14 Movies to Watch On Thanksgiving
The holiday season is the jolliest time of the year. Surrounded by friends and family, everything seems perfect. Everyone especially comes home to have Thanksgiving dinner together, and this is the best time to bond with family. This season can mend any broken bonds, distant relationships, and dysfunctional families. Movies can be a great way to spend time with family other than at the dinner table.
Thanksgiving movies can become a family tradition if you pick the right one. Countless options on Netflix, Amazon Prime, HBO, and Cox TV packages can make it hard to choose from. Some of the best Thanksgiving movies are listed below:
#1 Planes, Trains, and Automobiles
If we are making the best Thanksgiving movie list, this one deserves to be on top. The goofy salesman Del and the marketing man Neal Page make the best duo. The story revolves around Neal’s struggles to reach his family in time for Thanksgiving. It is full of warmth, homeliness, and misadventure.
#2: A Family Thanksgiving
The 2010 dramedy brings the importance of family life into light with a little bit of magic. Claudia is a workaholic, and nothing can stop her. She is so immersed in her work that she has pushed everything else at the backburner. After getting a taste of what a complete life looks like, her eyes open up to a new world.
#3: What’s Cooking
What’s Cooking follows the lives and Thanksgiving dinner tables of four very different families. As the story progresses, some secrets unfold. In the end, it is all about finding love and comfort with family.
#4: About Time
The fantasy movie takes you through a bittersweet story. The protagonist, Tim Lake, can time travel like all men in his family. While the story is about romance, what takes the cake is the sweet portrayal of a father-son relationship. It is perfect for watching with your family and feeling the warmth.
#5: Home for the Holidays
Home for the Holidays takes dysfunctional families and Thanksgiving dinners to a whole new level. The entire family has to spend Thanksgiving together after personal predicaments. Take this amazing journey back home for your holiday with this masterpiece starring Robert Downey Jr.
#6: You’ve Got Mail
Tom Hanks starred You’ve Got Mail is probably one of the best rom-com ever. The entire story happens around Thanksgiving time and has some iconic scenes. It is the embodiment of opposites attracting each other and will take you for a ride.
#7: Free Birds
Perfect to watch with kids; Free Birds is a hilarious animated production. Sick and tired of being cooked at Thanksgiving, the turkeys have a plan. They decide to travel time and change the Thanksgiving tradition. Follow the hilarious adventure with your kids and grandkids and laugh together.
#8: The Turkey Bowl
This movie pays homage to a wonderful Thanksgiving tradition – football. It is a story about a revamped football match that got snowed out over a decade ago. His high school buddies trick a man to return to his hometown and deal with unfinished business.
#9: The Big Sick
Kumail Nanjiani’s debut movie might not be about Thanksgiving, but the feelings hit too close to home. The film tackles love, patience, and a sense of loss all at the same time. It shows how you realize something is this close to you only after almost losing it. The movie will make you want to pull your loved ones closer in a hug.
#10: National Lampoon’s Thanksgiving Family Reunion
If we are talking about classics, this is right up there. The bizarre family reunion gets crazier with the entry of a hippie cousin. The funny classic is still one of the best Thanksgiving movies that you can watch with your family.
#11: Friendsgiving
The movie also hosts a crazy Thanksgiving dinner but with a group of friends. If you could not be with your family and spend the holiday with your friends, this is perfect for you. The crazy friend’s reunion gets better and better as more people keep showing up. The bigger, the better!
#12: Holidate
Are you afraid of bringing someone to meet your family over the holidays? Well, this one is for you. The characters make a pact to meet each other’s families over the weekend. They pretend to be a couple to avoid questions and family pressure about settling down. It doesn’t get better than this!
#13: The Pursuit of Happyness
Will and Jaden Smith pair up as the perfect father-son duo. It shows the real struggle and the irrevocable and unconditional love between a parent and child. The movie will bring tears to your eyes but will also make you happy.
#14: A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving
Let’s close this list with another classic, made-for-TV special. The special aired in 1973 and continued every year after it until 1989. A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving has everything that makes up the perfect Thanksgiving. There is drama, comedy, family, football and lots and lots of food!
