11 Best Thanksgiving Movies to Watch in 2026

The best Thanksgiving films are about the people around the table: the relatives you love, the ones you tolerate, and the strangers who somehow become family by the end of the journey home. Our list covers comedy, drama, music, animation and one very bloody slasher, so there is something for every kind of holiday evening.

Each pick comes with a scene that makes it worth watching, and a reason it deserves a permanent place in your collection.

1. Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987)

Image: Steve Martin and John Candy squashed together in a motel bed, the morning after.

Director: John Hughes
Starring: Steve Martin, John Candy
Best for: the whole family

If there is a Thanksgiving film everyone agrees on, it is this one. Steve Martin plays an uptight advertising man trying to get home to Chicago, and John Candy is the chatty shower-curtain-ring salesman he cannot shake off. Fans return to it every November for the rental car meltdown, but the reason it endures is the final scene at the train station, where the comedy gives way to real tenderness. Many viewers say it is the film that taught them what the holiday is actually about: making room at the table for someone who has nowhere else to go.

Ratings:
Rotten Tomatoes 92% critics, 87% audience
IMDb 7.6/10

“Watching it every Thanksgiving is an annual tradition.” — u/MaboRamen on Reddit
"Introduced my wife to this one last year. It's now a tradition." (u/Jimathomas on Reddit)

2. Home for the Holidays (1995)

Image: Holly Hunter at a crowded family dinner table, the turkey mid-carve.

Director: Jodie Foster
Starring: Holly Hunter, Robert Downey Jr., Anne Bancroft, Charles Durning
Best for: anyone with a complicated family

Jodie Foster's second film as director is the most honest portrait of a family Thanksgiving on screen. Holly Hunter loses her job, kisses her boss goodbye and flies home to Baltimore for four days of chaos. Robert Downey Jr. steals every scene as her mischievous brother. Film lovers often call it underrated, and the turkey-in-the-lap dinner scene is a favourite among people who have survived a tense family meal. It is messy, warm and very funny, much like the real thing.

Ratings:
Rotten Tomatoes 64% critics, 71% audience
IMDb 6.6/10

“Holly Hunter, Robert Downey Jr, Claire Danes for a second... it's my fave T-giving movie by far.” — u/ElBrooce on Reddit

3. The Last Waltz (1978)

Image: The Band on stage at Winterland, San Francisco, under warm stage lights.

Director: Martin Scorsese
Starring: The Band, Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Van Morrison
Best for: music lovers

On Thanksgiving Day 1976, The Band played their farewell concert and served turkey dinners to the audience first. Martin Scorsese filmed it, and the result is often named among the greatest concert films ever made. Music fans treat it as an annual ritual, putting it on while the food cooks. The run of guest performers is extraordinary, and Scorsese's camera captures a group of musicians saying goodbye to the road with grace.

Ratings:
Rotten Tomatoes 98% critics, 94% audience
IMDb 8.1/10

“Scorsese shoots this like it's the most important event that has ever happened.” — Muriel on Letterboxd

4. The Ice Storm (1997)

Image: A frozen suburban street in Connecticut, trees coated in ice under a grey sky.

Director: Ang Lee
Starring: Kevin Kline, Sigourney Weaver, Joan Allen, Christina Ricci
Best for: a quiet, serious evening

Set over a Thanksgiving weekend in 1973, Ang Lee's drama follows two suburban families drifting apart while an ice storm closes in. Cinephiles single out the storm sequence near the end as one of the most quietly devastating stretches of 1990s cinema. It is the opposite of a cosy holiday film, and that is exactly why it stays with people. Watch it once for the story, then again for the performances.

Ratings:
Rotten Tomatoes 86% critics, 82% audience
IMDb 7.3/10

“They don't have to be warm or positive, for instance The Ice Storm is a movie that reminds me of this vibe.” — u/dannewcomer on Reddit

5. Pieces of April (2003)

Image: Katie Holmes in a small New York flat, holding a raw turkey and looking at a broken oven.

Director: Peter Hedges
Starring: Katie Holmes, Patricia Clarkson, Oliver Platt
Best for: indie film fans

April, the family's black sheep, invites her estranged relatives to her tiny Lower East Side flat for Thanksgiving, and then her oven stops working. What follows is a small, funny and moving film about asking strangers for help. Patricia Clarkson earned an Oscar nomination as April's ill mother. Indie film fans often describe it as a hidden gem that hits harder than expected, especially in its final moments.

Ratings:
Rotten Tomatoes 83% critics, 73% audience
IMDb 7.0/10

“I recently watched this and loved it!” — u/dannewcomer on Reddit

6. Addams Family Values (1993)

Image: Christina Ricci as Wednesday Addams on stage at the summer camp Thanksgiving play.

