Best movies like An American Summer
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
In this youthful drama, Tom, a 14- year-old who's parents have just divorced, is abruptly uprooted from his wealthy Chicago home and sent to the strange land of LA to live in the far-out beach bungalow of his aunt, an aging hippie still stuck in a by-gone era. He is unhappy with the new arrangement and finds his new bohemian lifestyle strange and the activities of his new peers, stupid. His life begins to change a bit when he befriends a young surfer named Fin. At first he thinks of the fun-loving Fin as a real dolt, but later he admits he was wrong. Like the Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn characters on which they are loosely based, the two new friends soon find themselves having a series of adventures, some of them dangerous; by the summer's end, Tom finds himself wiser, accustomed to California, and a lot more grown up.
IMDB Rating: 5.4
IMDB Votes: 274
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: independent film, humorous, realistic, semi serious
Best tv shows and movies like An American Summer (1990):
Similar in 88%
Ride (2014)
Plot Summary:
A mother travels cross-country to California to be with her son after he decides to drop out of school and become a surfer.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: sincere, captivating, thought provoking, humorous, light
Similar in 85%
To Find a Man (1972)
Plot Summary:
A boarding-school girl (Pamela Sue Martin) comes home pregnant and asks the boy (Darren O'Connor) next door for help getting an abortion.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 162
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: independent film, psychological, sincere, touching, humorous, serious, emotional, realistic, gloomy
Similar in 79%
The Runnin' Kind (1989)
Plot Summary:
An Ohio teen moves to L.A. to find fame as a rock musician and to find a drummer.
IMDB Rating: 5.2
IMDB Votes: 159
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: independent film, touching, offbeat, humorous, realistic, semi serious
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 83%
Face the Music (1993)
Plot Summary:
Divorced couple Charlie and Lisa Hunter once a song writing team decide to spend a weekend in the French countryside to inspire them to write one last song together. But there is one person who isn't too crazy about the idea... Charlie's fiance!.
IMDB Rating: 4.7
IMDB Votes: 419
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA, France
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: independent film, touching, humorous, realistic, semi serious
Similar in 86%
Patti Rocks (1988)
Plot Summary:
It's Christmas time in the twin cities. Billy's working a lot of overtime, running barges on the Mississippi. He calls his friend Eddie, whom he hasn't seen in six months, and asks a favor: to drive with him to see his pregnant girlfriend, Patti, because Billy hasn't told her he's married and already has two children. The road trip of guy talk becomes a night of truths exchanged between men and women.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 337
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 86 min
Plot tags: independent film, clever, humorous, realistic, talky, semi serious, sex comedy
Similar in 84%
Man in the Chair (2007)
Plot Summary:
The story of an aspiring young filmmaker's encounter with a grumpy fount of movie lore.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 107 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, serious, realistic, sincere, cult classic, masterpiece
Similar in 80%
Defying Gravity (2008)
Plot Summary:
Cassandra, a mute runaway girl, takes refuge in the cemetery in which her mother is laid to rest. She is watched over by Jorge, the cemetery caretaker, an illegal alien who is committed to the restoration of a classic '60 cadillac hearse. Shore is a dynamic, handsome, and brilliant young man who also happens to be homeless. After almost hitting Cassandra in his dilapidated VW bus, he becomes fascinated by the gothic cemetery waif and attempts to befriend her. A sequence of events results in Cass getting lost. Jorge and Shore flee the cemetery in a stolen hearse to find Cassandra before her abusive step-father does. All paths lead to Yermo - the site of a roadside diner and a feisty but compassionate transvestite waitress named Lola.
IMDB Rating: 5.0
IMDB Votes: 152
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: touching, humorous, realistic, semi serious, offbeat, independent film, campy
Similar in 90%
Moola (2007)
Plot Summary:
Just as the business which Steve helped create, American Lightsticks, is on the brink of collapse, a huge 'deal' suddenly materializes, and he and his partners are sure that their lives have changed forever. A true-to-life comedy inspired by actual events.
