By critical reviews, the strongest Thanksgiving movies are a short and remarkably stable list: *Planes, Trains and Automobiles*, *Hannah and Her Sisters*, *The Ice Storm*, *Avalon*, *Pieces of April*, and *Addams Family Values*. Those six sit at the top of almost every review-driven ranking because critics have praised them consistently since release, not because a holiday list needed filling. Below, the films are ordered by the strength and durability of their critical reception, with a note on what each one actually is and who it suits. Aggregate scores drift as new reviews are added and old ones are indexed, so treat the tiers as the reliable part and any exact percentage you see elsewhere as a snapshot.
Table of Contents
- The top tier: films critics have never stopped praising
- Strong reviews, narrower appeal
- Films where Thanksgiving is a scene, not the subject
- What a review-based ranking cannot tell you
- How to pick in five minutes
- Frequently Asked Questions
The top tier: films critics have never stopped praising
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- Planes, Trains and Automobiles* (1987) is the consensus number one. Written and directed by John Hughes, it follows ad executive Neal Page (Steve Martin) and shower-curtain-ring salesman Del Griffith (John Candy) through a three-day disaster of a trip home for Thanksgiving. Critics have singled out the same thing for nearly four decades: a broad comedy that turns, in its final minutes, into a genuinely sad film about loneliness.
- Hannah and Her Sisters* (1986) is the critical heavyweight. Woody Allen's ensemble drama is built across three Thanksgiving dinners, two years apart, and won Academy Awards for Best Original Screenplay, Best Supporting Actor (Michael Caine) and Best Supporting Actress (Dianne Wiest). It is the most decorated film on any Thanksgiving list, and the holiday is structural rather than decorative.
- The Ice Storm* (1997), Ang Lee's adaptation of the Rick Moody novel, is set over Thanksgiving weekend 1973 in suburban Connecticut and is the coldest film here in every sense. It won Best Screenplay at Cannes for James Schamus. Reviews praised its control and its refusal to offer the usual holiday reconciliation — which is also why it is the one most likely to leave a room silent.
Strong reviews, narrower appeal
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- Avalon* (1990) is Barry Levinson's semi-autobiographical portrait of a Jewish immigrant family in Baltimore, remembered by most viewers for a running feud over a relative who keeps arriving late and finding the Thanksgiving turkey already cut. It earned four Oscar nominations, including Best Original Screenplay and Allen Daviau's cinematography. Of the acclaimed titles, it is the warmest.
- Pieces of April* (2003) is a low-budget digital-video film in which April (Katie Holmes) tries to cook Thanksgiving dinner in a cramped Lower East Side apartment for a family that barely wants to come. Patricia Clarkson was nominated for Best Supporting Actress as the mother, and critics generally rated the film above its means. It runs about 80 minutes, which makes it the easiest acclaimed pick to fit into an actual holiday evening.
- Addams Family Values* (1993) is the outlier: a studio sequel that reviewed better than the original, largely on the strength of Wednesday Addams sabotaging a summer-camp Thanksgiving pageant. If you want something well-reviewed that a mixed-age group will watch without complaint, this is the one.
Films where Thanksgiving is a scene, not the subject
Several highly reviewed films carry a famous Thanksgiving sequence while being about something else entirely. Expect disagreement if you promise the table a Thanksgiving movie and put one of these on.
- *Rocky* (1976) — the Best Picture winner's courtship begins at Thanksgiving, with Paulie throwing the turkey into the alley. The holiday occupies minutes, not acts.
- *Miracle on 34th Street* (1947) — opens at the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and then becomes a Christmas film. Winner of three Academy Awards.
- *Scent of a Woman* (1992) — set over a Thanksgiving-weekend job; Al Pacino won Best Actor.
- *The Humans* (2021) — Stephen Karam's adaptation of his own Tony-winning play, confined to one Thanksgiving dinner in a Manhattan duplex. Well reviewed, and closer to horror in mood than most of the dramas above.
- *Krisha* (2015) — Trey Edward Shults's debut, a Thanksgiving homecoming shot with his own family. Acclaimed, and the harshest watch on this page.
What a review-based ranking cannot tell you
Aggregate scores measure critical agreement, not fit. *The Ice Storm* and *Krisha* review far better than *Home for the Holidays* (1995), Jodie Foster's comedy with Holly Hunter and Robert Downey Jr., which drew mixed notices and has since built a real following among people who like their family dysfunction funny. For a room that wants to laugh at relatives rather than recognize them, the lower-rated film is the better choice. Scores also flatten genre.
*Thanksgiving* (2023), Eli Roth's slasher set in Plymouth, Massachusetts after a Black Friday stampede, reviewed respectably for a holiday slasher and poorly against the dramas here. Judged inside its own category it is the standout; judged on a single list it looks mid-table. The reverse trap matters too. Family-branded Thanksgiving titles — *Free Birds* (2013), *Son in Law* (1993), the long tail of made-for-streaming holiday comedies — cluster at the bottom of review aggregators with unusual consistency. When critics agree that strongly on the low end, the agreement is worth believing.
How to pick in five minutes
Two practical warnings. *Planes, Trains and Automobiles* is rated R almost entirely for one sustained profane outburst at a rental-car counter, which surprises families who assume a Hughes comedy is cleared for children. And availability moves every November — Thanksgiving catalogs rotate across streaming services each year, so check where a title is playing before you announce it, rather than after.
- Mixed ages, nobody wants a lecture: *Addams Family Values*, then *Miracle on 34th Street*.
- Adults who will actually watch: *Planes, Trains and Automobiles*, then *Avalon*.
- You want the best film, full stop: *Hannah and Her Sisters*.
- Short runtime, late start: *Pieces of April*.
- You want the holiday's tension rather than its comfort: *The Ice Storm*, *The Humans*, *Krisha*.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which Thanksgiving movie has the best critical reputation overall?
*Hannah and Her Sisters*, which won three Academy Awards and is built around three Thanksgiving dinners. *Planes, Trains and Automobiles* is the more popular pick and reviews nearly as well.
Why are there so few Thanksgiving movies compared with Christmas?
Thanksgiving is a largely American holiday with no gift economy and little visual iconography, so studios have far less commercial incentive to build films around it. The result is a small catalog where a handful of titles dominate every list.
Is *Thanksgiving* (2023) worth watching if you don't like horror?
No. It is a hard-R slasher built on Black Friday carnage, and its decent reviews are relative to other holiday slashers rather than to the dramas on this list.