Best movies like Ghost World
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
Two quirky, cynical teenaged girls try to figure out what to do with their lives after high school graduation. After they play a prank on an eccentric, middle aged record collector, one of them befriends him, which causes a rift in the girls' friendship.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 125000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA, UK, Germany
Duration: 111 min
Plot tags: black comedy, thought provoking, independent film, melancholic, teen, realistic, cult classic, atmospheric, indie film, humorous
Best tv shows and movies like Ghost World (2001):
Similar in 88%
The Diary of a Teenage Girl (2015)
Plot Summary:
Minnie Goetze is a 15-year-old aspiring comic-book artist, coming of age in the haze of the 1970s in San Francisco. Insatiably curious about the world around her, Minnie is a pretty typical teenage girl. Oh, except that she’s sleeping with her mother’s boyfriend.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 33000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: erotic, sexy, reflective, teen, melancholic, disturbing, talky, realistic, grindhouse, touching
Similar in 75%
Mid90s (2018)
Plot Summary:
Stevie is a sweet 13-year-old about to explode. His mom is loving and attentive, but a little too forthcoming about her romantic life. His big brother is a taciturn and violent bully. So Stevie searches his working-class Los Angeles suburb for somewhere to belong. He finds it at the Motor Avenue skate shop.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 75000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 85 min
Plot tags: thought provoking, social, teen, humorous, inspirational, retro, brutal, controversial, independent film, dark comedy
Similar in 78%
The Chumscrubber (2005)
Plot Summary:
The Chumscrubber is a dark comedy about the lives of people who live in upper-class suburbia. It all begins when Dean Stiffle finds the body of his friend, Troy. He doesn't bother telling any of the adults because he knows they won't care. Everyone in town is too self consumed to worry about anything else than themselves. And everybody is on some form of drug just to get through their days.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 19000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA, Germany
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: surreal, dark comedy, bleak, independent film, black comedy, humorous, semi serious, witty, dark, clever
Similar in 90%
Trees Lounge (1996)
Plot Summary:
Tommy has lost his job, his love and his life. He lives in a small apartment above the Trees Lounge, a bar which he frequents along with a few other regulars without lives. He gets a job driving an ice cream truck and ends up getting involved with the seventeen-year-old niece of his ex-girlfriend. This gets him into serious trouble with her father.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 17000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: independent film, grim, cult classic, talky, art house, dark comedy, intellectual, entertaining, black comedy, indie film
Similar in 88%
Dirty Girl (2010)
Plot Summary:
It's 1987 and Danielle, the high school 'Dirty Girl', is running away. With her is chubby, gay Clarke, a bag of flour called Joan and a Walkman full of glorious '80s tunes.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 11000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: road movie, touching, teen, independent film, melancholic, sweet, humorous, realistic, semi serious, feel good
Similar in 76%
20th Century Women (2016)
Plot Summary:
In 1979 Santa Barbara, California, Dorothea Fields is a determined single mother in her mid-50s who is raising her adolescent son, Jamie, at a moment brimming with cultural change and rebellion. Dorothea enlists the help of two younger women – Abbie, a free-spirited punk artist living as a boarder in the Fields' home and Julie, a savvy and provocative teenage neighbour – to help with Jamie's upbringing.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 49000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 119 min
Plot tags: sentimental, stylized, independent film, cult classic, philosophical, sad, aesthetic, light, humorous, captivating
Similar in 88%
Heathers (1988)
Plot Summary:
A girl who halfheartedly tries to be part of the "in crowd" of her school meets a rebel who teaches her a more devious way to play social politics: by killing the popular kids.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 113000
Genere: Comedy, Crime
Country: USA
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags: black comedy, dark comedy, cult classic, teen, witty, semi serious, aesthetic, realistic, retro, parody
Similar in 82%
World's Greatest Dad (2009)
Plot Summary:
In the wake of a freak accident, Lance suffers the worst tragedy and the greatest opportunity of his life. He is suddenly faced with the possibility of fame, fortune and popularity, if he can only live with the knowledge of how he got there.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 40000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: dark comedy, black comedy, clever, melancholic, dark, disturbing, cult classic, hilarious, offbeat, philosophical
Similar in 87%
Hick (2011)
Plot Summary:
A pistol-packing teen meets an unstable rebel and a cocaine-snorting drifter as she hitchhikes her way out West.
