Best movies like Grown Up Movie Star
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
The story of Ruby, 13, determined to grow up fast after her mother runs away to become a movie star, leaving Ruby with her hopelessly rural father.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 429
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: sincere, realistic, serious, emotional, teen, gloomy, independent film, crying, queer cinema
Best tv shows and movies like Grown Up Movie Star (2009):
Similar in 85%
Wild About Harry (2009)
Plot Summary:
British widower Harry Goodhart (Tate Donovan) decides to make a fresh start and moves with his teenage daughters (Danielle Savre and Skye McCole Bartusiak) to Cape Cod in 1973. But Harry can't leave behind the secret that threatens to tear his family apart. Adjusting to their new lives proves difficult for the girls when they discover that the connection between their dad and his partner (Adam Pascal) is more than just a working relationship.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 227
Genere: Drama, Family
Country: USA
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: touching, humorous, realistic, semi serious, offbeat, sexual, crying, sexy
Similar in 79%
Ice Men (2004)
Plot Summary:
For the first time since taking possession of the family cabin, Vaughn has invited his best friends up for a winter weekend of hunting and drinking. But the arrival of unexpected visitors turns a simple getaway into two days of life-changing turmoil.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 505
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, captivating, tense, sincere, independent film
Similar in 77%
The Tracey Fragments (2007)
Plot Summary:
Tracey Berkowitz, 15, a self-described normal girl, loses her 9-year old brother, Sonny. In flashbacks and fragments, we meet her overbearing parents and the sweet, clueless Sonny. We watch Tracey navigate high school, friendless, picked on and teased. She develops a thing for Billy Zero, a new student, imagining he's her boyfriend. We see the day she loses Sonny and we watch her try to find him.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 8000
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada
Duration: 77 min
Plot tags: disturbing, psychological, serious, realistic, sad, mumblecore, freeze frame, gloomy, tragic, weird
Similar in 82%
Mom at Sixteen (2005)
Plot Summary:
Pregnant sixteen year old Jacey's well-meaning mother forces her to keep the birth a secret and decides to raise the baby as her own.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA, Canada
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: sincere, touching, serious, emotional, captivating, teen, realistic, gloomy, teen comedy
Similar in 79%
52 Tuesdays (2013)
Plot Summary:
Sixteen-year-old Billie’s reluctant path to independence is accelerated when her mother reveals plans for gender transition, and their time together becomes limited to Tuesdays. This emotionally charged story of desire, responsibility, and transformation was filmed over the course of a year—once a week, every week, only on Tuesdays.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: Australia
Duration: 114 min
Plot tags: sincere, touching, serious, captivating, rough, lgbt cinema, social, emotional, realistic, queer cinema
Similar in 79%
The Last Summer of La Boyita (2009)
Plot Summary:
Young Jorgelina feels estranged from her boy-crazy older sister, who has entered adolescence and doesn't want to hang around with little kids anymore. Finding refuge in their Boyita camper-van, Jorgelina travels with her father to the countryside, where her lifelong playmate Mario is undergoing some unexpected changes of his own.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 970
Genere: Drama
Country: Argentina, Spain, France
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, exciting, melancholic, suspenseful, queer cinema
Similar in 80%
Beauty (2011)
Plot Summary:
Tells the story of François van Heerden, a mid-40s, white, Afrikaans-speaking family man living in Bloemfontein, who has become devoid of any care or concern for his own measure of happiness, and so convinced of his ill-fated existence, that he is wholly unprepared when a chance encounter unravels his clean, controlled life.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: South Africa, France, Germany
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: sincere, touching, emotional, realistic, erotic, disturbing, serious, independent film, queer cinema, gay cinema
Similar in 85%
Adrift (2009)
Plot Summary:
A 1980s-set drama about a teenage girl undergoing her sexual awakening when she learns about her father's infidelities.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama
Country: Brazil
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: sexy, touching, serious, realistic, teen, spectacular, stylized, gloomy, sexual
Similar in 80%
In Bloom (2013)
