Films for a full house and a heavy meal
Assume nobody is watching properly
Thanksgiving viewing happens around cooking, arriving, eating and washing up. The film is competing with all of it, and the ones that win are the ones you can rejoin at any point without feeling lost. Episodic comedies, road films and anything with a simple destination work; layered thrillers do not.
Put on the demanding film after the plates are cleared, when the people who actually want to watch something have self-selected onto the sofa.
The family-tension genre is a real risk
A large share of films set at family gatherings are about family gatherings going badly. They are often excellent and occasionally a terrible idea to put on in front of the specific relatives whose behaviour they resemble. Read the table before choosing one.
When in doubt, the safer version of the same appeal is a comedy about a chaotic journey rather than a chaotic household. All the warmth, none of the recognition.
Length is your friend for once
This is one of the rare occasions when a long film is the right call. The afternoon is long, people come and go, and a two-and-a-half-hour film gives the room something to orbit rather than something to finish.
The list below leans warm and broad for that reason — held together by rating, but weighted towards films that a mixed-age room can share without anyone having to compromise very hard.