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 21000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: touching, realistic, independent film, captivating, semi serious, road movie, sweet, sad, dramatic, black comedy
Similar in 90%
Pretty Persuasion (2005)
Plot Summary:
A 15-year-old girl incites chaos among her friends and a media frenzy when she accuses her drama teacher of sexual harassment.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 11000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: dark comedy, independent film, biting, cynical, stylized, realistic, erotic, teen, twisted, black comedy
Similar in 75%
Hesher (2010)
Plot Summary:
A young boy has lost his mother and is losing touch with his father and the world around him. Then he meets Hesher who manages to make his life even more chaotic.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 54000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 106 min
Plot tags: bleak, realistic, independent film, serious, touching, emotional, dark comedy, thought provoking, visually appealing, melancholic
Similar in 90%
Daria (1997)
Plot Summary:
Daria Morgendorffer lives with her stressed-out, career-fixated parents, Helen and Jake, and her relentlessly cute and popular little sister, Quinn. Daria and her fellow outcast and best friend, Jane Lane, attend Lawndale High School where they are surrounded by shallow and stupid people. With her sharp intellect —and even sharper tongue—Daria dissected anyone she deemed superficial, which is just about everyone.
IMDB Rating: 8.1
IMDB Votes: 27000
Genere: Animation, Comedy, Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 30 min
Plot tags: clever, adult cartoon, witty, cynical, adult animation, intellectual, humorous, semi serious, gothic, anime
Similar in 89%
Eighth Grade (2018)
Plot Summary:
Thirteen-year-old Kayla endures the tidal wave of contemporary suburban adolescence as she makes her way through the last week of middle school — the end of her thus far disastrous eighth grade year — before she begins high school.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 81000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: light, touching, indie film, thought provoking, teen, humorous, melancholic, funny, brutal, feel good
Similar in 88%
The Squid and the Whale (2005)
Plot Summary:
Based on the true childhood experiences of Noah Baumbach and his brother, The Squid and the Whale tells the touching story of two young boys dealing with their parents divorce in Brooklyn in the 1980's.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 89000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 81 min
Plot tags: depressing, sincere, talky, dark comedy, absurd, indie film, intellectual, realistic, witty, thought provoking
Similar in 83%
Welcome to the Dollhouse (1995)
Plot Summary:
An unattractive 7th grader struggles to cope with suburban life as the middle child with un-attentive parents and bullies at school.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 37000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: dark comedy, disturbing, realistic, depressing, black comedy, brutal, controversial, cult classic, teen, talky
Similar in 87%
Slums of Beverly Hills (1998)
Plot Summary:
In 1976, a lower-middle-class teenager struggles to cope living with her neurotic family of nomads on the outskirts of Beverly Hills.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 14000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags: dark comedy, humorous, disturbing, sincere, semi serious, teen, independent film, clever, black comedy, period piece
Similar in 86%
Pump Up the Volume (1990)
Plot Summary:
Mark Hunter is an intelligent but shy teenager who has just moved to suburban Arizona from New York. Unbeknownst to his parents and peers, at 10pm each school night Mark takes to the shortwave radio in his basement and transforms into pirate DJ "Hard Harry". Mark's show, at once thoughtful and profane, becomes an underground hit with students at his high school, inspiring the wrath of his principal and the Federal Communications Commission [FCC].
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 31000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Music
Country: USA, Canada
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: teen, cult classic, independent film, realistic, dark comedy, funny, feel good, dark, offbeat, serious
Similar in 76%
Lady Bird (2017)
Plot Summary:
A California high school student plans to escape from her family and small town by going to college in New York.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 318000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: thought provoking, art house, realistic, gothic, semi serious, cute, teen, comedy drama, indie film, aesthetic
Similar in 90%
Freaks and Geeks (1999)
Plot Summary:
High school mathlete Lindsay Weir rebels and begins hanging out with a crowd of burnouts (the "freaks"), while her brother Sam Weir navigates a different part of the social universe with his nerdy friends (the "geeks").
