Best movies like Getting Straight
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
Graduate student Harry Bailey was once one of the most visible undergraduate activists on campus, but now that he's back studying for his master's, he's trying to fly right. Trouble is, the campus is exploding with various student movements, and Harry's girlfriend, Jan, is caught up in most of them. As Harry gets closer to finishing his degree, he finds his iconoclastic attitude increasingly aligned with the students rather than the faculty.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 124 min
Plot tags: sentimental, thought provoking, touching, humorous, serious, emotional, realistic, contemplative, reflective
Best tv shows and movies like Getting Straight (1970):
Similar in 89%
Dealing: Or the Berkeley-to-Boston Forty-Brick Lost-Bag Blues (1972)
Plot Summary:
A Harvard graduate transports a load of marijuana from Boston to Berkeley, California.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 226
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Romance, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 87%
Freshman Orientation (2004)
Plot Summary:
A typical Midwestern 18 year-old freshman at a large state university eager to delve into the college party life, instead discovers that school is not the beer-driven, sexual fantasy of his imagination. Determined to do anything to obtain the girl of his dreams (a gorgeous but reluctant sorority girl), he decides to adopt a gay identity in order to insinuate himself in her life. This casual charade, however, quickly lands him in a morass of campus activism, gender warfare, fraternity hazes, sorority torture, "coming out" narratives, political martyrdom, and ultimately, a university-wide meltdown.
IMDB Rating: 5.2
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Comedy, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: humorous, realistic, witty, semi serious, sex comedy, spectacular, teen comedy
Similar in 76%
Heaven Help Us (1985)
Plot Summary:
Sixteen-year-old Michael Dunn arrives at St. Basil's Catholic Boys School in Brooklyn circa 1965. There, he befriends all of the misfits in his class as they collide with the repressive faculty and discover the opposite sex as they come of age.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: sentimental, humorous, sincere, feel good, captivating, funny, spiritual, grim, independent film, realistic
Similar in 78%
The Strawberry Statement (1970)
Plot Summary:
Simon (Bruce Davison), a student at a fictional university in San Francisco (based on San Francisco State College) is indifferent to the student protests around him, until walking in on a naked woman (Kristina Holland) in his dormitory roommate's bed. While she quickly runs over to the toilets to dress, Simon protests to his roommate that their time should only be devoted to studying, so they can get good jobs and lots of money. Coming back clothed, the woman refuses setting another date with the roommate because she'll be busy protesting. She explains the university's plan to construct a gymnasium in an African-American neighborhood, thus causing conflict with the local African American population. She tells him that she and others plan to take over one of the university's buildings.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 109 min
Plot tags: political, social, serious, realistic, cult film
Similar in 77%
La chinoise (1967)
Plot Summary:
A small group of French students are studying Mao, trying to find out their position in the world and how to change the world to a Maoistic community using terrorism.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 8000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: France
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: political, philosophical, artsy, art house, cult classic, thought provoking, clever, humorous, realistic, talky
Similar in 79%
The Harrad Experiment (1973)
Plot Summary:
At fictional Harrad College students learn about sexuality and experiment with each other. Based on the 1962 book of the same name by Robert Rimmer, this movie deals with the concept of free love during the height of the sexual revolution which took place in the United States.
IMDB Rating: 4.6
IMDB Votes: 885
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: independent film, erotic, sincere, serious, realistic, controversial, sexual, sexy, student film
Similar in 76%
Summer Palace (2006)
Plot Summary:
Country girl Yu Hong leaves her village, her family and her lover to study in Beijing. At university, she discovers an intense world of sexual freedom and forbidden pleasure. Enraptured, compulsive, she falls madly in love with fellow student Zhou Wei. Driven by obsessive passions they can neither understand nor control, their relationship becomes one of dangerous games - betrayals, recriminations, provocations - as all around them, their fellow students begin to demonstrate, demanding democracy and freedom. Was the only Asian film selected to compete for the Palme d'Or in 2006. In September of 2006, director Lou Ye was barred from making movies for five years because the film incorporated footage of the Tiananmen Square demonstrations and wasn't screened for Chinese officials. The Chinese government also demanded that all copies of the film be confiscated.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: China, France
Duration: 158 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, touching, serious, emotional, bleak, realistic, contemplative, sexual, controversial, sexy
Similar in 75%
Dogfight (1991)
Plot Summary:
In the fall of 1963, Eddie Birdlace is an 18-year-old Marine Corps volunteer who is about to ship out with three of his buddies for a tour of duty in Viet Nam. Planning a massive blowout for their last night in San Francisco, Eddie, his buddies, and a number of other Marines set up a contest they call a "dogfight.".
