Because you loved our What to Watch: Couples Therapy watchlist so much, this week we’re going a step further and exploring the familial dysfunction shown on screen! As we all know, family life is rarely as picture-perfect as it seems, and these films dive headfirst into all the chaos, conflicts, and complexities of familial relationships. From holiday gatherings gone awry to hurtful, dark secrets buried for years, each of these films explore the tensions that can fracture, bring together, and define a family.
Now, not all are ridden with grief or deep heartfelt emotions, some of these films are humorous and show the lighter side to crazy familial life. Through both laughter and tears, this watchlist explores how different families navigate identity, loyalty, trauma, and forgiveness. They remind us all that familial bonds are just as complicated as they are vital, shaping who we are and how we relate to the world.
August Osage County
Based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning play, August Osage County is centered around the Weston family. When the patriarch disappears, his three daughters return to their childhood home forced to endure their sharp-tongued, pill-popping mother. Tensions rise and long-buried secrets and resentments boil over erupting into familial chaos.
Director: John Wells / Starring: Meryl Streep, Julia Roberts, Ewan McGregor, Chris Cooper, Julianne Nicholson, Juliette Lewis, Benedict Cumberbatch
Shiva Baby
A directionless young woman attends a family shive where she unexpectedly encounters her sugar daddy, his wife, and her ex-girlfriend, all under the same roof.
Director: Emma Seligman / Starring: Rachel Sennott, Molly Gordon, Polly Draper, Danny Deferrari, Fred Melamed, Dianna Agron
The Farewell
When a Chinese family discovers their matriarch has only a short time to live, they decide to keep her in the dark and stage a family wedding as a guise to gather one last time.
Director: Lulu Wang / Starring: Awkwafina, Tzi Ma, Diana Lin, Zhao Shuzhen
Little Miss Sunshine
A young girl enters a beauty pageant, which forces her dysfunctional family to pile into a beat-up VW bus and drive to California. Along the way, tensions flare between the parents, a brother who has gone mute, a troubled uncle, and a foul-mouthed grandfather.
Director: Jonathan Dayton & Valerie Faris / Starring: Steve Carell, Toni Collette, Greg Kinnear, Abigail Breslin, Alan Arkin, Paul Dano
The Kids Are All Right
Nic and Jules, a same-sex couple raising two teenagers, see their family dynamic shift when the kids seek out their biological father.
Director: Lisa Cholodenko / Starring: Julianne Moore, Annette Bening, Mark Ruffalo
Death At a Funeral
At a funeral, tensions erupt as hidden secrets, sibling rivalries, mistaken identities, and romantic entanglements spiral into chaos. Topped off with a shocking revelation from a mysterious guest, the simple funeral quickly unravels into a dark comedic disaster.
Director: Frank Oz / Starring: Matthew Macfadyen, Keeley Hawes, Peter Dinklage, Alan Tudyk, Ewen Bremner
Rachel Getting Married
A recovering addict returns home for her sister’s wedding, old wounds resurface and family tensions boil over.
Director: Jonathan Demme / Starring: Anne Hathaway, Rosemarie DeWitt, Bill Irwin, Debra Winger
Hereditary
After the death of their grandmother, the Graham family unravels as unfortunate and terrifying truths about their ancestry are revealed. Grief and dysfunction spirals into horror as sinister forces tighten their grip, exposing the family’s deepest fractures.
Director: Ari Aster / Starring: Toni Collette, Alex Wolff, Milly Shapiro, Gabriel Byrne, Ann Dowd
The Family Stone
When Everett Stone brings his girlfriend home for Christmas to meet his family, chaos and several misunderstandings ensue. A simple holiday gathering exposes unspoken resentments and unexpected romantic entanglements into a storm of dysfunction.
Director: Thomas Bezucha / Starring: Sarah Jessica Parker, Dermot Mulroney, Diane Keaton, Luke Wilson, Rachel McAdams
Crazy Rich Asians
Rachel Chu accompanies her boyfriend to his best friend’s wedding in Singapore, only to discover that Nick comes from one of the wealthiest and most influential families in Asia. As she navigates fitting in, attending extravagant parties, meeting cultural expectations, and balancing judgment from Nick’s formidable mother, family tensions and societal pressures come to the forefront.
Director: Jon M. Chu / Starring: Constance Wu, Henry Golding, Michelle Yeoh, Gemma Chan
