Once the table's cleared and you can't face even attempting to walk off all those calories you just ingested, why not relax with some Thanksgiving-themed movies? After all, there's plenty of football on the next three days and who can stomach another showing of the Waltons' Thanksgiving Television Special?

We've selected what we think are the best turkey-day movies. If you expect your holiday to be less than idyllic, with family squabbles ready to resurface and annoying mothers eager to criticize your overcooked turkey, take heart: many of these films make even the most dysfunctional families seem like, well, the Waltons.

It's the weekend after Thanksgiving 1973 in tiny New Canaan, Connecticut, and more than just an ice storm's a-brewing. Benjamin Hood (Kevin Kline) reels from drink to drink when he's not water-bedding his next-door-neighbor (a brilliantly brittle Sigourney Weaver). His wife (Joan Allen) immerses herself in self-help books but is quickly losing her grip over her husband's lies.

Their son (Tobey Maguire), home for the holidays, moons over a Noxzema-fresh cutie from his prep school. Meanwhile, their darling pubescent daughter gropes the neighborhood boys and plunders liquor cabinets in a desperate attempt to cope. When the wind starts to whistle the night of a spouse-swapping key party, tragedy can't be far behind.

Ang Lee triumphs in re-creating the awkward suburban angst of the early '70s, delving deeper than just dressing the film in gargantuan collars, polyester slacks suits and rainbow toe-socks (though these touches nail the look of the era). The performances are top-notch, the visuals crystalline. One of the year's stand-out releases, The Ice Storm exposes the characters' appropriately slippery hold on the times and each other.

A bright, hilarious family road trip right up there with Flirting With Disaster. When Eliza (Hope Davis) finds a love letter the day after Thanksgiving that she thinks is intended for her husband, she turns to her family for advice.

Eliza's overbearing mother (Anne Meara) packs the whole Long Island family into the station wagon, and off they go to Manhattan in search of an explanation. Like fish out of water, the bickering Malones hit the town in search of the possibly philandering Louis (Stanley Tucci). Parker Posey, as Eliza's mini-skirted sister Jo, is feisty as ever, and Liev Schreiber brings an All-American freshness as Carl, Jo's aspiring novelist boyfriend. A subtle delight.