Plot Summary:
Eka and Natia leave their childhood behind and ignore societal customs to escape from their turbulent family lives.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Drama
Country: Georgia, Germany, France
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: emotional, realistic, serious, captivating, social, art house, transgressive, sincere, queer cinema
Similar in 81%
An Old Fashioned Thanksgiving (2008)
Plot Summary:
Based on a short story by the acclaimed author of Little Women, Louisa May Alcott, comes a holiday story of family and forgiveness. Recently widowed Mary Bassett (Helene Joy) and her three children have hit difficult times on their farm. Suddenly, Mary’s wealthy and estranged mother Isabella (Jacqueline Bisset) comes to visit upon receiving a devious letter from the eldest daughter. Mary resents her mother’s attempts to help them out of their financial difficulties. In the end, more than money will be needed to heal deep wounds and rampant scarlet fever of this period drama.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 775
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada, USA
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, emotional, realistic, period drama
Similar in 85%
Misunderstood (2014)
Plot Summary:
Rome, 1984, Aria is nine-year-old girl. On the verge of divorce, Aria's infantile and selfish parents are too preoccupied with their careers and extra-marital affairs to properly tend to any of Aria's needs. While her two older sisters are pampered, Aria is treated with cold indifference. Yet she yearns to love and to be loved. At school, Aria excels academically but is considered a misfit by everyone. She is misunderstood. Aria finds comfort in her cat - Dac and in her best friend - Angelica. Thrown out of both parents' homes, abandoned by all, even her best friend, Aria finally reaches the limit of what she can bear. She makes an unexpected decision in her life.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: Italy, France
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags: touching, emotional, realistic, sincere, serious, stylized, cult classic
Similar in 79%
Crackie (2009)
Plot Summary:
Life on the Rock never seemed easy, but for Mitsy it is especially rough. The teenager has been abandoned by her mother, a particularly unfit parent prone to both the bottle and the sex trade. She is left to be brought up by her mercurial grandmother Bride, who is well-meaning but oppressively suffocating. Mitsy's dreams for the future hinge on her desire to be a hairdresser, but her current emotional well-being revolves around a wee dog named Sparky, an unwanted canine misfit to whom she becomes hopelessly attached. After Bride agrees to let Mitsy take the dog in as a pet, the teen tries desperately to create a happy, safe place for Sparky to thrive.
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 175
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, emotional, realistic
Similar in 78%
Becoming Redwood (2012)
Plot Summary:
A quirky coming of age story about an 11-year-old boy named Redwood who dreams that if he can beat Jack Nicklaus at the 1975 Master's of golf he'll reunite his parents.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 184
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, realistic, sincere, gloomy
Similar in 85%
The Sex of the Stars (1993)
Plot Summary:
Every child who has lost a parent early in life (whether due to death or the separations of divorce or for any other reason) longs to see that parent again. Many have kept up a running dialogue in their heads of things they would say to them if they ever see them again, and many of these things are bitter indeed. In this story, Camille (Marianne-Coquelicot Mercier is such a child. Her father (Denis Mercier) left years before, and now she is thirteen. Stargazing appeals to her as a hobby because "stars have no sex." Surprisingly, her father does reappear, but now he is a "she." This casts a pall over their reunion, and Camille is forced to come to terms with her new father, and cannot renew a relationship with the man who (in his view at least) never was. Her mother (Sylvie Drapeau), however, is not about to be easily reconciled to this transformation. This story is based on a novel by Monique Proulx, a relative to the better known Annie Proulx.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 238
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: sincere, thought provoking, touching, serious, emotional, realistic
Similar in 87%
Curling (2010)
Plot Summary:
Set in a rural Quebec village in the dead of winter, Jean-François, a single father works at a deserted bowling alley at night and in a rundown motel during the day. His daughter, Julyvonne never leaves their home. Jean-François isolates her in fear that contact with the outside world will scar her the way it has him.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 908
