The 10 best movies to stream for Thanksgiving 2021
An updated list of cinematic delicacies to serve at your streaming Thanksgiving: Planes, Trains And Automobiles, Addams Family Values, You've Got Mail and more
Film Lists Thanksgiving
Clockwise from left: Addams Family Values (Screenshot), Planes, Trains And Automobiles (Screenshot), and You’ve Got Mail (Screenshot)
Turkey. Family. Traveling. Squabbling. Taboo romance. The farewell concert by an era-defining band. Any or all of these are the ingredients of a great Thanksgiving movie—a section of the cinematic holiday canon that’s a little thinner than others, if only because its celebration is mostly confined to North America. But if Turkey Day doesn’t have an It’s A Wonderful Life or a Halloween to call its own, there are still a handful of recommendable films that are either built around the holiday or use it as a backdrop for a memorable scene. So put the pumpkin pie in the oven, fire up your preferred device, and let’s carve up some streaming picks for your Thanksgiving season—accompanied by some excerpts from the A.V. Club archives.
38 Comments
This isn’t a Thanksgiving movie, per se, but IMHO a film that beautifully embodies the spirit of the holiday is Babette’s Feast.
Every year I have on my tv; Scent of a Woman, Planes, Trains and Automobiles and on my local station WPIX March of the Wooden Soldiers.
There’s also the thanksgiving episode of Buffy, where they’re attacked by the vengeful spirits of the Chumash nation. Who’s getting the Popeyes Cajun turkey this year?
And Buffy starred Sarah Michelle Gellar, who is married to Freddie Prinze Jr., who played the younger non-twin brother in House of Yes.
Off the top of my head, there’s a movie “Pieces of April” that’s about Katie Holmes trying to reconnect with her estranged family by hosting a Thanksgiving dinner for them and it’s pretty good.
Fun fact, House of Yes with its implied twincest featured Parker Posey, who actually has a twin brother in real life. I wonder if that led to any uncomfortable family discussions for her.
Your slideshow does not contain Dutch, starring Ed O’Neil a seminal Thanksgiving film that actually takes place on Thanksgiving.
Having been forced to watch YGM by any number of exes, I always took comfort in the fact Fox Books would have been bankrupt within 5 years of the film, meaning both would have been surviving off of her selling children’s books on Amazon (or even better yet, doing so while living on of dad’s boat.)Home for the Holidays is an underrated gem if you want a great observation of dysfunctional families in action that’s still quite timely. It’s a mess of a movie to a degree but I’m very glad Foster chose not to cast herself in it; she’d have overshadowed everyone else, and the understated Hunter trying to hold things together with Charles Durning is one of the most touching scenes you’ll ever see at the end of a film.
That whole cast is just tripping over themselves with talent and perfection. It’s almost unfair how easy they make it all look.
ThanksKilling
The first one is the only one I really need off of this list, and it gets the smallest writeup?
Pieces of April is a genuinely great Thanksgiving film 🙂
Pieces of April could be a prequel to Home for the Holidays.
Somehow, I’ve seen You’ve Got Mail more than any film that I actually like, we had it on VHS when I was growing up, so I watched it a lot. Then many of my girlfriends liked it and wanted to watch it, so I watched it again, and again, and again. The end result is that I can quote almost the entire script word-for-word and I am immune to watching it. It just washes over me if it is on TV and sometimes I watch it just so I can relive times in my life.
I love it as an unintentional time capsule of the late 1990s — a time when the Internet was new and exciting and when the negative effects of it (Amazon and other online stores killing physical retail; the toxic nature of social media) weren’t yet apparent.
I unabashedly love You’ve Got Mail and it’s one of my favorite films. I remember watching it in the theater over Christmas break with my family in high school and we also owned it on VHS because my sister and I loved it so much. It’s definitely one of those movies that I can watch if it happens to be on TV no matter how many times I’ve seen it. I’d argue that You’ve Got Mail is not just a “best Thanksgiving movie” to watch, but overall a “best holiday movie” to watch. I love how Nora Ephron brings NYC to life as a character also, and how its depicted in each of the seasons.
I love You’ve Got Mail and Sleepless in Seattle. They always come out around this time of year as part of my holiday movie arsenal. Maybe it’s the hopeless romantic in me, but there’s just something charming and endearing about them. Glad to see Scent of a Woman on the list – Hoo Ah!
Thanks for mentioning Sleepless in Seattle, another film that I absolutely adore and is one of my favorites. Both were Nora Ephron at her finest. Whenever the opportunity arises, I like to use/say “H & G” and MFEO.
I watched Heartburn for the first time a couple of years ago. It was really hard to think of all she endured and then she goes onto write such beautiful romances.
She definitely didn’t let heartbreak and betrayal sully her ability to write sweet romantic comedies.
I couldn’t do it. The only stories I could write after that would have been about systematically destroying assholes masquerading as men 😉
Are we, uh, are we the same person?
Love that shot of Christina Ricca , such an angelic/demonic face.
The best part-time work from home. In the last month, I received a salary of $ 27,583 by light work on the net from home. I am a student and I work part time from home and earn more income. I work easily every day 2 to 3 hours a day at leisure. if you also want to make this huge money then come and be a part of us. See more here……………cash03.ⅭOⅯ
Those aren’t pillows…
Where is Son in Law on this list?
Enough with the F’ing slideshows! No interest in seeing your list with this BS you people can’t stop using.
Where’s Sam Raimi’s Spider-man? Surely, if Addams Family Values (which features a play about Thanksgiving but isn’t even set on the day of) or Die Hard (which we’ve jokingly called a Christmas movie for decades but has little to connect it) qualify then Sam Raimi’s Spider-man should. It has a climactic fight DURING the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and a Thanksgiving dinner with a big plotpoint.
Last night we watched the Planes, Trains & Automobiles cleaned-up TV version (with commercials) that I DVR’d last year. My 6 and 10-year-old probably hear the F-word in our household nearly as many times a day as Steve Martin said it in his famous diatribe, but might as well go through the motions of being a responsible parent at least, right?
Do we really need “Thanksgiving” movies? Like I get Christmas has a million of them and a few other holidays have one or two definitive ones(looking at you Independence Day). Halloween has a ton but it can be argued an entire genre of movies are Halloween themed. Maybe just watch Planes, Trains and Automobiles and then just watch something family friendly like Star Wars, Harry Potter or Full Metal Jacket.
ROCKY! ROCKY! ROCKY!
It’s between (Edie McClurg is the secret ingredient to every comedy she’s in)
and
Hannah and her Sisters is a bookended by Thanksgivings.
This is my choice, my only choice for this list. I love that movie and the Thanksgiving dinner party I always want but will never get…
This stupid slideshow could’ve been one paragraph
Planes, Trains, and Automobiles is not just a great film but also a terrific showcase for John Candy. Not only was he a comedic genius, he was also a wonderfully talented actor. He’s sorely missed.