30 Movies to Watch on Thanksgiving
by IMDb-Editors | created - 21 Nov 2022 | updated - 22 Nov 2022 | PublicFrom comedies to classics, we've rounded up 30 titles available to stream or rent as you settle into the sofa after dinner.
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1. A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving (1973 TV Short)
TV-G | 25 min | Animation, Short, Comedy
Peppermint Patty invites herself and her friends over to Charlie Brown's for Thanksgiving, and with Linus, Snoopy, and Woodstock, he attempts to throw together a Thanksgiving dinner.
Directors: Bill Melendez, Phil Roman | Stars: Todd Barbee, Robin Kohn, Stephen Shea, Hilary Momberger-Powers
Votes: 12,346
2. Home for the Holidays (1995)
PG-13 | 103 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
After losing her job, making out with her soon-to-be former boss, and finding out that her daughter plans to spend Thanksgiving with her boyfriend, Claudia Larson faces spending the holiday with her family.
Director: Jodie Foster | Stars: Holly Hunter, Anne Bancroft, Robert Downey Jr., Charles Durning
Votes: 14,555 | Gross: $17.52M
3. Addams Family Values (1993)
PG-13 | 94 min | Comedy, Fantasy
The Addams Family try to rescue their beloved Uncle Fester from his gold-digging new love, a black widow named Debbie.
Director: Barry Sonnenfeld | Stars: Anjelica Huston, Raul Julia, Christopher Lloyd, Joan Cusack
Votes: 109,477 | Gross: $48.92M
4. Free Birds (2013)
PG | 91 min | Animation, Action, Adventure
Two turkeys from opposite sides of the tracks must put aside their differences and team up to travel back in time to change the course of history, and get Turkeys off the Thanksgiving menu for good.
Director: Jimmy Hayward | Stars: Woody Harrelson, Owen Wilson, Dan Fogler, Amy Poehler
Votes: 25,981 | Gross: $55.75M
5. The Big Chill (1983)
R | 105 min | Comedy, Drama
A group of seven former college friends gather for a weekend reunion at a South Carolina vacation home after the funeral of another of their college friends.
Director: Lawrence Kasdan | Stars: Tom Berenger, Glenn Close, Jeff Goldblum, William Hurt
Votes: 41,346 | Gross: $56.20M
6. The Oath (2018)
R | 93 min | Comedy, Thriller
In a politically divided America, a man struggles to make it through the Thanksgiving holiday without destroying his family.
Director: Ike Barinholtz | Stars: Ike Barinholtz, Tiffany Haddish, Nora Dunn, Chris Ellis
Votes: 4,988 | Gross: $0.40M
7. Pieces of April (2003)
PG-13 | 80 min | Comedy, Drama
A wayward daughter invites her dying mother and the rest of her estranged family to her apartment for Thanksgiving dinner.
Director: Peter Hedges | Stars: Katie Holmes, Oliver Platt, Patricia Clarkson, Derek Luke
Votes: 22,112 | Gross: $2.53M
8. Planes, Trains & Automobiles (1987)
R | 93 min | Comedy, Drama
A Chicago advertising man must struggle to travel home from New York for Thanksgiving, with a lovable oaf of a shower-curtain-ring salesman as his only companion.
Director: John Hughes | Stars: Steve Martin, John Candy, Laila Robins, Michael McKean
Votes: 160,090 | Gross: $49.53M
9. Rocky (1976)
PG | 120 min | Drama, Sport
A small-time Philadelphia boxer gets a supremely rare chance to fight the world heavyweight champion in a bout in which he strives to go the distance for his self-respect.
Director: John G. Avildsen | Stars: Sylvester Stallone, Talia Shire, Burt Young, Carl Weathers
Votes: 627,839 | Gross: $117.24M
10. Tower Heist (2011)
PG-13 | 104 min | Action, Comedy, Crime
When a group of hard-working guys find out they've fallen victim to their wealthy employer's Ponzi scheme, they conspire to rob his high-rise residence.
Director: Brett Ratner | Stars: Eddie Murphy, Ben Stiller, Casey Affleck, Alan Alda
Votes: 150,905 | Gross: $78.05M
11. The Myth of Fingerprints (1997)
R | 93 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
A few days spent in close proximity to each other soon leads to family secrets and old resentments being revealed, which threaten to splinter an already dysfunctional family.
Director: Bart Freundlich | Stars: Julianne Moore, Roy Scheider, Noah Wyle, Randee Allen
Votes: 2,692 | Gross: $0.46M
12. One True Thing (1998)
R | 127 min | Drama
A career woman reassesses her parents' lives after she is forced to care for her cancer-stricken mother.
Director: Carl Franklin | Stars: Meryl Streep, Renée Zellweger, William Hurt, Tom Everett Scott
Votes: 12,691 | Gross: $23.25M
13. Love at the Thanksgiving Day Parade (2012 TV Movie)
TV-G | 84 min | Drama, Romance
An eager Thanksgiving parade coordinator is shocked when a wealthy consultant is hired to analyze its finances. Faced with teaching him that the parade means so much more to her than money, she finds herself reluctantly falling for him.
Director: Ron Oliver | Stars: Autumn Reeser, Antonio Cupo, April Telek, Ben Cotton
Votes: 2,134
14. Sweet November (2001)
PG-13 | 119 min | Drama, Romance
A workaholic executive, and an unconventional woman agree to a personal relationship for a short period. In this short period she changes his life.
Director: Pat O'Connor | Stars: Keanu Reeves, Charlize Theron, Jason Isaacs, Greg Germann
Votes: 94,538 | Gross: $25.29M
15. The Ice Storm (1997)
R | 112 min | Drama
In suburban New Canaan, Connecticut, 1973, middle-class families experimenting with casual sex and substance abuse find their lives beyond their control.
