Best movies like High Hopes
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
Slice-of-life look at a sweet working-class couple in London, Shirley and Cyril, his mother, who's aging quickly and becoming forgetful, mum's ghastly upper-middle-class neighbors, and Cyril's pretentious sister and philandering husband. Shirley wants a baby, but Cyril, who reads Marx and wants the world to be perfect, is reluctant. Cyril's mum locks herself out and must ask her snooty neighbors for help. Then Cyril's sister Valerie stages a surprise party for mum's 70th birthday, a disaster from start to finish. Shirley holds things together, and she and Cyril may put aside her Dutch cap after all.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: independent film, retro, black comedy, cult classic, clever, touching, humorous, realistic, witty, semi serious
Best tv shows and movies like High Hopes (1988):
Similar in 90%
Sensitive Skin (2005)
Plot Summary:
Bittersweet comedy about a 61-year-old former model trying to cope with life in London.
IMDB Rating: 7.9
IMDB Votes: 317
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Country: UK
Duration: 29 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, humorous, sincere, clever, realistic, witty, semi serious
Similar in 85%
Farewell, Home Sweet Home (1999)
Plot Summary:
Nicholas is the eldest son of a wealthy suburban family, whose businesswoman mother makes deals from a helicopter and has an affair with her business partner. His cheerful, alcoholic father, on the other hand, is reduced to a prisoner in his room with his devoted dog and electric train set. Unbeknownst to his parents, Nicholas works as a window cleaner and dish washer in a Parisian cafe. He is also in love with the daughter of another cafe's owner, who, however, has an abusive boyfriend. One night, Nicholas sneaks a few drunken drifters into his family wine cellar and his father unexpectedly takes a liking to the stranger.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: France, Switzerland, Italy
Duration: 118 min
Plot tags: art house, humorous, realistic, semi serious
Similar in 75%
The Chain (1984)
Plot Summary:
Comedy featuring interweaving stories of seven households caught up in a property chain on moving day, each one dependent on the other.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 433
Genere: Comedy
Country: UK
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: independent film, clever, offbeat, humorous, realistic, witty, semi serious, biting, suspense
Similar in 88%
Cheese and Jam (2003)
Plot Summary:
A story about a couple from the bottom of the social ladder, about smuggling refugees across borders and other 'suspect' things- it is, first and foremost, an attempt to tell a story about the worst in people, wherever they may be coming from.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, Comedy
Country: Slovenia
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: touching, humorous, realistic, semi serious, clever
Similar in 88%
Bleak Moments (1971)
Plot Summary:
Moments from the uncompromisingly bleak existence of a secretary, her retarded sister, aloof and uneasy teacher boyfriend, bizzare neighbour and irritating workmate.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 111 min
Plot tags: independent film, cult classic, sentimental, sincere, clever, touching, serious, emotional, realistic, talky
Similar in 86%
Tickets (2005)
Plot Summary:
A train travels across Italy toward Rome. On board is a professor who daydreams a conversation with a love that never was, a family of Albanian refugees who switch trains and steal a ticket, three brash Scottish soccer fans en route to a match, and a complaining widow traveling to a memorial service for her late husband who's accompanied by a community-service volunteer who's assisting her. Interactions among these Europeans turn on class and nationalism, courtesy and rudeness, and opportunities for kindness.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: Italy, UK
Duration: 109 min
Plot tags: touching, feel good, humorous, semi serious, anthology, road movie, islamic, realistic, contemplative
Similar in 76%
Suzie Gold (2004)
Plot Summary:
Suzie Gold is a twentysomething torn between the nice Jewish boy her family is keen on and the non-Jewish boy she loves.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 651
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Country: UK
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: feel good, humorous, realistic, not serious, touching
Similar in 85%
All or Nothing (2002)
Plot Summary:
Penny's love for her partner, taxi-driver Phil, has run dry. He is a gentle, philosophical guy, and she works on the checkout at a supermarket.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 11000
Genere: Drama
Country: UK, France
Duration: 128 min
Plot tags: depressing, emotional, bleak, serious, realistic, meditative, sentimental, sincere, talky, offbeat
Similar in 87%
Weakness (2010)
Plot Summary:
About a suburban high school teacher who loses his wife and his moorings during a summer break.
