Best movies like Joe Bell

Similar in 87%

Swan Song (2021)

Plot Summary:

An aging hairdresser escapes his nursing home to embark on an odyssey across his small town to style a dead woman's hair for her funeral, rediscovering his sparkle along the way.

Similar in 81%

Spa Night (2016)

Plot Summary:

A young Korean-American man works to reconcile his obligations to his struggling immigrant family with his burgeoning sexual desires in the underground world of gay hookups at Korean spas in Los Angeles.

Similar in 89%

Tom of Finland (2017)

Plot Summary:

Touko Laaksonen, a decorated officer, returns home after a harrowing and heroic experience serving his country in World War II, but life in Finland during peacetime proves equally distressing. He finds peace-time Helsinki rampant with persecution of the homosexual and men around him even being pressured to marry women and have children. Touko finds refuge in his liberating art, specialising in homoerotic drawings of muscular men, free of inhibitions. His work – made famous by his signature ‘Tom of Finland’ – became the emblem of a generation of men and fanned the flames of a gay revolution.

Similar in 75%

I'm Not Ashamed (2016)

Plot Summary:

Based on the inspiring and powerful true story and journal entries of Rachel Joy Scott- the first student killed in the Columbine high school shooting in 1999.

Similar in 89%

Stronger (2017)

Plot Summary:

A victim of the Boston Marathon bombing in 2013 helps the police track down the killers while struggling to recover from devastating trauma.

Similar in 83%

The Case for Christ (2017)

Plot Summary:

Based on the true story of an award-winning investigative journalist -- and avowed atheist -- who applies his well-honed journalistic and legal skills to disprove the newfound Christian faith of his wife... with unexpected, life-altering results.

Similar in 85%

The Glass Castle (2017)

Plot Summary:

A young girl is raised in a dysfunctional family constantly on the run from the FBI. Living in poverty, she comes of age guided by her drunkard, ingenious father who distracts her with magical stories to keep her mind off the family's dire state, and her selfish, nonconformist mother who has no intention of raising a family, along with her younger brother and sister, and her other older sister. Together, they fend for each other as they mature in an unorthodox journey that is their family life.

Similar in 88%

Father Stu (2022)

Plot Summary:

The true-life story of boxer-turned-priest. When an injury ends his amateur boxing career, Stuart Long moves to Los Angeles to find money and fame. While scraping by as a supermarket clerk, he meets Carmen, a Sunday school teacher who seems immune to his bad-boy charm. Determined to win her over, the longtime agnostic starts going to church to impress her. However, a motorcycle accident leaves him wondering if he can use his second chance to help others, leading to the surprising realization that he's meant to be a Catholic priest.

Similar in 76%

Howl (2010)

Plot Summary:

It's San Francisco in 1957, and an American masterpiece is put on trial. Howl, the film, recounts this dark moment using three interwoven threads: the tumultuous life events that led a young Allen Ginsberg to find his true voice as an artist, society's reaction (the obscenity trial), and mind-expanding animation that echoes the startling originality of the poem itself. All three coalesce in a genre-bending hybrid that brilliantly captures a pivotal moment-the birth of a counterculture.

Similar in 80%

Kill Your Darlings (2013)

Plot Summary:

A murder in 1944 draws together the great poets of the beat generation: Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac and William Burroughs.

Similar in 80%

Tesla (2020)

Plot Summary:

The story of the Promethean struggles of Nikola Tesla, as he attempts to transcend entrenched technology—including his own previous work—by pioneering a system of wireless energy that would change the world.

Similar in 89%

Same Kind of Different as Me (2017)

Plot Summary:

International art dealer Ron Hall must befriend a dangerous homeless man in order to save his struggling marriage to his wife, a woman whose dreams will lead all three of them on the journey of their lives.

Similar in 75%

Angela's Ashes (1999)

Plot Summary:

Based on the best selling autobiography by Irish expat Frank McCourt, Angela's Ashes follows the experiences of young Frankie and his family as they try against all odds to escape the poverty endemic in the slums of pre-war Limerick. The film opens with the family in Brooklyn, but following the death of one of Frankie's siblings, they return home, only to find the situation there even worse. Prejudice against Frankie's Northern Irish father makes his search for employment in the Republic difficult despite his having fought for the IRA, and when he does find money, he spends the money on drink.

Similar in 81%

This Boy's Life (1993)

Plot Summary:

In 1957, a son and mother flee the East and an abusive boyfriend to find a new life, and end up in Seattle, where the mother meets a polite garage mechanic. The boy continually gets into trouble by hanging out with the wrong crowd. The mom marries the mechanic, but they soon find out that he's an abusive and unreasoning alcoholic, and they struggle to maintain hope in an impossible situation as the boy grows up with plans to escape the small town by any means possible. Based on a true story by Tobias Wolff.

