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Photo by Gift Habeshaw on Unsplash

Does anyone else get stressed around Thanksgiving?

Don’t get us wrong, Thanksgiving is one of our favorite holidays. The joys of watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, enjoying football (or even better: the puppy bowl), and eating good food are enough to put a smile on anyone’s face.

But the stresses of cooking, cleaning and the inevitable family squabbles? Yeah, we could do without those.

Since laughter is the best medicine, we put together a list of the best comedy movies to watch on Thanksgiving. Let us know in the comments which are your favorites!

Throwbacks 

The Big Chill (1983)

  • Genre: Comedy/Drama

  • Rating: R

  • Rotten Tomatoes: Tomatometer, 69% – Audience, 77%

  • Premise: A close-knit friend group reunites for one weekend and confronts their unresolved issues after the funeral of another of their college friends.

Addams Family Values (1993)

  • Genre: Fantasy/Comedy

  • Rating: PG-13

  • Rotten Tomatoes: Tomatometer, 77% – Audience, 63%

  • Premise: In order to stop the kids from eliminating their new baby boy, the Addams’ hire a nanny whose presence comes with a treacherous twist.

Grumpy Old Men (1993)

  • Genre: Rom-Com

  • Rating: PG-13

  • Rotten Tomatoes: Tomatometer, 63% – Audience, 74%

  • Premise: When a new, female neighbor moves in across the street, the rivalry of 2 curmudgeonly neighbors reaches new heights as they argue for her affection.

Surviving Family

Home for the Holidays (1995)

  • Genre: Comedy/Drama

  • Rating: PG-13

  • Rotten Tomatoes: Tomatometer, 64% – Audience, 72%

  • Premise: With no one, not even her daughter left to dine with, a single mother returns to her childhood home for Thanksgiving dinner with her dysfunctional family.

Soul Food (1997)

  • Genre: Comedy/Drama

  • Rating: R

  • Rotten Tomatoes: Tomatometer, 81% – Audience, 86%

  • Premise: After their matriarch falls into a coma, a family works through chaos and crises to maintain their long-standing tradition of Sunday family dinners.

What’s Cooking? (2000)

  • Genre: Comedy/Drama

  • Rating: PG-13

  • Rotten Tomatoes: Tomatometer, 52% – Audience, 65%

  • Premise: The story of 4 families from 4 different worlds each coming together for 1 dinner: Thanksgiving.

Lez Bomb (2018)

  • Genre: Comedy/Drama

  • Rating: TV-14

  • Rotten Tomatoes: Tomatometer, 89% – Audience, 66%

  • Premise: A closeted woman brings her girlfriend home for Thanksgiving, only to have her coming out efforts thwarted by a surprise visit from her male roommate.

Get Ready For Christmas

Last Holiday (2006)

  • Genre: Rom-Com

  • Rating: PG-13

  • Rotten Tomatoes: Tomatometer, 55% – Audience, 67%

  • Premise: When an introverted saleswoman is given 3 weeks to live, she withdrawals her life savings and flies to Europe to live like a millionaire.

The Best Man Holiday (2013)

  • Genre: Rom-Com

  • Rating: R

  • Rotten Tomatoes: Tomatometer, 70% – Audience, 83%

  • Premise: A group of college friends reunite after 15 years and discover just how easy it is for long-forgotten rivalries and passionate romances to reignite.

Stuff The Kids (And You) Will Love

A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving (1973)

  • Genre: Comedy

  • Rating: TV-G

  • Rotten Tomatoes: Tomatometer, 100% – Audience, 75%

  • Premise: Charlie Brown attempts to throw together a Thanksgiving dinner for the Peanuts crew after Peppermint Patty invites herself and her friends over.

Beethoven (1992)

  • Genre: Comedy

  • Rating: PG

  • Rotten Tomatoes: Tomatometer, 30% – Audience, 35%

  • Premise: A dad’s love for his new family dog is put to the test when their veterinarian attempts to kidnap the pooch for a deadly experiment.

Ratatouille (2007)

  • Genre: Comedy

  • Rating: G

  • Rotten Tomatoes: Tomatometer, 96% – Audience, 87%

  • Premise: A rat with dreams of becoming a chef teams up with a young kitchen worker to convince the staff at a famous Paris restaurant that anyone can cook.

Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009)

  • Genre: Comedy

  • Rating: PG

  • Rotten Tomatoes: Tomatometer, 93% – Audience, 85%

  • Premise: In order to give his family a beautiful life above ground, a fox gives into his old habits and raids local farms — but, when the farmers retaliate and his entire community is forced underground, he resorts to his natural craftiness to save them all.

Instant Family (2018)

  • Genre: Comedy/Drama

  • Rating: PG-13

  • Rotten Tomatoes: Tomatometer, 81% – Audience, 82%

  • Premise: After stumbling into the world of foster care adoption, a couple takes in three siblings and tries to learn the ropes of instant parenting in hopes of becoming a family.

After The Kids Fall Asleep

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles (1987)

  • Genre: Comedy

  • Rating: R

  • Rotten Tomatoes: Tomatometer, 92% – Audience, 87%

  • Premise: In order to spend Thanksgiving with his wife and kids, a control freak must overcome the insanity of holiday travel while bunking with a talkative, lovable oaf.

For Your Consideration (2006)

  • Genre: Comedy/Mockumentary

  • Rating: PG-13

  • Rotten Tomatoes: Tomatometer, 52% – Audience, 43%

  • Premise: When the unknown cast of an independent film hears rumors that their performances might be considered for the Oscars, they attract the attention of a distributor who has a few “minor” changes in mind for their impossibly awful film.

Tower Heist (2011)

  • Genre: Comedy/Crime

  • Rating: PG-13

  • Rotten Tomatoes: Tomatometer, 68% – Audience, 48%

  • Premise: In order to reclaim stolen retirement funds for himself and his co-workers, a building manager teams up with a petty crook to break into the thief’s, their employer, high-rise residence.

Rom-Coms and Friendsgivings

You’ve Got Mail (1998)

  • Genre: Rom-Com/Drama

  • Rating: PG

  • Rotten Tomatoes: Tomatometer, 70% – Audience, 73%

  • Premise: A book superstore tycoon and an independent bookshop owner meet and fall in love online, each blissfully unaware that the former is trying to put the latter out of business in real life.

Crazy Stupid Love (2011)

  • Genre: Rom-Com

  • Rating: PG-13

  • Rotten Tomatoes: Tomatometer, 79% – Audience, 78%

  • Premise: In order to get his confidence back after his wife asks for a divorce, a middle-aged man teams up with a newfound friend, a notorious ladies man, who teaches him how to pick up women.

Friendsgiving (2020)

  • Genre: Comedy

  • Rating: R

  • Rotten Tomatoes: Tomatometer, 19% – Audience, 23%

  • Premise: In order to have a laid-back Thanksgiving, a pair of best friends must overcome the presence of a new boyfriend, party crashers, and a mother who invites the host’s ex.