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: sincere, atmospheric, realistic, serious, slow cinema, aesthetic, gloomy
Similar in 82%
Empire of Dirt (2013)
Plot Summary:
Like many Native families, Lena Mahikan grew up in the cycle of abuse. Her father, a residential school survivor, was an alcoholic until he killed himself when Lena was 10. Her mother, only 14 years her senior, turned to the slots. By the time Lena was 15, she was pregnant and, before giving birth, was kicked to the curb by her mom. The cycle continues and Lena is now watching helplessly as her own daughter, Peeka, spirals out of control, landing herself in the hospital following a drug overdose. As a final attempt at survival, Lena decides to return home and face her own mother and a past she’s desperate to escape.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 259
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: sincere, serious, emotional, realistic, bleak, gloomy
Similar in 84%
Rebounce (2011)
Plot Summary:
REBOUNCE is a colorful, tough and powerful film featuring Frederikke Dahl Hansen in the leading role. She plays opposite Anne Sofie Espersen and Dar Salim, and despite being only 16 years old she portrays toughness, charm, and vulnerability admirably. REBOUNCE is an intense drama. Louise's mother is just out of prison and in the eyes of a teenager she's cool, tough and enchanting. To win her love, Louise follows her lead and enters a world of partying, drugs, fast cash and men. Meanwhile, everyone seems to forget that she is just a teenager.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 330
Genere: Drama
Country: Denmark
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: realistic, rough, captivating, emotional, psychological, tense, serious
Similar in 82%
The Ballad of Jack and Rose (2005)
Plot Summary:
Jack Slavin is an environmentalist with a heart condition who lives with his daughter, Rose, on an isolated island. While Jack fights against developers who wish to build in the area, he also craves more contact with other people. When he invites his girlfriend, Kathleen, and her sons, Rodney and Thaddius, to move in, Rose is upset. The complicated family dynamics makes things difficult for everyone in the house.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 12000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 112 min
Plot tags: melancholic, disturbing, sentimental, touching, emotional, inspirational, mumblecore, mind blowing, sincere, serious
Similar in 78%
Yelling to the Sky (2011)
Plot Summary:
As her family falls apart, seventeen year old Sweetness O'Hara is left to fend for herself in a neighborhood where her survival is uncertain.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 904
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: emotional, serious, captivating, realistic, independent film, crying
Similar in 82%
1st Love (2013)
Plot Summary:
Antoine, 13, spends the summer vacation with his parents in a rented cottage on an island in the middle of the Saint-Lawrence River. His neighbour, 17-year-old Anna, is an enigmatic and lively young woman. Antoine begins to experience the first stirrings of love-which soon yield a troubling brew of anxiety, desire and obsession. He eventually comes across a terrible secret that will forever change his life.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 253
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada
Duration: 80 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, realistic, captivating
Similar in 78%
She's Too Young (2004)
Plot Summary:
A mother/daughter relationship is thrown off balance when the mother (Marcia Gay Harden) discovers that her "good girl" daughter (Alexis Dziena) is part of a group who are engaging in sexual activities with multiple partners. Such activity results in an outbreak of sexually transmitted diseases.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada, USA
Duration: 84 min
Plot tags: thought provoking, serious, captivating, realistic, disturbing, teen, sexual, crying, sexy, ridiculous
Similar in 76%
The Wise Kids (2011)
Plot Summary:
A vivid, dynamic Southern coming-of-age drama, takes place in the transitional space between high school and college, when life seems to be all questions and no answers, and the future is scarily wide open. Set in and around a Charleston, SC Baptist church, weaving through this ensemble piece are three main characters - Brea, an introspective pastor's daughter experiencing debilitating doubt, the hyperactive Laura, Brea's best friend and a devout believer, and Tim, the open-hearted son of a single father, confronting his homosexuality for the first time. Tensions and buried feelings abound, as colleges are chosen and adults behave badly, as Brea, Laura and Tim attempt to hang onto what they have, all the while yearning to break free.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, realistic, contemplative, sexual, christian film, sexy, queer cinema