Similar in 90%

Dangerous Minds (1995)

Plot Summary:

Former Marine Louanne Johnson lands a gig teaching in a pilot program for bright but underachieving teens at a notorious inner-city high school. After having a terrible first day, she decides she must throw decorum to the wind. When Johnson returns to the classroom, she does so armed with a no-nonsense attitude informed by her military training and a fearless determination to better the lives of her students -- no matter what the cost.

Similar in 87%

The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio (2005)

Plot Summary:

Based on the true story of Evelyn Ryan, a midwestern housewife who managed to rescue her family from debt by entering contests for ad slogans sponsored by consumer product companies.

Similar in 76%

Beautiful Boy (2018)

Plot Summary:

After he and his first wife separate, journalist David Sheff struggles to help their teenage son Nic, who goes from experimenting with drugs to becoming devastatingly addicted to methamphetamine.

Similar in 79%

Gods and Monsters (1998)

Plot Summary:

It's 1957, and Whale's heyday as the director of "Frankenstein," "Bride of Frankenstein" and "The Invisible Man" is long behind him. Retired and a semi-recluse, he lives his days accompanied only by images from his past. When his dour housekeeper, Hannah, hires a handsome young gardener, the flamboyant director and simple yard man develop an unlikely friendship, which will change them forever.

Similar in 75%

Infamous (2006)

Plot Summary:

While researching his book In Cold Blood, writer Truman Capote develops a close relationship with convicted murderers Dick Hickock and Perry Smith.

Similar in 89%

Fat Girls (2006)

Plot Summary:

Fat Girls is an original off-beat comedy feature. It focuses on Rodney Miller, not your typical Texas high school student...he is a theater lover and his ultimate dream is to be on Broadway. Awkward and shy, he doesn't have many people to talk to in his small Texas town that understand him. He ends up finding what he was looking for in his theater teacher, Mr. Cox.

Similar in 75%

Invincible (2006)

Plot Summary:

Inspired by the true story of Vince Papale, a man with nothing to lose who ignored the staggering odds and made his dream come true. When the coach of Papale's beloved hometown football team hosted an unprecedented open tryout, the public consensus was that it was a waste of time – no one good enough to play professional football was going to be found this way.

Similar in 80%

The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012)

Plot Summary:

A coming-of-age story based on the best-selling novel by Stephen Chbosky, which follows 15-year-old freshman Charlie, an endearing and naive outsider who is taken under the wings of two seniors. A moving tale of love, loss, fear and hope - and the unforgettable friends that help us through life.

Similar in 85%

Any Day Now (2012)

Plot Summary:

In the late 1970s, when a mentally handicapped teenager is abandoned, a gay couple takes him in and becomes the family he's never had. But once the unconventional living arrangement is discovered by authorities, the men must fight the legal system to adopt the child.

Similar in 78%

Prayers for Bobby (2009)

Plot Summary:

True story of Mary Griffith, gay rights crusader, whose teenage son committed suicide due to her religious intolerance. Based on the book of the same title by Leroy Aarons.

Similar in 78%

I Am Michael (2015)

Plot Summary:

The controversial true story of a gay activist who rejects his homosexuality and becomes a Christian pastor.

Similar in 84%

Boy Erased (2018)

Plot Summary:

The son of a Baptist preacher is forced to participate in a church supported gay conversion program.

Similar in 78%

The Normal Heart (2014)

Plot Summary:

The story of the onset of the HIV-AIDS crisis in New York City in the early 1980s, taking an unflinching look at the nation's sexual politics as gay activists and their allies in the medical community fight to expose the truth about the burgeoning epidemic to a city and nation in denial.

Similar in 79%

The End of the Tour (2015)

Plot Summary:

The story of the five-day interview between Rolling Stone reporter David Lipsky and acclaimed novelist David Foster Wallace, which took place right after the 1996 publication of Wallace's groundbreaking epic novel, 'Infinite Jest.'.

Similar in 76%

Dallas Buyers Club (2013)

Plot Summary:

Loosely based on the true-life tale of Ron Woodroof, a drug-taking, women-loving, homophobic man who in 1986 was diagnosed with HIV/AIDS and given thirty days to live.

Similar in 78%

Milk (2008)

Plot Summary:

The story of California's first openly gay elected official, Harvey Milk, who became an outspoken agent for change, seeking equal rights and opportunities for all. His great love for the city and its people brought him backing from young and old, straight and gay, alike – at a time when prejudice and violence against gays was openly accepted as the norm.