Director: Barry Sonnenfeld
Starring: Anjelica Huston, Raul Julia, Christina Ricci
Best for: a darkly funny night in

Only one part of this sequel is about Thanksgiving, but it is one of the most quoted scenes in 1990s comedy. Sent to a cheerful summer camp, Wednesday Addams is cast in the Thanksgiving pageant and turns it into a revolution. Fans consider the sequel even sharper than the first film, with Joan Cusack in brilliant form as a scheming nanny. It is the perfect choice for anyone who prefers their holiday spirit with a twist.

Ratings:
Rotten Tomatoes 75% critics, 64% audience
IMDb 6.9/10

“Morticia Addams' eyes being permanently caught in moonlight at all times is so iconic of her.” — zai on Letterboxd

7. Scent of a Woman (1992)

Image: Al Pacino dancing the tango in a grand New York hotel ballroom.

Director: Martin Brest
Starring: Al Pacino, Chris O'Donnell
Best for: a long weekend watch

A prep school student takes a Thanksgiving weekend job looking after a blind, retired army officer, who has other plans for their trip to New York. Al Pacino won his long-awaited Best Actor Oscar for the role. Film fans remember the tango scene and the closing speech above all. At over two and a half hours, it is ideal for the slow days after the big dinner.

Ratings:
Rotten Tomatoes 81% critics, 92% audience
IMDb 8.0/10

“Fascinating story of a man so obnoxious and mean that everyone loves and respects him.” — Matt Lynch on Letterboxd

8. Miracle on 34th Street (1947)

Image: The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in black and white, Santa waving from his float.

Director: George Seaton
Starring: Maureen O'Hara, Edmund Gwenn, Natalie Wood
Best for: starting the Christmas season

This classic opens at the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, which makes it the traditional bridge between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Edmund Gwenn won an Oscar as the department store Santa who might be the real thing. Many families watch it the evening after Thanksgiving to mark the start of the festive season. It is gentle, clever and still charming nearly 80 years on.

Ratings:
Rotten Tomatoes 96% critics, 87% audience
IMDb 7.9/10

“Miracle On 34th Street is a good way to kick off the lead-up to Christmas.” — u/Desperate_Ambrose on Reddit

9. A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving (1973)

Image: Snoopy and Woodstock serving toast and popcorn at a ping-pong table feast.

Director: Bill Melendez, Phil Roman
Starring: the Peanuts gang
Best for: young children

Charlie Brown accidentally invites his friends for Thanksgiving, and Snoopy prepares a feast of toast, popcorn and jelly beans. At around 25 minutes, it is a short animated special rather than a feature film, but generations have grown up with it. Fans love the Vince Guaraldi music and Linus's gentle words of thanks. It is a perfect first holiday film for little ones.

Ratings:
Rotten Tomatoes 67% critics, 76% audience
IMDb 7.7/10

“THIS is what Thanksgiving was all about, growing up.” — u/MRSRN65 on Reddit

10. Thanksgiving (2023)

Image: A masked killer in a pilgrim hat standing in a dark supermarket aisle.

Director: Eli Roth
Starring: Patrick Dempsey, Addison Rae
Best for: horror fans (adults only)

Eli Roth turned his fake trailer from Grindhouse (2007) into a full slasher film, set in Plymouth, Massachusetts. After a Black Friday sale ends in tragedy, a masked killer starts picking off the town, one holiday tradition at a time. Horror fans praise it as a gory, self-aware throwback to 1980s slashers. It is the one Thanksgiving film here not to watch with the family.

Ratings:
Rotten Tomatoes 83% critics, 77% audience
IMDb 6.2/10

“It has a ferocious and hilarious personality of its own.” — Joe A on Letterboxd

11. Alice's Restaurant (1969)

Image: Arlo Guthrie and friends gathered around a long Thanksgiving dinner table inside a converted church.

Director: Arthur Penn
Starring: Arlo Guthrie, Pat Quinn, James Broderick
Best for: fans of folk music and 1960s cinema

Based on Arlo Guthrie's famous 18-minute talking-blues song, this film retells the true story of a Thanksgiving dinner, an illegally dumped pile of rubbish and an arrest that followed. Arthur Penn, fresh from Bonnie and Clyde, turns it into a gentle portrait of the counterculture. For many American families, playing the song on Thanksgiving Day is a tradition in itself, and Reddit users still name it alongside The Last Waltz as their holiday listening and viewing. The film is the perfect follow-up once the song has finished.

Ratings:
Rotten Tomatoes 67% critics, 59% audience
IMDb 6.3/10

“Warm, open, funny. The best kind of shaggy movie.” — Filipe Furtado on Letterboxd

Some films are worth keeping forever

At Moonra, we're on a mission to bring back the joy of owning the films you love. No disappearing titles, no endless subscriptions. Just great films that are yours to return to, year after year.

What's the one Thanksgiving film you could watch over and over again? We'd love to know. Tell us your favourite and join the Moonra waitlist to be among the first to discover a new way to own the films you love.