IMDB Rating: 5.4
IMDB Votes: 213
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: humorous, realistic, semi serious, touching, light, feel good, sexual
Similar in 81%
Night Bus (2014)
Plot Summary:
The passengers on the Night Bus have many different stories -- some are lovers, some have dark secrets, some are looking for a fight, others are just trying to get through the night.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 384
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: sincere, touching, humorous, semi serious, realistic, contemplative, talky
Similar in 76%
Career Girls (1997)
Plot Summary:
Two young women reunite and rekindle their friendship after having said goodbye at their college graduation, six years earlier.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: UK, France
Duration: 83 min
Plot tags: cult classic, realistic, witty, talky, independent film, art house, sincere, touching, humorous, semi serious
Similar in 78%
The Bad Mother's Handbook (2007)
Plot Summary:
Karen Cooper wants to domineer her family and believes she's its pillar. In fact she does everything wrong. Thus she messes up all their lives and futures, rather then help her loved-ones.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 71 min
Plot tags: touching, humorous, emotional, semi serious, funny, light, feel good, captivating, entertaining, realistic
Similar in 84%
The Seagull's Laughter (2001)
Plot Summary:
Post-war provincial Iceland: around 1950, Freyja, who'd been a plump teen, returns from America, a widow with a 20-inch waist, seven suitcases of dresses, and a list of who ever wronged or slighted her. She moves in with an aunt and socialist uncle: finding a new husband is high on her agenda, and she's mistrusted by Agga, a pre-teen who's our eyes and ears. The social order and Freyja are more complicated than they seem at first, and so may be her prospects. Class divisions, families ties, pride, the onset of puberty, and the power of Eros sliver the ice.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 695
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: Iceland, Germany, UK
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, humorous, realistic, semi serious, dark comedy
Similar in 78%
Chutney Popcorn (1999)
Plot Summary:
Reena is a young Indian American lesbian who lives and works in New York. Her sister Sarita, who is happily married, discovers that she is infertile. Reena offers to be a surrogate mother for her sister's baby, hoping to improve her relationship with their mother, who disapproves of Reena's sexual orientation. Reena has second thoughts when her girlfriend Lisa feels left out.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: multicultural, independent film, clever, touching, feel good, humorous, realistic, semi serious, queer cinema
Similar in 90%
All Together (2011)
Plot Summary:
Five old friends decide to move in together as an alternate to living in a retirement home; joining them is an ethnology student whose thesis is on the aging population.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: France, Germany
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: touching, humorous, semi serious, sentimental, realistic
Similar in 76%
Gooische Vrouwen (2011)
Plot Summary:
Gooische Vrouwen (Vipers Nest) is based on a very popular Dutch TV series and can be described as a Dutch variation of Sex and the City and Desperate Housewives. The film tells the story of four girlfriends who live in the bourgeois area ‘t Gooi, where life always seems to run smoothly, but dark clouds are gathering on the horizon. A flight seems the only way out….
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: Netherlands
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: touching, semi serious, sexy, humorous, realistic, witty, offbeat, biting, sexual, suspense
Similar in 81%
Intrepido: A Lonely Hero (2013)
Plot Summary:
A middle-aged man tries to get by in Milan while trying to retain his dignity.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 738
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: Italy
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: humorous, semi serious, touching, realistic, light, feel good
Similar in 76%
Educating Rita (1983)
Plot Summary:
Rita, a 26 year old Scouse hairdresser with a sharp wit, is married to her childhood sweetheart, the feckless Denny. He wants a baby, she doesn't. She wants to discover herself, so she joins the Open University. Dr. Frank Bryant Is a disillusioned university professor of literature. His marriage has failed, his girlfriend is having an affair with his best friend and he can't get through the day without downing a bottle or two of whisky. He refers to himself as an appalling teacher of appalling students. What Frank needs is a challenge ... along comes Rita. In this hilarious and often moving drama, the story tells how two people find a new lease of life through each other.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 15000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: touching, witty, talky, sentimental, humorous, inspirational, clever, realistic, romantic, comedy drama
Similar in 86%
Mrs Palfrey at The Claremont (2005)
Plot Summary:
All but abandoned by her family in a London retirement hotel, an elderly woman strikes up a curious friendship with a young writer.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: touching, sentimental, humorous, semi serious, hilarious, powerful, clever, realistic, crying