IMDB Rating: 5.0
IMDB Votes: 425
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: humorous, realistic, semi serious, contemplative
Similar in 79%
Funeral Kings (2012)
Plot Summary:
It's always a good day for a funeral at St. Mark's Middle School. Andy and Charlie, two altar servers, don't just get to miss class anytime a parishioner kicks the bucket, they cut out early and play hooky as soon as the service is over. Eventually their irreverent personalities will put them in a situation that is too big for them to handle.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 85 min
Plot tags: humorous, realistic, captivating, psychological, semi serious, independent film
Similar in 80%
Breaking the Rules (1992)
Plot Summary:
Two friends take their dying buddy on one last road trip.
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 722
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: feel good, sad, independent film, sentimental, touching, humorous, realistic, semi serious
Similar in 83%
True Adolescents (2009)
Plot Summary:
At 34, struggling Seattle musician Sam finds himself broke, jobless and losing touch with the person he wants to become. When his girlfriend kicks him out, he's forced to crash with his Aunt Sharon and is reluctantly enlisted to take her teen son, Oliver, and his friend Jake camping.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 776
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: touching, humorous, realistic, semi serious, mumblecore, indie film, talky, independent film
Similar in 82%
Marine Life (2000)
Plot Summary:
Marine Life revolves around the choatic family life of June, a middle-aged lounge singer and mother. Aging and twice divorced, lounge singer June Nordstrom tries to cope with her fading beauty, her troubled offspring, her waning career and her young lover, who begins seeing a woman his age behind June's back.
IMDB Rating: 5.3
IMDB Votes: 159
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: Canada, USA
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: realistic, touching, humorous, emotional, semi serious, captivating, independent film
Similar in 81%
As Cool as I Am (2013)
Plot Summary:
A smart teenage girl comes of age in a small town with her self-centered parents who had her when they were teenagers.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: touching, humorous, semi serious, realistic, independent film, vintage
Similar in 80%
The Dandelions (2012)
Plot Summary:
A young girl is frustrated by her over-protective mom. At school, she meets another fearless little girl that is going to have a big influence on her.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: France
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: touching, semi serious, humorous, realistic
Similar in 77%
Quitters (2015)
Plot Summary:
Quitters tells the story of the Raymans, a wealthy Jewish family that's falling apart. The son, Clark, is a bright and curious high schooler with a talent for manipulation. As his mother May enters treatment for a pill addiction, and he and his father Roger stop getting along, Clark thinks about running away from home. He just needs to decide where to go.
IMDB Rating: 5.2
IMDB Votes: 271
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: humorous, realistic, semi serious, captivating, independent film
Similar in 75%
Anywhere But Here (1999)
Plot Summary:
In this adaptation of the Mona Simpson novel, single mother Adele August is bad with money, and even worse when it comes to making decisions. Her straight-laced daughter, Ann, is a successful high school student with Ivy League aspirations. When Adele decides to pack up and move the two of them from the Midwest to Beverly Hills, Calif., to pursue her dreams of Hollywood success, Ann grows frustrated with her mother's irresponsible and impulsive ways.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 19000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 114 min
Plot tags: touching, sentimental, clever, feel good, humorous, realistic, contemplative, semi serious, light, road movie
Similar in 77%
Bruno (2000)
Plot Summary:
The story of a unique young boy genius, Bruno, whose expression of his own individuality leads his family and community along an emotional journey.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: touching, realistic, emotional, semi serious, sentimental, humorous, inspirational, motivational, independent film, flamboyance
Similar in 87%
Two-Bit Waltz (2014)
Plot Summary:
Suspension from school, the loss of a friend, a broken heart and lack of inspiration lead to Maude's downfall in this romp through teenage error. Your teenage years are never easy… but for Maude, things couldn't be worse. Within one week, she is suspended from school, stranded by her best friend, dumped by the boy she loved and inherits an enormous amount of money with the passing of her grandmother– only to be claimed under one condition: Maude must prove by age 18 that she knows exactly what to do with her life. But with her 18th birthday rapidly approaching, Maude must dive into a world of self-discovery or else lose the inheritance.
IMDB Rating: 5.0
IMDB Votes: 455
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 81 min
Plot tags: semi serious, sentimental, humorous, realistic, witty, stylized, clever, offbeat, independent film
Similar in 81%
State of Grace (2001)
Plot Summary:
State of Grace is an American comedy-drama series that ran for two seasons on the Fox Network's Fox Family channel during 2001 and 2002.
