You may have the perfect family Thanksgiving. No one is fighting about politics, no one is arguing about the proper way to present cranberry sauce, and you don't have a liberal Aunt Tallulah* lecturing you.
Or you may be like the rest of us, looking for an escape. Depending on when the big meal is served, you may also want a way out from underfoot of the cooks. Consider a short holiday from the holiday with one of these classics.
The movie I'll be watching this Thanksgiving, as I do every year: Planes, Trains, and Automobiles. The late John Candy and Steve Martin make the perfect odd couple as they endure travel fiascos on their way to a happy holiday dinner. I'll never forget the scene where the two are driving the beat-up station wagon down the highway the wrong way, without a care or a clue. The 1987 instant classic is on numerous streaming platforms.
Another option is the 1995 comedy/drama Home for the Holidays starring Holly Hunter, Anne Bancroft, Robert Downey Jr., and Charles Durning, with a strong ensemble of many more. (Steve Gutenberg pops up!) Poor Holly is fired from her job right before Thanksgiving and for comfort has to head home to her dysfunctional family. The Thanksgiving dinner scene will leave you howling with tears. Available on numerous streaming platforms.
Many movies don't focus on Thanksgiving but have iconic Thanksgiving scenes. In Addams Family Values (1993), daughter Wednesday Addams (Christine Ricci) undermines her camp's Thanksgiving play with her rebellious soliloquy on how the Pilgrims ruined the lives of the Indians. It's a forerunner of the political correctness run amok today. Available on Prime Video to rent or buy.
Another movie I love with a memorable Thanksgiving scene is 1992's Scent of a Woman. Al Pacino gives his completely family-unfriendly monologue at the Thanksgiving dinner table, upsetting the family but making a fantastic movie even better. Available on Prime Video to rent or buy.
1992 and 1993 were good years for movies with Thanksgiving scenes. The original Grumpy Old Men came out that year. It opens with a Thanksgiving scene. Then for the rest of the picture the original Odd Couple, Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon, fight over the beautiful Ann-Margaret. Available on Pluto TV and Prime Video to rent or buy.
If You Have Just 30 Minutes
Several TV shows include a hilarious Thanksgiving episode, and you can relive them on streaming. You can also catch that timeless classic A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving with an Apple TV+ subscription.
Friends season 5, episode 8, "The One with all the Thanksgivings," found the friends one-upping each other on who had the worst Thanksgiving. One year Joey and Monica wound up wearing the turkey on their head, but Chandler took the prize with two bad Thanksgivings: one in his youth when his father outed himself at the festive dinner table, and one year when he lost his toe. Available on Hulu and Max.
Fans of Mad About You remember the season three episode in 1994 when Paul and Jamie, played by Paul Reiser and Helen Hunt, attempted their first Thanksgiving feast for all four parents in "Giblets for Murray." The overly ambitious menu causes problems (oh, how I can relate) and assorted other disasters, one including the couple's dog Murray. The episode title should give you a clue how that turned out.
More recently, you can find charming Thanksgiving scenes in Ted Lasso, streaming on Apple+ TV (the Mom City episode) and Only Murders in the Building in season four's "Persons of Interest," featuring a flashback to a Thanksgiving murder mystery. Streaming on Hulu.
But the best TV Thanksgiving special to me is an oldie. In 1986, the Cheers gang gathered together in season 5's "Thanksgiving Orphans." Carla hosts a potluck dinner for all the barflies, and the greatest food fight in TV history breaks out.
*For those of you outside the South, substitute Aunt Peggy.