Similar in 80%
Another Year (2010)
Plot Summary:
Mike Leigh’s much praised 2010 tragicomical drama. During a year, a very content couple approaching retirement are visited by friends and family less happy with their lives.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 31000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 129 min
Plot tags: emotional, touching, meditative, psychological, sincere, contemplative, realistic, visually appealing, inspirational, thought provoking
Similar in 88%
Meantime (1983)
Plot Summary:
A working-class family in London's East End is struggling to stay afloat during the recession under Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's premiership. Only the mother Mavis is working; father Frank and the couple's two sons Colin, a timid, chronically shy individual and Mark, an outspoken, headstrong young man, are on the dole. This situation is contrasted by the presence of Mavis's sister Barbara, and her husband John, whose financial and social loftiness appears to be a comfortable facade over the unspoken soreness of a lackluster marriage.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: mysterious, surreal, independent film, cult classic, touching, humorous, realistic, gloomy, semi serious, crying
Similar in 82%
Go for Zucker (2004)
Plot Summary:
Germany director Dani Levy filmed this comedy about Jewish life in today’s Germany along side the familiar east-west conflict. With it great success this film is a joyful comedy of humor and knowledge.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: Germany
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: realistic, witty, humorous, semi serious
Similar in 76%
White Teeth (2002)
Plot Summary:
An adaptation of Zadie Smith's bestseller concerning the lives of two families from as far back as the 1800s and India to late 1990s Willesden.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 770
Genere: Drama, Comedy
Country: UK
Duration: 240 min
Plot tags: touching, humorous, realistic, semi serious, multicultural
Similar in 77%
Secrets & Lies (1996)
Plot Summary:
A middle-aged London factory worker is shocked when the mixed-race daughter she gave up at birth decides to track her down. At first she denies she is her mother. All family members become emotional, as everyone's secrets are exposed.
IMDB Rating: 8.0
IMDB Votes: 46000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: UK, France
Duration: 136 min
Plot tags: emotional, independent film, touching, realistic, dark comedy, sincere, spiritual, social, art house, comedy drama
Similar in 85%
Life Is Sweet (1990)
Plot Summary:
Just north of London live Wendy, Andy, and their twenty-something twins, Natalie and Nicola. Wendy clerks in a shop, leads aerobics at a primary school, jokes like a vaudevillian, agrees to waitress at a friend's new restaurant and dotes on Andy, a cook who forever puts off home remodeling projects, and with a drunken friend, buys a broken down lunch wagon. Natalie, with short neat hair and a snappy, droll manner, is a plumber; she has a holiday planned in America, but little else. Last is Nicola, odd man out: a snarl, big glasses, cigarette, mussed hair, jittery fingers, bulimic, jobless, and unhappy. How they interact and play out family conflict and love is the film's subject.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 11000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags: sentimental, independent film, compassionate, funny, sweet, melancholic, humorous, sincere, realistic, talky
Similar in 81%
I Really Hate My Job (2007)
Plot Summary:
'Every day is another day closer to the day I'll never have to do this again.' Five women, one restaurant, one night, one birthday, one breakdown. Then the phone rings. A famous actor is coming for dinner. I Really Hate My Job is the story of an evening in a café in London's Soho.
IMDB Rating: 5.1
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: semi serious, humorous, realistic, talky, independent film, clever, offbeat, witty
Similar in 79%
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 85%
The Four Seasons (1981)
Plot Summary:
Three middle-aged wealthy couples take vacations together in Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter. Along the way we are treated to mid-life, marital, parental and other crises.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 107 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, humorous, realistic, witty, talky, clever, semi serious, funny, light
Similar in 89%
Walkaway (2010)
Plot Summary:
Walkaway, a light-comedy drama, mocks the clutches of social obligations on young Indian professionals settled in New York City.
IMDB Rating: 5.3
IMDB Votes: 813
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: touching, feel good, humorous, realistic, semi serious, independent film
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Motherhood (2009)
Plot Summary:
Motherhood is a comedy written and directed by Katherine Dieckmann, and stars Uma Thurman, Anthony Edwards and Minnie Driver. Shot on location in New York’s West Village, focuses on the dilemmas of motherhood, such as marriage, work, and self, shown in the trials and tribulations of one pivotal day.
IMDB Rating: 4.6
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: feel good, humorous, realistic, touching, semi serious, independent film, neurotic