Similar in 88%
Sonja (2006)
Plot Summary:
Sonja is struggling to deal with her parent separation, and find her feelings for her best friend might not just be a phase.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 322
Genere: Drama
Country: Germany
Duration: 72 min
Plot tags: realistic, sincere, touching, sexy, lgbt cinema, sexual, queer cinema
Similar in 76%
Booky's Crush (2009)
Plot Summary:
The Thomsons - parents Thomas and Francie, and children Willa, Arthur, Beatrice (nicknamed Booky) and Jakey - are a loving working class family living in the Depression era in Toronto. Arthur is showing aptitude in drawing, and although his parents want to support his skill, Thomas in particular wants him to take up a vocation that is a little more stable. Willa, the part time librarian, is attracted to Russell, the medical student she meets at the library. And 11-year old Booky is happy that she has been asked to tutor the new older sixth grade student, Georgie Dunlop, in spelling, since she has a crush on him, her first ever. She just can't wait for him to ask her to the school dance. But she begins to have mixed feelings about Georgie based on a gift he gives to her. Digging a little deeper, Booky begins to understand both the good and bad of Georgie.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 144
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: sentimental, sincere, touching, feel good, humorous, realistic, semi serious
Similar in 90%
Due East (2002)
Plot Summary:
The movie spotlights an intelligent high school senior and National Merit Scholar (Bryant) who has never been part of the "in crowd." She teaches a high school equivalency night class, tends to the needs of her widower father, Jesse (Forster), and pretty much stays to herself. But when she meets a loner who recently moved to the town of Due East, she feels a sense of belonging for the first time in her life.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 295
Genere: Drama
Country: USA, Canada
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: sincere, serious, emotional, realistic, touching, contemplative
Similar in 76%
Circumstance (2011)
Plot Summary:
A wealthy Iranian family struggles to contain a teenager's growing sexual rebellion and her brother's dangerous obsession.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 8000
Genere: Drama
Country: France, USA, Iran
Duration: 107 min
Plot tags: touching, sincere, atmospheric, emotional, lgbt cinema, erotic, inspirational, sexy, islamic, serious
Similar in 78%
What Girls Learn (2001)
Plot Summary:
Two teenage girls must come to terms with their stepfather when their mother is struck by illness.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 340
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 115 min
Plot tags: touching, sentimental, sincere, emotional, serious, realistic, contemplative, gloomy
Similar in 83%
Mommy Is at the Hairdresser's (2008)
Plot Summary:
Summer 1966. It's time to enjoy the summer holiday, total freedom. Teenage Élise discovers that the sudden departure of her mother completely disrupts the family. Her brother Coco seeks solace in the garage, building a super racing car. Her youngest brother Benoît throws himself into his own inner world. The father seems absolutely knocked out by the situation. Élise decides to take control of her family, in an eloquent attempt to save them. With the assistance of flourishing nature around her, she stands on the threshold of an incomparable summer.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 922
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: emotional, sentimental, touching, serious, realistic, disturbing, sexy, sincere, captivating, sexual
Similar in 86%
Jack (2004)
Plot Summary:
Jack, in full puberty, not only has to deal with his parents' divorce, but also feels his world is falling apart when his dad tells him he is living with a man. He slowly comes to terms with his own feelings when the girl he has a crush on turn out to have a gay dad as well and his best friend's parents end up not having the perfect marriage Jack thought they had.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 576
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: sentimental, humorous, realistic, sincere, touching, emotional, semi serious, melancholic, clever, queer cinema
Similar in 90%
Thirteen (2003)
Plot Summary:
Tracy is a normal 13-year-old trying to make it in school. After befriending the most popular girl at school, Evie, Tracy's world is turned upside down when Evie introduces her to a world of sex, drugs and cash. But it isn't long before Tracy's new world and attitude finally takes a toll on her, her family, and old friends.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 96000
Genere: Drama
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: teen, sincere, realistic, tense, disturbing, emotional, intense, serious, depressing, bleak