
Pieces of April (2003)
Set around a Thanksgiving dinner that April (Katie Holmes) sets up for her estranged family after her mother is diagnosed with cancer, Pieces of April ticks all the boxes for a good Thanksgiving watch—especially since Patricia Clarkson was nominated for an Oscar for her portrayal of the ailing mother. There’s also a plotline here for everyone: April’s frantic prep and brushes with disaster as her oven fails her; her boyfriend Bobby’s attempts to make a good impression on her parents; and the family’s journey to Manhattan as they try to reconcile their feelings about the past.
What’s Cooking? (2000)
Thanksgiving doesn’t have to be all about turkey and mashed potatoes, as What’s Cooking? proves by showcasing the various celebrations of Vietnamese, Jewish, Latino, and African American families.
You’ve Got Mail (1998)
While you never really need an excuse to watch the classic 1998 romantic comedy, this time you’ll have an explicit reason to make all your friends watch it with you: The classic scene between Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan in which Joe Fox comes to the rescue in a Zabar’s cash-only line actually takes place on Thanksgiving. Come for the holiday theme in You’ve Got Mail, stay for the story of two business rivals who unknowingly fall in love via the earliest version of the web.
The House of Yes (1997)
Parker Posey is a revelation as a Jackie O.–obsessed twin in the black comedy The House of Yes, which takes place on Thanksgiving Day 1983 and revolves around college student Marty Pascal bringing his fiancée (played by Tori Spelling) home to meet his parents.
The Ice Storm (1997)
Centered on two suburban families attempting to celebrate Thanksgiving in 1973, The Ice Storm demonstrates the extremes of suburban dysfunction through sexual identity, alcohol, drugs, and the human condition. Based on a best-selling Rick Moody novel and directed by the legendary Ang Lee, The Ice Storm has a tremendous cast and contains one of the most memorable and mind-blowing scenes of the past several decades, involving Elijah Wood and electrocution.
The Daytrippers (1997)
When, shortly after Thanksgiving, Eliza (Hope Davis) discovers a love letter to her husband (Stanley Tucci) from an unknown woman, she heads into the city from Long Island to investigate—taking her parents (Pat McNamara and Anne Meara), her sister (Parker Posey), and her sister’s boyfriend (Liev Schreiber) along for the ride. Cue a day of familial chaos.
Home for the Holidays (1995)
Based on a short story by Chris Radant, Jodie Foster’s Home for the Holidays assembles the quintessential dysfunctional family out of a star-studded cast: Holly Hunter (playing Claudia, a recently fired art restorer who flies home to Baltimore for Thanksgiving), Robert Downey Jr. (as Tommy, Claudia’s younger brother), Dylan McDermott (as Leo, Tommy’s friend), Anne Bancroft (as Adele, her mother), Charles Durning (as Henry, her father), Geraldine Chaplin (as Aunt Glady, Adele’s sister), and Claire Danes (as Kitt, Claudia’s daughter), among several others.
Addams Family Values (1993)
The sequel to The Addams Family features an incredible plotline in which Christina Ricci’s Wednesday Addams stages a spectacular reproduction of the story of Thanksgiving at her summer camp. While the play itself goes down in flames (literally!), the all-star cast of Anjelica Huston, Christopher Lloyd, and Joan Cusack in Addams Family Values will have you grinning on your couch as the turkey digests.
Scent of a Woman (1992)
To pay for his flight home for Christmas, a prep-school boy (Chris O’Donnell) agrees to take care of a blind, alcoholic, retired Army Ranger (who happens to be played by Al Pacino, in a role that won him an Academy Award) over Thanksgiving weekend. The latter takes the former on a whirlwind, glamorous tour of New York City that also includes a rather climactic detour to the Thanksgiving table of an estranged family member. Keep tissues handy when you’re watching Scent of a Woman.
Reversal of Fortune (1990)
The real-life story of socialite Sunny von Bülow’s coma has all the makings of good post-Thanksgiving-dinner conversation fodder, at least if you come from a family in which legal thrillers are held in high esteem. (Plus, Jeremy Irons! And Ron Silver in a truly wild interpretation of a pre-Trump Alan Dershowitz!)
Babette’s Feast (1987)
Based on Isak Dinesen’s short story of the same name, Babette’s Feast is not, strictly speaking, a Thanksgiving movie—it takes place in 19th-century Denmark—but it is about kindness and community and centers on a gorgeous banquet. Cue it up, and prepare for the entire family to be totally enchanted.
The Last Waltz (1978)
Martin Scorsese famously captured the Band’s farewell performance at San Francisco’s Winterland Ballroom on Thanksgiving 1976 in perhaps the most iconic concert film ever. Keep an eye out for music legends like the Staple Singers and Bob Dylan in The Last Waltz, and don’t miss the Band’s Rick Danko taking the time to wish the crowd a happy holiday.
Rocky (1976)
Yes, that Rocky. The 1976 boxing film is unquestionably one of Sylvester Stallone’s best, but if you put the whole heavyweight-championship plot to the side for a second, there’s an incredible Thanksgiving scene in which a turkey is chucked out the back door—an event that actually leads to a date for the hero of the film.
Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner (1967)
Here’s another movie that, on the face of it, has nothing to do with Thanksgiving, but feels oddly suited to the occasion nevertheless. Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner gathers Sidney Poitier, Katharine Hepburn, Spencer Tracy (in his final film role), and Katharine Houghton (Hepburn’s real-life niece) to tell the story of an interracial couple vying for their parents’ approval. In our books, conflict + a climactic meal = the perfect Thanksgiving fare.