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 10000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: romantic, cult classic, clever, touching, realistic, talky, retro, offbeat, entertaining, sentimental
Similar in 83%
The Painting (2001)
Plot Summary:
Heath Freeman (Tru Calling, ER) heads an all-star cast including Clifton Davis (Any Given Sunday) Ben Vereen (Roots), Stacey Dash (Renaissance Man) and Debbie Allen (Fame) in the period drama Soldier of Change, which resurrects the turmoil and confusion of the late sixties. Travel back in time to visit a young man, Randy (Freeman) who finds himself immersed in the impassioned civil rights cause in the States, and struggles valiantly to adjust to the changing social fabric around him. But this is only the first of two worlds that Randy encounters. When he is drafted and shipped off to Asia - and the nightmare that called itself Vietnam - this inexperienced soldier must fight for his life and his convictions as he attempts to survive amid the turmoil of a war whose real nature is alien even to the country fighting it.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 317
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, romantic, touching, independent film
Similar in 76%
Starting Over (1979)
Plot Summary:
A divorced man falls in love, but somehow he can't get over his ex-wife. This effects his love life in comic ways. Based on Dan Wakefield's novel. Burt Reynolds is an attractive middle-aged man who suffers a crisis of confidence when ditched by his ambitious singer wife (Candice Bergen), until he begins to forge a new new relationship with an equally insecure teacher (Jill Clayburgh). But when the wife attempts a reconciliation - seduction followed by a truly excruciating song she has composed for him - he realizes where his loyalty lies.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Comedy, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: touching, realistic, humorous, witty, semi serious, romantic comedy, clever, contemplative, talky, neo screwball comedy
Similar in 77%
The Object of My Affection (1998)
Plot Summary:
A pregnant New York social worker begins to develop romantic feelings for her gay best friend, and decides she'd rather raise her child with him, much to the dismay of her overbearing boyfriend.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 21000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 111 min
Plot tags: touching, sentimental, feel good, light, sweet, humorous, romantic, romantic comedy, cute, entertaining
Similar in 80%
Going All the Way (1997)
Plot Summary:
Korean War--era veterans and ex-classmates "Gunner" Casselman and "Sonny" Burns reunite upon their return home. Gunner, who spent the war years abroad, is trying to convince his mother that his gal Marty is good enough for him, while Sonny, who was stationed stateside, is torn between loyal Buddy and tempting Gale Ann. As they commiserate, the men realize that they're outgrowing the lives they lived before the war.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags: humorous, sentimental, touching, realistic, semi serious, erotic, independent film
Similar in 88%
Dear White People (2014)
Plot Summary:
Four black students attend an Ivy League college where a riot breaks out over an “African American” themed party thrown by white students. With tongue planted firmly in cheek, the film explores racial identity in 'post-racial' America while weaving a story about forging one's unique path in the world.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 26000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: witty, melancholic, stylized, realistic, humorous, semi serious, controversial, inspirational, multicultural, funny
Similar in 90%
Born in 68 (2008)
Plot Summary:
Paris, 1968. Catherine, Yves and Hervé are twenty years old. They're students and they love each other. The May student uprisings radically change their lives. Overtaken by communal utopia, they leave the city with a few friends to set up house in an abandoned farm in the Lot region. A desire for freedom and the search for individual fulfillment lead them to make choices that cause more harm than good.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 655
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Country: France
Duration: 173 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, captivating
Similar in 88%
A Night of Love (1988)
Plot Summary:
In a small European country, the king is scheduled to visit a small, quiet and "safe" village. It turns out that while the village may indeed be small, it's neither as quiet nor as safe as it's expected to be.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 430
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: political, sex comedy, grindhouse, independent film, sexy, clever, humorous, realistic, witty, semi serious
Similar in 79%
The Sterile Cuckoo (1969)
Plot Summary:
Two students from neighboring colleges in upstate New York are swept up in a tragic romantic interlude calling for a maturity of vision beyond their experience of capabilities. Pookie Adams - a kooky, lonely misfit with no family and no place to go, insists on calling all those who won't participate in her world, "weirdos," clings to a quiet studious Jerry, who has the ability to make a choice of living in Pookie's private little world or be accepted by the society that Pookie rejects. Unwittingly, it is through their awkward relationship that Pookie actually prepares Jerry for the world of "weirdos" that she doesn't fit into or wish to be apart of.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 107 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, humorous, realistic, feel good, semi serious, independent film
Similar in 79%
There Goes My Baby (1994)
Plot Summary:
A group of high school seniors meets in the summer of 1965 and all struggle with the choices they have to make.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: independent film, sentimental, touching, serious, realistic, contemplative, nostalgic
Similar in 83%
Surviving Desire (1992)
Plot Summary:
Jude, a college professor, is obsessed with Sophie, his student. She, in turn, is intrigued by his scholarly charm. Flirtation turns to lust and the two become lovers.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 53 min
Plot tags: retro, art house, clever, offbeat, humorous, realistic, witty, contemplative, talky, semi serious
Similar in 75%
Going Greek (2001)
Plot Summary:
Loner freshman Jake Taylor is forced to join the wildest fraternity on campus when the frat brothers refuse to accept his geeky cousin/roommate unless Jake agrees to pledge with him. As the semester progresses, Jake struggles to maintain his grades as well as his affair with Paige, a beautiful sophomore who hates all fraternities. Through naked scavenger hunts, sorority ass-signings and all night.
