Best movies like Car Wash

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Claudine (1974)

Plot Summary:

Diahann Carroll was nominated for both an Oscar and a Golden Globe award for her gripping portrayal as the indomitable Claudine in this heartwarming comedy. While struggling to support herself and her six children in Harlem by working as a maid for a wealthy family, Claudine (Carroll) meets a charming garbage man, Roop (James Earl Jones). But although Roop is smitten with the lovely single mother, his own life trials make him slow to respond to her invitation to a lifetime of love. The touching story of Claudine will inspire smiles and tears in viewers of all ages.

Similar in 78%

Which Way Is Up? (1977)

Plot Summary:

Richard Pryor plays three roles - a beleaguered, sex-starved farm worker named Leroy Jones; the farm worker's randy old father Rufus; and the hypocritical town preacher Rev. Lenox Thomas - and Pryor has never been so outrageously funny. The lives and love lives of these three men cross and crisscross as Leroy tries to get his life back on track.

Similar in 86%

The Toy (1982)

Plot Summary:

On one of his bratty son Eric's annual visits, the plutocrat U.S. Bates takes him to his department store and offers him anything in it as a gift. Eric chooses a black janitor who has made him laugh with his antics. At first the man suffers many indignities as Eric's "toy", but gradually teaches the lonely boy what it is like to have and to be a friend.

Similar in 77%

Hollywood Shuffle (1987)

Plot Summary:

Aspiring actor and hot-dog stand employee Bobby Taylor catches the ire of his grandmother for auditioning for a role in the regrettably titled exploitation film "Jivetime Jimmy's Revenge." When Tinseltown Studios casts Taylor in the title role, he has a series of conflicted dreams satirizing African-American stereotypes in Hollywood, and must reconcile his career goals with his desire to remain a positive role model for his little brother.

Similar in 79%

Bustin' Loose (1981)

Plot Summary:

After ex-con Joe Braxton violates his probation he is given a second chance, all he has to do is drive a group of special kids across the country. What could possibly go wrong?.

Similar in 81%

California Suite (1978)

Plot Summary:

Misadventures of four groups of guests at the Beverly Hills Hotel.

Similar in 84%

House Party 2 (1991)

Plot Summary:

Kid'N'Play leave their neighborhood and enter the world of adulthood and higher education. Play attempts to get rich quick in the music business while Kid faces the challenges of college.

Similar in 89%

Breakin' (1984)

Plot Summary:

A struggling young dancer joins forces with two breakdancers and together they become a street sensation.

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Barbershop (2002)

Plot Summary:

A day in the life of a barbershop on the south side of Chicago. Calvin, who inherited the struggling business from his deceased father, views the shop as nothing but a burden and waste of his time. After selling the shop to a local loan shark, Calvin slowly begins to see his father's vision and legacy and struggles with the notion that he just sold it out.

Similar in 78%

Barbershop 2: Back in Business (2004)

Plot Summary:

The continuing adventures of the barbers at Calvin's Barbershop. Gina, a stylist at the beauty shop next door, is now trying to cut in on his buisness. Calvin is again struggling to keep his father's shop and traditions alive--this time against urban developers looking to replace mom & pop establishments with name-brand chains. The world changes, but some things never go out of style--from current events and politics to relationships and love, you can still say anything you want at the barbershop.

Similar in 85%

Roll Bounce (2005)

Plot Summary:

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Roll Bounce is a 2005 American comedy-drama film written by Norman Vance Jr. and directed by Malcolm D. Lee. The film stars hip hop artist Bow Wow as the leader of a roller skating crew in 1970s Chicago. The film also stars Nick Cannon, Meagan Good, Brandon T. Jackson, Wesley Jonathan, Chi McBride, Kellita Smith, and Jurnee Smollett. Description above from the Wikipedia article Roll Bounce, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Similar in 89%

The Players Club (1998)

Plot Summary:

Young single mother Diana struggles to provide for her child and pay for her college education. She ends up working at a shoe store, but meets two strippers from a nearby gentlemen's club who convince her there's fast money to be made stripping. At the Players Club, however, Diana faces danger and heartbreak.

Similar in 87%

The Inkwell (1994)

Plot Summary:

The Inkwell is about a 16-year-old boy coming of age on Martha's Vineyard in the summer of 1976.

Similar in 79%

Love Don't Cost a Thing (2003)

Plot Summary:

High school loser (Cannon) pays a cheerleader (Milian) to pose as his girlfriend so he can be considered cool. Remake of 1987's Can't Buy Me Love, starring Patrick Dempsey.

Similar in 88%

Cooley High (1975)

Plot Summary:

In the mid-1960s, a group of high school friends who live on the Near North Side of Chicago enjoy life to the fullest...parties, hanging out, meeting new friends. Then life changes for two of the guys when they meet a pair of career criminals and get falsely arrested in connection with stealing a Cadillac. We follow their lives through the end of high school and the dramatic end to their school.

