It’s autumn. The air is crisp, the leaves are dry, and what’s that smell? Oh yeah, it’s the amazing home-cooked turkey dinner timeout we get every semester to fill our hearts and bellies. Going home for Thanksgiving Break is exciting: great food, old friends and your family awaits. But when it comes to movie nights, don’t think Christmas is the only holiday with all the good celluloid. I present the best turkey movies to enjoy with (and some definitely without) your family this Thanksgiving.
A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving (1973) – The Peanuts gang regularly sets the standard for holiday movies, but this one is particularly applicable to college students. While it may stress the regular Thanksgiving values of family, eventually the gang sits down to a makeshift dinner of toast, jellybeans and popcorn to celebrate with each other. What’s more college than making a new tradition of jellybeans and best friends when roasted turkey and grandma are a bit out a reach? A mustwatch.
Pieces of April (2003) – Hey, did you know Katie Holmes is an actress? It’s true, and from what I can tell from this cult classic, she’s not too bad either. Holmes plays April, a struggling twenty-something just trying to get her life to look something like functional in time for her judgmental parents to arrive for Thanksgiving dinner. The message? While she may try to act like she doesn’t care, hiding behind dyed hair and goth makeup, it takes true effort – and generous help – to make a beautiful evening.
Home for the Holidays (1995) – Turkey is pretty much always great, but family? That’s a bit more complicated. In this cute romantic comedy from director Jodie Foster, Holly Hunter stars as a woman who returns home for Thanksgiving – only to have to deal with antics of her frustrating, if loving family. Admittedly, this movie puts a bit of a rosy glow on family relations that could turn out quite a bit more sour, but hey, who doesn’t love a happy ending on Thanksgiving?
Hannah and Her Sisters (1986) – This Woody Allen classic covers issues of love, drug abuse, career and the ultimately entangling bonds of family. The film takes place over the course of two years, starting and ending with a family Thanksgiving dinner. Both dinners are naturally full of intrigue – and Allen’s famous comedy – but the season’s theme of reuniting families is a constant.
Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987) – For some of you, this may describe the long journey ahead of you when packing up for Thanksgiving break. In this film, it chronicles the wacky travels of unlikely companions Neal Page (Steve Martin) and Del Griffith (John Candy) as they struggle to get home in time for Thanksgiving. The journey is long – and hilarious – but the constant promise of family is always a motivating factor. Other movies that use Thanksgiving break for their antics? Scent of a Woman (1992) and The House of Yes (1997).
Pocahontas (1995) – Hey as long as we’re celebrating, we might as well take a look back at what started this convoluted excuse to overeat. Telling the story of one of the earliest peacemakers between Native Americans and European settlers, Pocahontas is not only a (mostly ideological) history lesson, it’s also a damn fun Disney classic. And while this version may not actually include the turkey sit down (if that ever happened), you can at least get in the spirit of giving thanks for meeting new friends and then stealing their women. If you prefer the same story only less animated and much longer and quieter, try The New World (2005).
Thankskilling (2009) – For this one I’m going to revise the phrase “best movies” and simply say the “most awesome movies for Thanksgiving.” Thankskilling, which can’t seem to decide whether it’s a terrible horror movie, a spoof, or a terrible spoof, manages to encompass all three in a movie so bad that the premise says it all. “While on their way home for Thanksgiving break, five college kids run afoul of a homicidal turkey that wants them dead.” Yeah. The acting is almost as terrible as the writing, which gives us these gems, “I’m going to drink your blood like cranberry sauce, motherf***ers!” and character descriptions like, “Ali, your legs are harder to close than the Jon Benet Ramsay case.” I’ve warned you, now press play and “get stuffed.” Happy Holidays!