Thanksgiving movies: 10 films to watch this holiday that aren't turkeys

Home for the Holidays (1995)

Jodie Foster’s black comedy starts off with heroine, Claudia Larson (Holly Hunter), getting fired – and unfortunately for the single mother, things only go downhill from there. Her only child, Kitt (Claire Danes), decides to spend Thanksgiving with her boyfriend, leaving Claudia to fend for herself with her absurdly dysfunctional family over the holiday break. The film features an embarrassment of scene-stealing performances, with the standouts being a young and loose Robert Downey Jr as Claudia’s gay brother, and Geraldine Chaplin as their eccentric aunt Grady.

The Ice Storm (1997)

Ang Lee’s second English-language drama doesn’t make for cheery family viewing, but chances are the deeply perturbing dysfunction on display during a Thanksgiving holiday weekend in 1973 will make you feel that much better about your own family’s dynamics. Kevin Kline, Joan Allen and Sigourney Weaver head the cast as disaffected suburbanites who pepper up their bland lives with adultery and booze. To get a taste for the caustic nature of Lee’s film, watch the scene below, in which a young Christina Ricci offers a stinging prayer over Thanksgiving dinner.

Miracle on 34th Street (1947)

George Seaton’s black-and-white family classic is a Christmas viewing tradition for many, but it also makes for an ideal post-Thanksgiving dinner watch given how prominently the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade features into the storyline. Think of it as a transition movie from one holiday to another.

Addams Family Values (1993)

The only film on this list to feature a climax involving a family tied to electric chairs, this sequel to Barry Sonnefeld’s film adaptation of the beloved TV series, The Addams Family, is macabre fun. In its own twisted way, Addams Family Values is also heartwarming and surprisingly wholesome – you’d be hard pressed to find a tighter-knit family than this ghoulish clan. It also features the best Thanksgiving play ever committed to celluloid.

Pieces of April (2003)

Katie Holmes plays the titular April: a troubled young woman, deeply at odds with her family, including her cancer-stricken mother (Patricia Clarkson). After years of feuding, and with her mother’s health waning, April tries to make amends by hosting Thanksgiving dinner at her tiny Manhattan apartment. The road to reconciliation is rocky in Peter Hedges’ Oscar-nominated dramedy – but the emotional payoff is worth the bumpy trip.

Rocky (1976)

With Creed, the seventh film in the Rocky franchise opening on Thanksgiving day, now is a better time than ever to revisit Sylvester Stallone’s seminal boxing drama, which like the new film, packs a hell of an emotional punch. In Rocky, that wallop stems from the touching core love story between Rocky (Stallone) and the shy Adrian (Talia Shire), who embark on an unplanned date after Adrian’s brother thwarts her Thanksgiving-cooking plans by throwing her bought turkey out the window. “To you, it’s Thanksgiving; to me, it’s Thursday,” Rocky tells Adrian.

Still Alice (2014)

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Nothing bonds a family like a good, long wail. In that respect, Still Alice doesn’t disappoint. Julianne Moore won her first Oscar after four nominations for her devastating portrayal of Alice Howland, a linguistics professor who at the outset of Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland’s drama, discovers she has early onset familial Alzheimer’s. The film’s most heart-rending scene sees Alice struggle to get through a Thanksgiving dinner without forgetting the names of her guests, including her daughter, played by Kristen Stewart.

Grumpy Old Men (1993)

Thanksgiving barely factors into this crass comedy that marks Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau’s sixth film together, but pay no mind: Donald Petrie’s wry film is bound to draw laughs from everyone in the family. As the title suggests, the film centers on two old grumps, Max (Matthau) and John (Lemmon), both engaged in a petty lifelong feud, which ramps up when a hot new elderly gal (Ann-Margret) moves in across the street. Their fight for the neighbor reaches its apex when the men spot her on a Thanksgiving date with another man.

Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987)

With standstill traffic, crowded airports and delayed trains, traveling home for Thanksgiving can be stressful and panic-inducing. John Hughes’ classic screwball comedy taps into the primal fear associated with the holiday trek home. Steve Martin plays a control freak of a father trying his damnedest to make it to Chicago in one piece to spend Thanksgiving with his family. Martin’s droll delivery is perfectly paired with the late John Candy’s manic performance as a loud-mouthed, curtain ring salesman, who, through random circumstances, finds himself attached at the hip with his newfound buddy.

Scent of a Woman (1992)

Al Pacino won an Oscar for his role in this heartwarming film about a young prep-school gent (Chris O’Donnell) who is hired to take care of a blind retired army colonel (Pacino) over Thanksgiving break. Martin Brest’s film is a by-the-books feel-good drama, but Pacino’s tour-de-force performance is brash and unpredictable, and makes the treacly material easier to digest.