21 Dysfunctional Film Families That Will Make You Feel Better
Thanksgiving is approaching again and we have no excuses this year. For many, one of the (very) few benefits of the pandemic was that it provided a compelling reason to avoid toxic family holidays – and if unwillingness to spend time with relatives is completely foreign to you, congratulations. If some of us who have had a harder upbringing don’t approach the family gathering season with pure joy, perhaps we can be forgiven. And if we enjoy watching movies about broken families instead of spending time with our own, well maybe that’s okay too. Sometimes they remind us that we are not alone; sometimes it’s nice to remember that things could have been worse.
What makes a family dysfunctional, you ask? Families have problems in these films, dramatic and sometimes exaggerated, to make a good film. They are not necessarily bad or broken and beyond repair; As in real life, dysfunction can be a chronic condition that occurs from time to time (especially during the holidays), or it can be fatal and eventually tear the family apart. And also, just like in real life, dysfunction is sometimes funny.
Note. Most of these films (even funny ones) are about problems that can cause problems for people with a dysfunctional family history. If that’s you, I highly recommend doing a little additional research – IMDb often suggests keywords and content warnings – before diving into the details.