Forget Home Alone-type holiday movies. When Jodie Foster directs and co-produces a getcha-in-the-mood-for-Thanksgiving film, you know that it’s gonna be fab, and that Macaulay Culkin never even got to audition.

Home for the Holidays boasts lots of big names and even more recognizable faces, which makes for a major sense of familiarity. It follows the life of Claudia (Holly Hunter, looking fabulous but tiny), an artist who loses her museum job hours before she takes off to her parents’ house for Turkey Day.

Amidst the festivities of football and feasting, we meet her chain-smoking mom and food-loving dad, a couple that’s both adorably affectionate and frustratingly feisty. Robert Downey Jr., with fabulous long hair, plays her gay brother Tommy, a traveling salesman who has brought a stunning creature, Leo (Dylan McDermott) with him to dinner.

Clare Danes, Steve Guttenburg (wave any Police Academy associations goodbye!), the redheaded chick from “Wings” and that annoying Hope from “Hope and Gloria” make up the rest of the family. Whew! For good measure, let’s just mention that the different branches of the family have completely opposite views of politics, and we’ll watch the fun begin.

Home for the Holidays is not funny because it’s slapstick humor, tired jokes and one-liners. No, siree. It’s hilarious because it’s so real, and nothing is canned humor. Not everything is happy — family feuds don’t necessarily take a vacation for the holidays — and maybe the reason the audience will crack up is because it’s not their family up there on screen. But it definitely could be.

The chemistry between Hunter and Downey is palpable; you can totally tell they rely on each other to maintain sanity, even though he has a fondness for surprising her in the shower with a Polaroid. And the scene between Claudia and her dad, as they’re both gulpin’ beer, watchin’ the Lions on TV, is touching. Before you go home to your own holiday hell (heaven), make sure you see this movie. Or round everyone up and take the whole herd to the theater.

Fleur 4 and Cobblestone 9, Des Moines