IMDB Rating: 8.8
IMDB Votes: 151000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 44 min
Plot tags: humorous, light, semi serious, sitcom, dark comedy, teen, captivating, retro, cliffhanger, funny
Similar in 81%
Lost in Translation (2003)
Plot Summary:
Two lost souls visiting Tokyo -- the young, neglected wife of a photographer and a washed-up movie star shooting a TV commercial -- find an odd solace and pensive freedom to be real in each other's company, away from their lives in America.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 480000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA, Japan
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: melancholic, atmospheric, offbeat, psychological, artsy, emotional, art house, visual, contemplative, heartbreaking
Similar in 77%
Paper Man (2009)
Plot Summary:
A coming-of-middle-age comedy that chronicles the unlikely friendship between failed author Richard Dunne and a Long Island teen who teaches him a thing or two about growing up, all under the disapproving eye of his long-suffering wife and his imaginary Superhero friend.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 20000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: touching, tricky, enigmatic, psychological, offbeat, humorous, melancholic, independent film, indie film, feel good
Similar in 89%
Rushmore (1998)
Plot Summary:
When a beautiful first-grade teacher arrives at a prep school, she soon attracts the attention of an ambitious teenager named Max, who quickly falls in love with her. Max turns to the father of two of his schoolmates for advice on how to woo the teacher. However, the situation soon gets complicated when Max's new friend becomes involved with her, setting the two pals against one another in a war for her attention.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 196000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: funny, dark comedy, humorous, witty, independent film, teen, melancholic, absurd, offbeat, touching
Similar in 83%
Me and Earl and the Dying Girl (2015)
Plot Summary:
Greg is coasting through senior year of high school as anonymously as possible, avoiding social interactions like the plague while secretly making spirited, bizarre films with Earl, his only friend. But both his anonymity and friendship threaten to unravel when his mother forces him to befriend a classmate with leukemia.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 137000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: touching, independent film, emotional, teen, depressing, black comedy, sad, aesthetic, semi serious, funny
Similar in 78%
Palo Alto (2013)
Plot Summary:
Palo Alto weaves together three stories of teenage lust, boredom, and self-destruction: shy, sensitive April, torn between an illicit flirtation with her soccer coach and an unrequited crush on sweet stoner Teddy; Emily, who offers sexual favors to any boy to cross her path; and the increasingly dangerous exploits of Teddy and his best friend Fred, whose behavior may or may not be sociopathic.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 31000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: melancholic, atmospheric, serious, teen, realistic, indie film, aesthetic, erotic, mumblecore, artsy
Similar in 75%
Submarine (2010)
Plot Summary:
15-year-old deep-thinking Welsh schoolboy, Oliver Tate struggles to initiate and maintain a relationship with Jordana, his devilish, dark-haired classmate at their Swansea high school. As his parents' marriage begins to fall apart, similar problems arise in his relationship with Jordana.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 95000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: visually appealing, witty, surreal, touching, talky, independent film, unusual plot structure, melancholic, offbeat, indie film
Similar in 87%
Little Miss Sunshine (2006)
Plot Summary:
A family loaded with quirky, colorful characters piles into an old van and road trips to California for little Olive to compete in a beauty pageant.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 508000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 101 min
Plot tags: road movie, feel good, funny, melancholic, independent film, emotional, black comedy, dark comedy, sweet, humorous
Similar in 77%
An Education (2009)
Plot Summary:
A coming-of-age story about a teenage girl in 1960s suburban London, and how her life changes with the arrival of a playboy nearly twice her age.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 137000
Genere: Drama
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: realistic, period piece, costume drama, romantic, feel good, talky, stylized, offbeat, indie film, sexy
Similar in 78%
American Beauty (1999)
Plot Summary:
Lester Burnham, a depressed suburban father in a mid-life crisis, decides to turn his hectic life around after developing an infatuation with his daughter's attractive friend.
IMDB Rating: 8.3
IMDB Votes: 12000000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 122 min
Plot tags: melancholic, thought provoking, dark comedy, sexual, cerebral, dramatic, sexy, black comedy, tragicomedy, cynical
Similar in 85%
Juno (2007)
Plot Summary:
A young girl named Juno gets herself pregnant and tries to stand on her own, but soon learns a few lessons about being grown up.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 543000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: funny, touching, sweet, sentimental, feel good, teen, humorous, realistic, comedy drama, cute
Similar in 75%
The Breakfast Club (1985)
Plot Summary:
Five high school students, all different stereotypes, meet in detention, where they pour their hearts out to each other, and discover how they have a lot more in common than they thought.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 428000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: teen, talky, feel good, realistic, cult classic, humorous, semi serious, funny, inspirational, sincere