12 Hanukkah Movies to Watch Because, Yes They Do Exist

Adam Sandler was inspired by one of his own lyrics in "The Hanukkah Song" to write this movie. As the line goes, "Instead of one day of presents, we get eight crazy nights!" Don't be fooled by the animation, though. This isn't a kids' movie. It's rated PG-13, and Sandler voices an alcoholic criminal who needs to be reminded of the Miracle of Hanukkah to make amends with those he's wronged.

Unlike Eight Crazy Nights, this one is for the kids. The 2003 Disney Channel Original Movie follows a team of Jewish basketball players who are looking for a coach to turn their game around. Basically, they're looking for their own version of a Hanukkah Miracle.

Joey Lawrence stars in this Hallmark Channel film whose plot follows one of the classic "let's pretend we're dating for the holidays so our families leave us alone" storylines. In this case, Lawrence's character starts fake dating a Jewish woman and finds himself wrapped up in her Hanukkah plans.

Mordechai Carver always felt inferior growing up, but as an adult he's become a member of the Israeli Defense Forces. Now he can finally stick it to his childhood bullies and save Hanukkah from Santa Claus' evil son.

This movie should be called The Holidays, plural, because it covers everything from Christmas to New Year's, including Hanukkah. There's a scene in Kate Winslet's section of the film where she has a Hanukkah party with some of her elderly neighbors and Jack Black's character stops by. By and large, this movie is more about Christmas, but it was fun to see Hanukkah represented too.

Sometimes titled All I Want Is Christmas, this movie follows two kids traveling alone to their extended family's houses for the holidays. Ira Finkelstein is going to celebrate Hanukkah and Mikey Amato is going to celebrate Christmas. When they meet at the airport, they decide to switch places to experience the holiday season like they never have before.

Seven years after its first Hanukkah movie, the Hallmark Channel doubled down in 2019 with two Hanukkah films. Holiday Date is almost a complete rehash of Hitched for the Holidays, with Joel pretending to be Brooke's boyfriend for her family Christmas. But since Joel is Jewish, the family incorporates both holidays into their celebrating.

The second Hanukkah film to come from the Hallmark Channel last year was Double Holiday. It follows Rebecca, who is forced to plan the company holiday party with her work nemesis. Since the party coincides with Hanukkah, she also has to make time for her family traditions. As her nemesis watches her balance it all, he may just fall in love.

Not to be outdone by Hallmark, Lifetime also released a Hanukkah movie last year featuring Christy the "determined toy company executive." Christy wants to land a new big account, but to do so she has to learn all about Hanukkah. Luckily, her colleague's friend Jonathan is Jewish and he just happens to need help learning about Christmas to impress his girlfriend's family. But as Christy and Jonathan learn about each other's respective holiday traditions, they may be the ones falling in love.

This film begins with a Hanukkah celebration where a young Russian-Jewish mouse named Fievel learns all about the great United States from his father. America is a place where there are supposedly no "cats" to attack them for simply being who they are. Of course, once Fievel goes to America, he learns that there are cats everywhere, but he perseveres.

It's an important analogy of the realities of anti-Jewish discrimination as told through a rated-G children's movie.

Come for the Timothée Chalamet and Armie Hammer, stay for the Hanukkah representation. As Refinery29 pointed out, this is absolutely a Hanukkah movie. In one scene there's even prominant display of latkes, gelt, and a menorah.

The third film in the Meet the Parents series features what happens when the Focker family and the Byrnes family come together for the holidays. For Robert De Niro's character, that means celebrating Hanukkah in addition to his usual Christmas festivities. His in-laws delightedly give him his own Yarmulke and everything.

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