Home for the Holidays Thanksgiving dinner
By
Shawn S. Lealos
Published 27 minutes ago
Shawn S. Lealos is an entertainment writer who is a voting member of the Oklahoma Film Critics Circle. He has written for Screen Rant, CBR, ComicBook, The Direct, The Sportster, Chud, 411mania, Renegade Cinema, Yahoo Movies, and many more.
Shawn has a bachelor's degree in professional writing and a minor in film studies from the University of Oklahoma. He also has won numerous awards, including several Columbia Gold Circle Awards and an SPJ honor. He also wrote Dollar Deal: The Story of the Stephen King Dollar Baby Filmmakers, the first official book about the Dollar Baby film program. Shawn is also currently writing his first fiction novel under a pen name, based in the fantasy genre.
To learn more, visit his website at shawnlealos.net.
Sign in to your ScreenRant account Summary Generate a summary of this story follow Follow followed Followed Like Like Thread Log in Here is a fact-based summary of the story contents: Try something different: Show me the facts Explain it like I’m 5 Give me a lighthearted recapThe Thanksgiving holiday is known for a lot of things, but spending time with a dysfunctional family might top the list. That said, it is often nice to remember during holiday stress that there are always more dysfunctional families out there, and movies can be the perfect reminder.
It is easy to see how much worse things can be when watching movies about fighting families, dysfunctional relationships, and people so messed up they can't get on the same page no matter what. With filmmakers like Wes Anderson, Noah Baumbach, and Rian Johnson behind them, these movies are perfect options for Thanksgiving.
Margot At The Wedding (2007)
Nicole Kidman in Margot At The Wedding
Noah Baumbach directed the comedy-drama Margot at the Wedding, with Nicole Kidman starring as Margot, a successful writer who shows up at her sister's wedding. However, Margot is mean-spirited and controlling and doesn't approve of her sister's fiancé. Jennifer Jason-Leigh and Jack Black star as the couple.
The movie focuses on the two sisters and their toxic relationship, with the fiancée stuck in the middle. The entire film is an uneasy watch, as Margot is dominant, and she makes life hard for everyone on what is supposed to be her sister's biggest day. For anyone with a dysfunctional family, this takes it to the extreme.
Critics were mixed on the film, with an average 51% Rotten Tomatoes rating, although most reviews point out that the characters are all mostly unlikable, which was really the point of the story.
The Ice Storm (1997)
The family in The Ice Storm
Before Ang Lee hit it big with his Oscar-nominated films Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Brokeback Mountain, and Life of Pi, he made his dysfunctional family movie, The Ice Storm. While this didn't earn any Oscars, it did earn two BATFA nominations and one win, as well as a Golden Globe nomination.
Two families in a wealthy Connecticut suburb spend a Thanksgiving weekend together while experimenting with adultery and substance abuse. This has an all-star cast, with Kevin Kline and Joan Allen as one married couple and Sigourney Weaver and Jamey Sheridan as the other.
The movie received positive reviews, earning an 86% Rotten Tomatoes score, with critics praising the 1970s setting and the sense of nothingness in the lives of the people who lived their suburban existance at the time.
The Squid And The Whale (2005)
The family talking in The Squid And The Whale
Released in 1995 by Noah Baumbach, The Squid and the Whale featured a very different dysfunctional family. Jeff Daniels and Laura Linney star as a married couple who are both intellectuals. He is an aspiring novelist and she is a successful author. Their marriage is coming to an end, and their kids are stuck in the middle.
That is where the real dysfunction lies. Bernard is unable to accept his wife's success, while she doesn't care about his struggles. Meanwhile, the oldest son, Walt, grows dismissive of his mother and is becoming more like his father, while the youngest is acting out in some unsettling ways.
The entire theme here is how a parents' divorce affects the kids, and how the two parents seem to take it as more of a competition, which negatively affects their children. The movie earned three Golden Globe nominations and an Oscar nod for Best Original Screenplay.
Little Miss Sunshine (2006)
The family by their van in Little Miss Sunshine
Little Miss Sunshine is a dysfunctional family movie that is also a crowd-pleaser, one of the few in this part of the subgenre. The movie follows a self-help life coach, Richard (Greg Kinnear), who seems unable to help himself – or his family, who are all struggling with their own issues.
Toni Collette is a stressed mother who is struggling to hold her family together. Steve Carell plays her brother, who has recently attempted suicide. Paul Dano plays the son, who follows the teachings of Nietzsche and has taken a vow of silence. Abigail Breslin is their daughter, who wants to be a pageant queen. Alan Arkin plays Richard's father, who was kicked out of a retirement home.
The mix of these characters is what made Little Miss Sunshine such a fun movie to watch, and the scene where young Olive dances the profane musical number her grandfather suggested, and brings the family together, was a perfect moment to end this uplifting dysfunctional family movie.
