Don't forget about Thanksgiving: Four movies to help celebrate Turkey Day
It’s that time of year when everyone starts talking about what’s on their Christmas list, but they totally overlook Thanksgiving. There are tons of movies about Christmas, but not that many movies surrounding the Thanksgiving holiday. Here are just a few options to help you get into the Thanksgiving spirit!
A Family Thanksgiving (2010)
A Family Thanksgiving is about a successful attorney, Claudia (Daphne Zuniga), who thinks her life is perfect. Her sister asks her to make a homemade apple pie on Thanksgiving eve, but since Claudia isn’t a homemaker like her sister, she doesn’t have time to cook and is annoyed by her request. Claudia has a busy schedule at work and because of this, she makes her subordinates come in on Thanksgiving. Claudia meets Gina (Faye Dunaway), a strange old lady who is determined to teach Claudia some moral lessons. Gina takes Claudia to an alternative world where she is a happily married soccer mom with two children. Later, Claudia goes back to her white-collar life and her experience in the alternate world helps her determine what she is most thankful for.
What’s Cooking (2000)
What’s Cooking focuses on four ethnically diverse families: Vietnamese, African American, Latino, and Jewish. It shows how each family has their own cooking style and unique family problems. Ruth and Herb Seelig (Lainie Kazan and Maury Chaykin) welcome their daughter, Rachel (Kyra Sedgwick), home for Thanksgiving. Ruth and Herb feel a little discomfort because Rachel brought her girlfriend, Carla (Julianna Margulies). Many other uninvited families members also make appearances. Trin and Duc Nguyen (Joan Chen and François Chau) have a son was recently expelled from school, which makes Thanksgiving dinner a little awkward. Elizabeth Avila (Mercedes Ruehl) is separated from Javier (Victor Rivers), her husband. Their son, Tony (Douglas Spain), invited Javier over for Thanksgiving, without Elizabeth knowing, because he has nowhere else to go. To Tony’s surprise, Mom has her own bomb to drop. While all this chaos is occurring, Audrey Williams (Alfre Woodard) must cook and be cordial to her overly critical mother-in-law, Grace (Ann Weldon), while her husband, Ronald (Dennis Haysbert), mediates.
Free Birds (2013)
Reggie (Owen Wilson), a lucky turkey, is pardoned by the president and gets to live a carefree life. This is until fellow a turkey, Jake (Woody Harrelson), recruits him for a history-changing task. Jake and Reggie time travel back to the year 1621, right before the first Thanksgiving. Their plan is to stop all turkeys from becoming a dish in holiday dinners. Unfortunately, the two birds come across a colonist, Myles Standish (Colm Meaney), who is seeking to capture turkeys for all the hungry Pilgrims.
Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987)
Easily excitable control freak Neal Page (Steve Martin) is trying to get home to Chicago to spend the Thanksgiving holiday with his wife (Laila Robins) and kids. His flight is rerouted to a remote city in Kansas because of a crazy snowstorm, and he begins to lose his mind. If that isn’t bad enough, he is forced to room with the talkative Del Griffith (John Candy), who he finds extremely annoying. Together, they must overcome the chaos of holiday travel to arrive at their intended destination.