IMDB Rating: 8.6
IMDB Votes: 741
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 30 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, humorous, semi serious, retro, sitcom, realistic
Similar in 80%
Short Skin (2014)
Plot Summary:
Ever since he was a child, the seventeen-yearold Edoardo has suffered from a malformation of the foreskin that stops him from masturbating and makes him insecure and ill at ease with girls. Shut up in his sexless microcosm, Edoardo reacts with irritation to the pressures of the outside world, which do nothing but exacerbate his insecurity.Forced against his will to emerge from the shadows in which he has hidden for years, Edoardo will initially try to solve his problem by clumsy stratagems before finding, at last, the courage to face his own fears.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 722
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: Italy
Duration: 86 min
Plot tags: humorous, realistic, captivating, psychological, touching, semi serious, sexual, sex comedy, sexy
Similar in 80%
The Debut (2000)
Plot Summary:
Filipino-American high school student Ben (Dante Mercado) works in a comic book shop to earn money to pay his way into Cal Arts. His father, a postman, is determined that his son--who has won a pre-med scholarship to UCLA--will become a doctor. The eighteenth birthday party of Ben's sister, Rose, sets off a comedic and touching series of events and family struggles that will in turn determine young Ben's future. This fresh independent production from Gene Cajayon presents a lighthearted and warm coming-of-age tale filtered through the eyes of an American subculture rarely seen on film.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 686
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: humorous, semi serious, touching, realistic, witty, independent film
Similar in 82%
Gueros (2014)
Plot Summary:
Set amidst the 1999 student strikes in Mexico City, this coming-of-age tale finds two brothers venturing through the city in a sentimental search for an aging legendary musician. Shot in black-and-white, Güeros brims with youthful exuberance.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: Mexico
Duration: 106 min
Plot tags: road movie, humorous, light, captivating, thought provoking, hispanic, art film, black and white, existential, realistic
Similar in 80%
Kick'n Rush (2003)
Plot Summary:
The story revolves around Jakob, Bo and Mikkel - three friends who spend their days lusting over unattainable women and engaging in a variety of illegal activities (i.e. they'll rent a movie and then break into a house to watch it). After he's assigned to work with Mathilde on a school project, Jakob finds himself falling for the girl - despite the fact that Mikkel has been secretly lusting after her for years.
IMDB Rating: 4.6
IMDB Votes: 502
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: Denmark
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: realistic, humorous, semi serious
Similar in 84%
By Dawn's Early Light (2001)
Plot Summary:
When Mike Lewis leaves L.A. to stay with his grandfather in Colorado for the summer, he hates the old man's cowboy ways. When Mike demands to go home, the old man agrees and saddles up a couple of horses for a six week trip toward California, home, the Pacific and redemption.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 475
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: serious, emotional, realistic, captivating, independent film
Similar in 75%
Housekeeping (1987)
Plot Summary:
In the Pacific Northwest during the 1950s, two young sisters whose mother has abandoned them wind up living with their Aunt Sylvie, whose views of the world and its conventions don't quite live up to most people's expectations.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 116 min
Plot tags: sad, atmospheric, realistic, thought provoking, sentimental, touching, feel good, humorous, semi serious, light
Similar in 85%
Staten Island Summer (2015)
Plot Summary:
Pals Danny and Frank spend the summer after high school working as lifeguards while figuring out their future.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: funny, humorous, light, romantic, semi serious, sex comedy, realistic, sexy, feel good, melancholic
Similar in 79%
American Chai (2001)
Plot Summary:
The film deals with an Indian American student who wanted to pursue his love of music over the more 'typical' academic endeavors of Indian Americans (e.g., medicine, engineering, law, and business).
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 327
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: touching, humorous, witty, semi serious, realistic
Similar in 79%
Winter Break (2003)
Plot Summary:
Viscerally experience a "year off" in Aspen, Colorado with a group of recent college grads who have elected to defer graduate school and career opportunities to ski, snow-board, climb, party, fall in love and basically live life to its absolute fullest out in this spectacular mountain town.
IMDB Rating: 5.0
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: humorous, semi serious, realistic, independent film
Similar in 77%
Rockford (1999)
Plot Summary:
The movie chronicles the arrival of a (Hindu) student to a strict all-boys Christian boarding school in India and his assimilation into the school. The change is quite dramatic to the protagonist and there are a lot of events that would look extremely abusive to the viewer.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: India
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: light, social, humorous, realistic, semi serious, sexual, sexy