Addams Family Values (1993)
The Addams family in Addams Family Values
The Addams Family was a great dysfunctional family movie when it rebooted the franchise, but the sequel actually has a connection to Thanksgiving. Addams Family Values continues the story about the loving, yet creepy, spooky, and kooky family and their wild contrast to the normals who encounter them.
What really makes this movie great for Thanksgiving is when Wednesday's camp puts on a stage play about the pilgrims and Native Americans. In one of the most brilliant moments in movie history, Wednesday changes the story and shows the Native Americans getting revenge against the colonizers.
Addams Family Values is possibly even better than the first movie in the franchise, and it continued the amazing reboot of the classic television show and comic strip.
The Mitchells vs. The Machines (2021)
The Mitchells Vs The Machines family at the dining table
The Mitchells Vs. The Machines is a fantastic animated movie about dysfunctional families that turns into an action-adventure film after an AI takeover, with the family having to learn to fight together if they want to survive. A Sony Pictures Animation film released by Netflix, it remains one of the best of its kind on the streaming service.
The movie follows a father and daughter who used to be close, but have grown apart as the daughter has aged. As she prepares to leave for college, dad plans a road trip to be one last adventure, which then turns into a battle with AI-controlled robots trying to take over all humanity.
The movie was a surprising success, earning an Oscar nomination for Best Animated Feature, and becoming only the second Sony animated movie to earn an Annie Award after Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. As recently announced, Mitchells Vs. The Machines 2 is also on the way.
Knives Out (2019)
The family in Knives Out looking at the home
Knives Out is not only a dysfunctional family movie, but it is also one of the best murder mystery movies. This is the first movie in Rian Johnson's series about brilliant detective Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig), which sees him called in to investigate the mysterious, locked-room death of a famous author, in which all his relatives are suspects.
The cast is incredible, with Chris Evans, Jamie Lee Curtis, Michael Shannon, Don Johnson, Toni Collette, and Katherine Langford as the dysfunctional family members who spend as much time fighting with each other as they do dealing with this quirky detective trying to figure out which of them is the killer.
Glass Onion continued the brilliance of the Knives Out franchise, but it is missing the brilliant classism and family dynamics of the first movie. The latest entry, Wake Up Dead Man, releases in limited theaters this Thanksgiving week and on Netflix in December.
Pieces Of April (2003)
Katie Holmes as April Burns on the phone in Pieces of April
Released in 2003, Pieces of April is a Thanksgiving movie starring Katie Holmes as April, the oldest daughter in an extremely dysfunctional, estranged family, who wants to prepare Thanksgiving dinner for them. The dinner has more meaning, as despite being estranged from her family, her mother is dying of cancer.
As expected, everything that could go wrong in her preparations does go wrong, and all done in service of a family who doesn't even seem that interested in visiting her despite the severity of the situation. The movie has a hopeful ending, but the road there is never easy, making this a great dysfunctional family movie.
On top of Holmes' fantastic performance, Patricia Clarkson and Oliver Platt are great as her parents, while Derek Luke turns in a solid role as April's boyfriend, intent on making a good first impression (although that goes wrong as well). Clarkson earned an Oscar nomination for her performance.
The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)
The Royal Tenenbaums family photo
The Royal Tenenbaums remains one of the best dysfunctional family movies ever made, and it might be Wes Anderson's masterpiece. The movie follows a divorced couple played by Gene Hackman and Anjelica Huston, and their three children, estranged thanks in large part to their father's eccentric parenthood.
Luke Wilson, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Ben Stiller star as the three former child prodigies that Hackman's Royal Tenenbaum forced to be the best at everything they do, and who all remain terribly broken as a result. Bill Murray, Owen Wilson, and Danny Glover are also great in their supporting roles as adjacent family members.
This movie is a brilliant look at a terrible father, but a family who somehow finds a way to bond together when the chips are down, although, as always, it is really too late. Anderson and Owen Wilson shared an Oscar nomination for the script.
Home For The Holidays (1995)
Holly Hunter as Claudia Larson with her mom and dad in Home for the Holidays
Released in 1995 and directed by Jodie Foster, Home for the Holidays stars Holly Hunter as a single mother who was just fired from her job. She flies to Chicago to spend Thanksgiving with her parents, although her only child decides to stay with her boyfriend instead of visiting their family.
Ince there, she has to deal with her younger brother (Robert Downey, Jr.) and his problems, her Aunt Gladys, who is showing signs of dementia, and childhood friends, who make Claudia feel even more inadequate. There is also a romance subplot with her brother's business partner, Leo (Dylan McDermott).
The movie is a Thanksgiving staple, and one of the best dysfunctional family movies, specifically when surrounding the holidays. It received mixed to positive reviews, and remains a cult classic about how messy, yet loving, a dysfunctional family can be.
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Home for the Holidays
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