IMDB Rating: 4.6
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Romance, Sport
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: not serious, feel good, humorous, light, touching, sex comedy, realistic, independent film
Similar in 81%
Dorfman in Love (2011)
Plot Summary:
Unknowingly trapped in her role as caretaker of her unappreciative family, a young single woman desperately needs to get her own life. When she volunteers to cat sit at her unrequited love's downtown L.A loft, her world, as she knows it, changes forever.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: feel good, touching, humorous, emotional, semi serious, romantic, romantic comedy, realistic, independent film
Similar in 85%
Stonewall (1995)
Plot Summary:
A group of homosexual people try to live with dignity and self-respect while events build to the opening battle in the major gay rights movement.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: independent film, touching, multicultural, tense, sincere, atmospheric, offbeat, serious, realistic, disturbing
Similar in 89%
The Year That Trembled (2002)
Plot Summary:
The Year That Trembled is a 1970 coming-of-age story set in the shadow of Kent State that focuses on a group of young characters facing the Vietnam Draft Lottery.
IMDB Rating: 5.1
IMDB Votes: 222
Genere: Drama, Romance, War
Country: USA
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: sentimental, sincere, touching, emotional, serious, realistic, contemplative, independent film
Similar in 86%
Gardens of Stone (1987)
Plot Summary:
A sergeant must deal with his desires to save the lives of young soldiers being sent to Vietnam. Continuously denied the chance to teach the soldiers about his experiences, he settles for trying to help the son of an old army buddy.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Drama, Romance, War
Country: USA
Duration: 111 min
Plot tags: realistic, intense, harsh, bleak, sincere, touching, serious, emotional, contemplative, gloomy
Similar in 76%
Music Within (2007)
Plot Summary:
After a confrontation with one of his idols dashes his dreams of studying public speaking in college, Richard Pimentel joins the Army and ships off to Vietnam. During his service, Richard loses nearly all of his hearing. Joining a new circle of friends, including a man with cerebral palsy and an alcoholic war veteran, Richard discovers his gift for motivational speaking and becomes an advocate for people with disabilities.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Biography, Comedy, Drama, Music, Romance, War
Country: USA
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: emotional, serious, sentimental, touching, realistic, uplifting, captivating, spiritual, inspirational, thought provoking
Similar in 84%
Burning Annie (2004)
Plot Summary:
The story of a college student with an "Annie Hall" addiction trying to make his new relationship work.
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 286
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: sentimental, humorous, witty, semi serious, clever, offbeat, realistic, talky, independent film
Similar in 83%
Smart People (2008)
Plot Summary:
Professor Lawrence Wetherhold (Dennis Quaid) might be imperiously brilliant, monumentally self-possessed and an intellectual giant -- but when it comes to solving the conundrums of love and family, he's as downright flummoxed as the next guy.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 23000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: humorous, emotional, melancholic, talky, realistic, sentimental, touching, contemplative, semi serious, independent film
Similar in 86%
A Night in the Life of Jimmy Reardon (1988)
Plot Summary:
A recent high school graduate is faced with two options, either go to a business school where his father wants him to go to, or get a full time job. However he decides to defy his father and go to Hawaii. Trouble is he has no money. Along the way he comes to understand his parents and eventually bonds with his father.
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: sentimental, humorous, semi serious, touching, entertaining, sex comedy, realistic, erotic, romantic, sexy
Similar in 89%
Liberal Arts (2012)
Plot Summary:
Newly single, 35, and uninspired by his job, Jesse Fisher worries that his best days are behind him. But no matter how much he buries his head in a book, life keeps pulling Jesse back. When his favorite college professor invites him to campus to speak at his retirement dinner, Jesse jumps at the chance. He is prepared for the nostalgia of the dining halls and dorm rooms, the parties and poetry seminars; what he doesn’t see coming is Zibby – a beautiful, precocious, classical-music-loving sophomore. Zibby awakens scary, exciting, long-dormant feelings of possibility and connection that Jesse thought he had buried forever.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 40000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: touching, humorous, light, feel good, talky, sentimental, sincere, semi serious, independent film, heartbreaking
Similar in 88%
My Mother Frank (2000)
Plot Summary:
When a meddlesome mother enrolls in university with her son, old and new worlds collide with awesome consequences.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 579
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Country: Australia
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: touching, humorous, realistic, semi serious, funny, feel good, captivating, entertaining, independent film, emotional
Similar in 86%
The Paper Chase (1973)
Plot Summary:
A first-year law student struggles with balancing his coursework and his relationship with the daughter of a stern professor.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 9000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 113 min
Plot tags: intense, uplifting, feel good, serious, captivating, tense, touching, clever, realistic, talky