Best movies like I Smile Back
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
Laney is an attractive, intelligent suburban wife and devoted mother of two adorable children. She has the perfect husband who plays basketball with the kids in the driveway, a pristine house, and a shiny SUV for carting the children to their next activity. However, just beneath the façade lie depression and disillusionment that send her careening into a secret world of reckless compulsion. Only very real danger will force her to face the painful root of her destructiveness and its crumbling effect on those she loves.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 85 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, psychological, captivating, erotic, psychological thriller, touching, gloomy, independent film, crying
Best tv shows and movies like I Smile Back (2015):
Similar in 82%
Answers to Nothing (2011)
Plot Summary:
Against the backdrop of a missing girl case, lost souls throughout Los Angeles search for meaning and redemption and affect each other in ways they don't always see.
IMDB Rating: 5.0
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 124 min
Plot tags: serious, sincere, touching, realistic, disturbing, crying, detective, dark comedy
Similar in 83%
The Mustang (2019)
Plot Summary:
While participating in a rehabilitation program training wild mustangs, a convict at first struggles to connect with the horses and his fellow inmates, but he learns to confront his violent past as he soothes an especially feisty horse.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 14000
Genere: Drama
Country: France, Belgium
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: realistic, exciting, social, heartbreaking, sentimental, sad
Similar in 78%
By the Sea (2015)
Plot Summary:
Set in France during the mid-1970s, Vanessa, a former dancer, and her husband Roland, an American writer, travel the country together. They seem to be growing apart, but when they linger in one quiet, seaside town they begin to draw close to some of its more vibrant inhabitants, such as a local bar/café-keeper and a hotel owner.
IMDB Rating: 5.3
IMDB Votes: 22000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: France, Malta, USA
Duration: 122 min
Plot tags: psychological, depressing, melancholic, scenic, artsy, erotic, sexy, thought provoking, cult classic, aesthetic
Similar in 80%
The Apartment (1996)
Plot Summary:
A stylish suspense thriller that confounds the audience while presenting them with an extraordinary and elusive mystery. Max is a former playboy who has decided to settle down by marrying his current love, Muriel. However, during a business trip, Max catches a glimpse of the great lost love of his life, reviving his wanderlust and sending him off on a chase of the elusive Lisa, whom he had overheard suggesting to a friend that her lover, Daniel, had killed someone for her. Soon, Max is trying to unravel the mystery behind the suspicious death of Daniel's wife, which he hopes will lead him closer to Lisa.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 16000
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Romance
Country: France, Spain, Italy
Duration: 116 min
Plot tags: sexy, psychological, tense, enigmatic, suspense, suspenseful, romantic, art house, psychological thriller, sentimental
Similar in 84%
The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne (1987)
Plot Summary:
A penniless middle-aged spinster scrapes by giving piano lessons in the Dublin of the 1950s. She makes a sad last bid for love with a fellow resident of her rundown boarding house, who imagines she has the money to bankroll the business he hopes to open.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: UK
Duration: 116 min
Plot tags: psychological, sentimental, touching, serious, emotional, realistic, gloomy, crying, independent film
Similar in 75%
Crutch (2004)
Plot Summary:
An autobiographical film taken from the experiences of writer-director Rob Moretti, CRUTCH is a coming-of-age tale about a young man's struggle with family problems and substance abuse. Behind a facade of suburban middle class perfection, David's home life is falling apart. As he tries to cope with the impossible situation, the troubled and impressionable teenager falls under the spell of Kenny, a georgous, thirty-something, has-been actor turned theatre coach. When Kenny's "support" escalates into seduction, David slowly decends into an abyss of drinking and drug addition from which he must escape if he is to survive. CRUTCH is a dramatic tale of the confusion of youth and the difficulties in finding oneself.