Similar in 81%

Shades of Ray (2008)

Plot Summary:

American-born Ray Rehman comes home one night to find his Pakistani father on his doorstep. Ray's Caucasian mother threw him out. It's an awkward time for his father to move in as Ray just proposed to his Caucasian girlfriend - who hasn't given him an answer. While trying to get his parents back together, Ray meets a South Asian girl of mixed descent, just like him, and must decide where his identity truly lies.

Similar in 80%

House Party (1990)

Plot Summary:

Young Kid has been invited to a party at his friend Play's house. But after a fight at school, Kid's father grounds him. None the less, Kid sneaks out when his father falls asleep. But Kid doesn't know that three of the thugs at school have decided to give him a lesson in behavior.

Similar in 89%

Harlem Nights (1989)

Plot Summary:

"Sugar" Ray is the owner of an illegal casino, who contend with the pressures of vicious gangster and corrupt policemen who want to see him go out of business. In the world of organized crime and police corruption in the 1920s, any dastardly trick is fair!.

Similar in 89%

The Mack (1973)

Plot Summary:

Goldie returns from five years at the state pen and winds up king of the pimping game. Trouble comes in the form of two corrupt white cops and a crime lord who wants him to return to the small time.

Similar in 80%

Coming to America (1988)

Plot Summary:

Prince Akeem, heir to the throne of Zamunda, leaves the tropical paradise kingdom in search of his queen. What better place than Queens, New York, to find his bride? Joined by his loyal servant and friend, Semmi, Akeem attempts to blend in as an ordinary American and begin his search.

Similar in 75%

The Best Man (1999)

Plot Summary:

Harper, a writer who's about to explode into the mainstream leaves behind his girlfriend Robin and heads to New York City to serve as best man for his friend Lance's wedding. Once there, he reunites with the rest of his college circle.

Similar in 90%

The Brothers (2001)

Plot Summary:

This is the story of four African-American "yuppies" (a banker, a doctor, a lawyer, and a "playboy") who call themselves "The Brothers". When the playboy gets engaged, the other three friends find themselves having to come to terms with their own issues of commitment and honesty.

Similar in 89%

Do the Right Thing (1989)

Plot Summary:

On the hottest day of the year on a street in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn, everyone's hate and bigotry smolders and builds until it explodes into violence.

Similar in 83%

Deliver Us from Eva (2003)

Plot Summary:

Eva Dandridge is a very uptight young woman who constantly meddles in the affairs of her sisters and their husbands. Her in-laws, who are tired of Eva interfering in their lives, decide to set her up with someone so she can leave them alone. They end up paying Ray, the local "playboy," $5,000 to date her. The plan goes by smoothly, but troubles comes when Ray actually falls in love with Eva.

Similar in 78%

Boomerang (1992)

Plot Summary:

Marcus is a successful advertising executive who woos and beds women almost at will. After a company merger he finds that his new boss, the ravishing Jacqueline, is treating him in exactly the same way. Completely traumatised by this, his work goes badly downhill.

Similar in 80%

The Wood (1999)

Plot Summary:

In the panicky, uncertain hours before his wedding, a groom with prenuptial jitters and his two best friends reminisce about growing up together in the middle-class African-American neighborhood of Inglewood, California. Flashing back to the twenty-something trio's childhood exploits, the memories capture the mood and nostalgia of the '80s era.

Similar in 88%

Friday (1995)

Plot Summary:

Craig and Smokey are two guys in Los Angeles hanging out on their porch on a Friday afternoon, smoking and drinking, looking for something to do.

Similar in 87%

Driving Miss Daisy (1989)

Plot Summary:

The story of an old Jewish widow named Daisy Werthan and her relationship with her colored chauffeur Hoke. From an initial mere work relationship grew in 25 years a strong friendship between the two very different characters in a time when those types of relationships where shunned upon. Oscar winning tragic comedy with a star-studded cast and based on a play of the same name by Alfred Uhry.

Similar in 85%

Shanghai Calling (2012)

Plot Summary:

When ambitious New York attorney Sam is sent to Shanghai on assignment, he immediately stumbles into a legal mess that could end his career. With the help of a beautiful relocation specialist, a well-connected old-timer, a clever journalist, and a street-smart legal assistant, Sam might just save his job, find romance, and learn to appreciate the beauty and wonders of Shanghai. Written by Anonymous (IMDB.com).

Similar in 89%

Bulworth (1998)

Plot Summary:

A suicidally disillusioned liberal politician puts a contract out on himself and takes the opportunity to be bluntly honest with his voters by affecting the rhythms and speech of hip-hop music and culture.