Director: Ang Lee | Stars: Kevin Kline, Joan Allen, Sigourney Weaver, Henry Czerny
Votes: 59,931 | Gross: $7.84M
16. Mistress America (2015)
R | 84 min | Comedy, Drama
A lonely college freshman's life is turned upside-down by her impetuous, adventurous stepsister-to-be.
Director: Noah Baumbach | Stars: Greta Gerwig, Lola Kirke, Shana Dowdeswell, Shelby Rebecca Wong
Votes: 28,737 | Gross: $2.46M
17. Stepmom (1998)
PG-13 | 125 min | Comedy, Drama
A terminally ill woman must deal with her ex-husband's new lover, who will be their children's stepmother.
Director: Chris Columbus | Stars: Julia Roberts, Susan Sarandon, Ed Harris, Jena Malone
Votes: 74,468 | Gross: $91.14M
18. The Daytrippers (1996)
R | 87 min | Comedy, Drama
When she discovers a love letter written to her husband by an unknown paramour, the distraught Eliza turns to her tight-knit Long Island family for advice.
Director: Greg Mottola | Stars: Hope Davis, Stanley Tucci, Parker Posey, Liev Schreiber
Votes: 7,133 | Gross: $2.08M
19. Avalon (1990)
PG | 128 min | Drama
A Polish-Jewish family comes to the U.S. at the beginning of the twentieth century. There, the family and their children try to make themselves a better future in the so-called promised land.
Director: Barry Levinson | Stars: Aidan Quinn, Elizabeth Perkins, Leo Fuchs, Eve Gordon
Votes: 6,776 | Gross: $15.74M
20. Scent of a Woman (1992)
R | 156 min | Drama
A prep school student needing money agrees to "babysit" a blind man, but the job is not at all what he anticipated.
Director: Martin Brest | Stars: Al Pacino, Chris O'Donnell, James Rebhorn, Gabrielle Anwar
Votes: 328,349 | Gross: $63.90M
21. The House of Yes (1997)
R | 85 min | Comedy, Drama
A mentally unbalanced young woman - who is convinced she is Jackie Kennedy - flies into a murderous rage when her brother returns home to reveal he is engaged.
Director: Mark Waters | Stars: Parker Posey, Josh Hamilton, Tori Spelling, Freddie Prinze Jr.
Votes: 8,826 | Gross: $0.62M
22. Knives Out (2019)
PG-13 | 130 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
A detective investigates the death of the patriarch of an eccentric, combative family.
Director: Rian Johnson | Stars: Daniel Craig, Chris Evans, Ana de Armas, Jamie Lee Curtis
Votes: 772,958 | Gross: $165.36M
23. Lez Bomb (2018)
TV-14 | 90 min | Comedy, Drama
A still closeted young woman brings her girlfriend home for Thanksgiving, only to have her coming out efforts thwarted by the unexpected arrival of her male roommate.
Director: Jenna Laurenzo | Stars: Jenna Laurenzo, Caitlin Mehner, Deirdre O'Connell, Dorothi Fox
Votes: 1,634
24. Soul Food (1997)
R | 115 min | Comedy, Drama
One person can keep a family together and, when that one person is gone, a family can be torn apart.
Director: George Tillman Jr. | Stars: Vanessa Williams, Vivica A. Fox, Nia Long, Michael Beach
Votes: 9,000 | Gross: $43.49M
25. The Blind Side (2009)
PG-13 | 129 min | Biography, Drama, Sport
The story of Michael Oher, a homeless and traumatized boy who became an All-American football player and first-round NFL draft pick with the help of a caring woman and her family.
Director: John Lee Hancock | Stars: Quinton Aaron, Sandra Bullock, Tim McGraw, Jae Head
Votes: 360,194 | Gross: $255.96M
26. For Your Consideration (2006)
PG-13 | 86 min | Comedy
Three actors learn that their respective performances in the film "Home for Purim," a drama set in the mid-1940s American South, are generating award-season buzz.
Director: Christopher Guest | Stars: Catherine O'Hara, Harry Shearer, Parker Posey, Christopher Guest
Votes: 15,880 | Gross: $5.54M
27. She's Gotta Have It (1986)
R | 84 min | Comedy, Romance
Story of a woman and her three lovers.
Director: Spike Lee | Stars: Tracy Camilla Johns, Tommy Redmond Hicks, John Canada Terrell, Spike Lee
Votes: 16,283 | Gross: $7.14M
28. North by Northwest (1959)
Approved | 136 min | Action, Adventure, Mystery
A New York City advertising executive goes on the run after being mistaken for a government agent by a group of foreign spies, and falls for a woman whose loyalties he begins to doubt.
Director: Alfred Hitchcock | Stars: Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint, James Mason, Jessie Royce Landis
Votes: 345,804 | Gross: $13.28M
29. Miracle on 34th Street (1994)
PG | 114 min | Drama, Family, Fantasy
A lawyer and a little girl must prove that a man claiming to be Santa Claus is the real thing.
Director: Les Mayfield | Stars: Richard Attenborough, Elizabeth Perkins, Dylan McDermott, J.T. Walsh
Votes: 43,858 | Gross: $17.19M
30. Tadpole (2002)
PG-13 | 78 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
Coming-of-age story about a suave 15-year-old prep school student who falls in love with his stepmother. When her best friend responds to his advances, he suddenly finds himself in way over his head.
Director: Gary Winick | Stars: Sigourney Weaver, Aaron Stanford, Kate Mara, Robert Iler
Votes: 6,260 | Gross: $2.88M
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