IMDB Rating: 5.1
IMDB Votes: 712
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: psychological, serious, emotional, realistic, bleak, contemplative, gloomy, crying, queer cinema
Similar in 86%
Lantana (2001)
Plot Summary:
Plagued with grief over the murder of her daughter, Valerie Somers suspects that her husband John is cheating on her. When Valerie disappears, Detective Leon Zat attempts to solve the mystery of her absence. A complex web of love, sex and deceit emerges -- drawing in four related couples whose various partners are distrustful and suspicious about each other's involvement.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 20000
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Romance
Country: Australia, Germany
Duration: 121 min
Plot tags: emotional, psychological, suspenseful, serious, psychological thriller, tense, realistic, talky, sexy, neo noir
Similar in 77%
Mother and Child (2009)
Plot Summary:
The lives of three women have a commonality: adoption. Karen is a physical therapist who regrets that, as a teenager, she gave up her daughter for adoption. Elizabeth was an adopted child and is now a successful lawyer, but her personal life lacks warmth. Lucy and her husband have failed to conceive and now hope to adopt a baby to make their family complete.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 13000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA, Spain
Duration: 125 min
Plot tags: sincere, emotional, realistic, talky, sad, captivating, cult classic, indie film, serious, contemplative
Similar in 84%
Down to the Bone (2004)
Plot Summary:
A woman stuck in a stale marriage struggles to raise her children and manage her secret drug habit. But when winter comes to her small town, her balancing act begins to come crashing down.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: sincere, touching, serious, emotional, scary, bleak, realistic, gloomy, crying
Similar in 84%
Vernie (2004)
Plot Summary:
Drama - Sean, a young thirty-something coffee shop owner, is diagnosed with terminal cancer. He desperately wants to have a baby before he dies, and asks his best friend Kristy to bear his child. - John Riedlinger, Amy Colon, Patrick Coyle.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 46
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 86 min
Plot tags: touching, sentimental, uplifting, emotional, serious, realistic, crying
Similar in 75%
A Walk on the Moon (1999)
Plot Summary:
The world of a young housewife is turned upside down when she has an affair with a free-spirited blouse salesman.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 9000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 107 min
Plot tags: sexy, touching, romantic, sensual, sentimental, sincere, contemplative, erotic, realistic, romantic drama
Similar in 77%
Five Times Two (2004)
Plot Summary:
As young French couple Gilles and Marion officially separate, we see, in reverse order, the milestone moments in their relationship: Gilles revealing his unfaithfulness at a tense dinner party; Marion giving birth to their premature son while Gilles is elsewhere; Gilles and Marion's joyous wedding; and, finally, the fateful moment when they meet as acquaintances at an Italian beach resort, and their love affair begins.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 10000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: France
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: sexy, psychological, enigmatic, non-linear, sensual, stylized, sincere, inspirational, disturbing, tense
Similar in 89%
Crooked Hearts (1991)
Plot Summary:
The father of a family has a an affair. This affects every member of the family.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA, Canada
Duration: 113 min
Plot tags: sentimental, clever, touching, serious, realistic, contemplative, talky
Similar in 80%
Personal Velocity (2002)
Plot Summary:
Three women's escapes from their afflicted lives. Each struggles to flee from the men who confine their personal freedom.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 86 min
Plot tags: talky, stylized, intense, touching, psychological, sincere, serious, realistic, anthology, erotic
Similar in 84%
Candy (2006)
Plot Summary:
A poet falls in love with an art student, who gravitates to his bohemian lifestyle -- and his love of heroin. Hooked as much on one another as they are on the drug, their relationship alternates between states of oblivion, self-destruction, and despair.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 47000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Australia
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: disturbing, depressing, romantic, touching, emotional, sexy, independent film, realistic, erotic, crying
Similar in 77%
28 Hotel Rooms (2012)
Plot Summary:
While traveling for work in a city far from their homes, a novelist and a corporate accountant find themselves in bed together. Although she’s married, and he’s seeing someone, their intense attraction turns a one-night stand into an unexpected relationship and a respite from the obligations of daily life. Through a series of moments – some profound, some silly, some intensely intimate – we see a portrait of an evolving relationship that could become the most significant one of their lives.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 82 min
Plot tags: sexy, realistic, serious, erotic, touching, captivating, sensual, romantic drama, sexual, minimal cast
Similar in 84%
Cake (2014)
Plot Summary:
After having visions of a member of her support group who killed herself, a woman who also suffers with chronic pain seeks out the widower of the suicide.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 39000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: heartbreaking, depressing, psychological, touching, sentimental, bleak, compassionate, emotional, serious, sad
Similar in 86%
Hateship Loveship (2013)
Plot Summary:
A wild teenage girl orchestrates a romance between her nanny and her father, who is a recovering addict.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: emotional, serious, realistic, sincere, captivating, disturbing, sentimental, cerebral, teen, aesthetic
Similar in 84%
The Greatest (2009)
Plot Summary:
Teenagers Rose and Bennett were in love, and then a car crash claimed Bennett's life. He left behind a grieving mother, father and younger brother, and Rose was left all alone. She has no family to turn to for support, so when she finds out she's pregnant, she winds up at the Brewer's door. She needs their help, and although they can't quite admit it, they each need her so they can begin to heal.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 9000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: touching, sincere, captivating, realistic, serious, emotional, breathtaking, cult classic, gloomy, independent film
Similar in 87%
Julieta (2016)
Plot Summary:
The film spans 30 years in Julieta’s life from a nostalgic 1985 where everything seems hopeful, to 2015 where her life appears to be beyond repair and she is on the verge of madness.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 34000
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Romance
Country: Spain, France, USA
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: emotional, melancholic, sentimental, thought provoking, art house, colorful, erotic, epic, hispanic, sexual
Similar in 86%
Permanent Midnight (1998)
Plot Summary:
Ben Stiller plays comedy writer Jerry Stahl, whose $6000-a-week heroin habit had him taking his infant daughter along on his drug runs and doing smack during TV script conferences. Departing detox, Stahl explores memories with survivor Kitty, who listens patiently to Stahl's flashback. Other women in Stahl's life are his British wife Sandra and his agent Vola.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 8000
Genere: Biography, Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: depressing, intense, factual, serious, cult classic, psychological, disturbing, independent film, grim, realistic
Similar in 76%
Revolutionary Road (2008)
Plot Summary:
A young couple living in a Connecticut suburb during the mid-1950s struggle to come to terms with their personal problems while trying to raise their two children. Based on a novel by Richard Yates.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 222000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 119 min
Plot tags: bad ending, depressing, heartbreaking, crying, bleak, sad, emotional, serious, romantic, romantic drama
Similar in 83%
Leaving Las Vegas (1995)
Plot Summary:
Ben Sanderson, an alcoholic Hollywood screenwriter who lost everything because of his drinking, arrives in Las Vegas to drink himself to death. There, he meets and forms an uneasy friendship and non-interference pact with prostitute Sera.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 132000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 111 min
Plot tags: depressing, melancholic, disturbing, sexual, sad, emotional, heartbreaking, touching, bleak, talky
Similar in 85%
Antares (2004)
Plot Summary:
A deadly car crash sets off three parallel stories of women at crisis points, faltering behind the doors of the same, plain Vienna apartment block.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Austria
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: erotic, sexy, sensual, psychological, anthology, explicit, captivating, suspense, disturbing, romantic
Similar in 75%
Little Children (2006)
Plot Summary:
The lives of two lovelorn spouses from separate marriages, a registered sex offender, and a disgraced ex-police officer intersect as they struggle to resist their vulnerabilities and temptations.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 116000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 137 min
Plot tags: sexual, disturbing, sexy, psychological, melancholic, emotional, serious, erotic, realistic, depressing
Similar in 83%
The Private Lives of Pippa Lee (2009)
Plot Summary:
The life you love may be your own.... The wife of a much older man finds herself attracted to their neighbour's son, who is closer to her age.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 14000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: melancholic, stylized, emotional, sweet, sentimental, offbeat, romantic, surreal, sex comedy, sensual
Similar in 85%
The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Them (2014)
Plot Summary:
A New York couple's relationship is tested after the loss of their child. This film is the wide-released combination of the original two :him and :her volumes that premiered at the Cannes Film Festival.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 13000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 123 min
Plot tags: independent film, psychological, meditative, surreal, sincere, touching, crying, sad, eros, cute
Similar in 76%
We Don't Live Here Anymore (2004)
Plot Summary:
Married couple Jack and Terry Linden are experiencing a difficult period in their relationship. When Jack decides to step outside the marriage, he becomes involved with Edith, who happens to be the wife of his best friend and colleague, Hank Evans. Learning of their partners' infidelity, Terry and Hank engage in their own extramarital affair together. Now, both marriages and friendships are on the brink of collapse.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 10000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Canada, USA
Duration: 101 min
Plot tags: emotional, stylized, psychological, touching, sincere, contemplative, erotic, realistic, scary, sensual
Similar in 80%
Blue Valentine (2010)
Plot Summary:
Dean and Cindy live a quiet life in a modest neighborhood. They appear to have the world at their feet at the outset of the relationship. However, his lack of ambition and her retreat into self-absorption cause potentially irreversible cracks in their marriage.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 208000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 112 min
Plot tags: touching, emotional, romantic, psychological, sad, sexy, depressing, heartbreaking, independent film, melancholic
Similar in 86%
Rachel Getting Married (2008)
Plot Summary:
A young woman who has been in and out from rehab for the past 10 years returns home for the weekend for her sister's wedding.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 51000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 113 min
Plot tags: independent film, emotional, serious, talky, sincere, romantic, philosophical, thought provoking, offbeat, intellectual