Though it occasionally gets bogged down with melodrama, this well-acted comedy-drama captures a sense of the plurality that Americans bring to holidays like Thanksgiving. While movies and TV often portray a sameness in traditions, the fact is that every culture, subculture, and family that celebrates brings its own sets of traditions and baggage to the holiday. What’s Cooking brings together four ethnically and culturally diverse families (Latino, Vietnamese, Jewish, and African American) who celebrate Thanksgiving together, with each contributing different foods (and family dramas) to the proceedings.

Where to stream: The Roku Channel, Hoopla, Vudu,Roku, Kanopy, Freevee

Say what you like about the Addams family (go ahead! They won’t care!); they’re one of the most loving and mutually supportive families in pop culture, and I’d rather spend Thanksgiving dinner with them than with my own family, frankly. The nod to the holiday here isn’t to a meal, though, but to the national mythology around which the holiday is built. When camp counsellors make the mistake of asking Wednesday and Pugsley to participate in a seasonal play, they turn it into a fiery indigenous revenge fantasy par excellence. Having white kids playing Native Americans doesn’t do much by way of indigenous representation, but at least the movie doesn’t glorify early contact.

Where to stream: Netflix, Paramount+

A charming, if lesser-known suburban comedy about the very relatable experience of trying to come out at a family gathering, with mixed results. Jenna Laurenzo writes, directs, and stars as Lauren, who’s all ready to introduce her girlfriend to the family at Thanksgiving...until her male roommate shows up and everyone believes he’s her boyfriend.

Where to stream: Peacock, The Roku Channel, Tubi, Kanopy, Redbox, Pluto, Filmrise

The past is very much present at nearly any family gathering, and that’s ver much the case in this psychological drama, written and directed by Stephen Karam, who also wrote the Tony-winning and Pulitzer-nominated play on which it’s based. It begins with a father struggling with 9/11-related trauma at adult daughter’s apartment, which is too close to ground zero for his comfort (and might possibly be haunted). Everyone brings traumas and resentments to the table—but the movie is smart and subtle enough to avoid obvious beats and easy answers.

Where to stream: Fubo, Showtime

Probably the least feel-good movie here (which is saying something if you’ve seen The Humans), Krisha plays at moments like a horror movie, but many who’ve struggled with substance addiction, or has family members who have, will find Krisha all too real (I’m speaking from experience here). Estranged from her family for years, Krisha (Krisha Fairchild) feels that she’s turned a corner in her life, and asks to be invited to a Thanksgiving meal that she’ll prepare. The intentions are good, but the conflicting feelings and simmering resentments of her family slowly overwhelm her, and things go downhill rather quickly.

Where to stream: Showtime, Vudu, Tubi, Kanopy, Redbox, Crackle, Pluto, Plex

One of John Hughes’ best movies barely involves teenagers at all, instead serving as a two-hander between Steve Martin and John Candy, a pair of desperately mismatched travelers on their ways to their respective Thanksgiving gatherings. Only the most fortunate among us have been spared the torments of holiday travel, and Hughes captures much of the feel of those trials, even as the movie reaches more absurd heights as the protagonists near their destinations.

Where to stream: Paramount+, Pluto TV

Upper-middle class white family dysfunction was a big topic in the 1990s—which isn’t to say that many of the resulting movies weren’t good, as this one is. On one level, this is another story of a family coming together over the holidays while grappling with resentments and secrets and abusive histories, but this one is a big step up from the typical family drama, unravelling the various relationships with uncommon subtlety, and a sense of humor: the entire family is extremely horny, and having various couples under one roof for the holidays makes it very hard for anyone to get any sleep.

Where to stream: Fubo, Tubi

Journey back to 1973 in Ang Lee’s Thanksgiving-set classic, as gathering for the annual dinner brings out dark secrets in the lives of two families in a quiet, picture-perfect suburb. The meal gives way to a key party (ask your grandparents) during the holiday weekend, which, if it had caught on, might have seen swinging and group sex with the neighbors become as much of a holiday tradition as green bean casserole. Alas.

Where to stream: Fubo, Showtime

It doesn’t always take much to upset a precariously calm family dynamic, which is what exists here between brother Caleb and Peter (Adam Scott and Alex Frost) and their father Daniel (J.K. Simmons). Here it’s Brittany Snow’s Emma, new girlfriend to Peter; misogynistic Caleb at first disapproves of her, and then finds himself falling for her. The setup isn’t particularly groundbreaking, but the movie is smart and subtle, with solid performances and believable dialogue.

Where to stream: Tubi, Pluto, Plex

Best known for science fiction masterpieces like Arrival and Dune, Denis Villeneuve made his mark in American cinemas for the first time with Prisoners, a twisty mystery thriller starring Hugh Jackman as a father desperate to find his missing daughter, kidnapped on a Thanksgiving Day now forever blighted by tragedy. Understandably willing to do anything he deems necessary, he runs afoul of the cop on the case (played by Jake Gylenhaal).

Where to stream: Digital rental

Ike Barinholtz and Tiffany Haddish lead this dark, and very weird comedy that skewers modern politics, but, in particular, the impact that politics can have our holiday gatherings. Here it’s a very mildly futuristic scenario in which Americans are to be required to sign a loyalty oath the day after Thanksgiving, which of course leads to all sorts of holiday folderol between family members with different ideas about what it means to be American. It’s broad, yes, but also surprisingly on point.

Where to stream: Kanopy

Screwball dark comedy The House of Yes is, perhaps, not terribly representative of any particular American family at Thanksgiving—unless you have a psychotic sister (Parker Posey) who believes that she’s Jackie Onassis. Call it a heightened version of the kinds of wackiness that family members can bring to the dinner table.

Where to stream: Pluto TV

You could spend an entire afternoon watching classic ‘90s Parker Posey movies—which honestly sounds better than 80% of typical Thanksgiving activities. Here she’s crammed into a Buick with Hope Davis and Live Schreiber as they head out on a day-after-Thanksgiving road trip to track down Davis’ husband and confront him about his cheating ways.

Where to stream: HBO Max, The Criterion Channel

For some, the holiday’s just another day. As Rocky says to Adrian: “To you it’s Thanksgiving, to me it’s Thursday.” In the memorable Thanksgiving moment, trainer Paulie belittles his sister and the turkey that she’s struggled to cook. The scene plays as abusive, but it kicks off a love story for the ages, as Rocky and Adrian ditch the failed holiday get together in favor of a more intimate stroll.

Where to stream: TNT, TBS

There’s not yet been a major motion picture that deals with the origin (mythical or otherwise) of Thanksgiving from an indigenous perspective, but visionary director Terence Mallick’s tells a dreamlike story of the relationship between Colin Farrell’s Captain John Smith and Q’orianka Kilcher’s Pocahontas at least does Disney one better for something approaching historical reality.

Where to stream: Kanopy