Best movies like Saint Ralph
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
This Canadian made comedy/drama, set in Hamilton, Ontario in 1954, is a sweet and - at times - goofy story that becomes increasingly poignant as the minutes tick by. It's the fictional tale of a wayward 9th grader, Ralph (Adam Butcher), who is secretly living on his own while his widowed, hospitalized mother remains immersed in a coma. Frequently in trouble with Father Fitzpatrick (Gordon Pinsent), the principal of his all-boys, Catholic school, Ralph is considered something of a joke among peers until he decides to pull off a miracle that could save his mother, i.e., winning the Boston Marathon. Coached by a younger priest and former runner, Father Hibbert (Campbell Scott), whose cynicism has been lifted by the boy's pure hope, Ralph applies himself to his unlikely mission, fending off naysayers and getting help along a very challenging path from sundry allies and friends.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Sport
Country: Canada
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: emotional, sincere, sentimental, realistic, feel good, spiritual, semi serious, inspirational, crying, touching
Best tv shows and movies like Saint Ralph (2004):
Similar in 75%
Monsieur Lazhar (2011)
Plot Summary:
During a harsh Montréal winter, an elementary-school class is left reeling after its teacher commits suicide. Bachir Lazhar, a charismatic Algerian immigrant, steps in as the substitute teacher for the classroom of traumatized children. All the while, he must keep his personal life tucked away: the fact that he is seeking political refuge in Québec – and that he, like the children, has suffered an appalling loss.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 21000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: Canada
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: touching, sincere, inspirational, compassionate, realistic, thought provoking, visually appealing, art house, serious, contemplative
Similar in 84%
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 88%
On a Clear Day (2005)
Plot Summary:
After decades of laboring as a Glasgow shipbuilder, Frank Redmond, a no-nonsense 55-year-old working-class man, suddenly finds himself laid off. For the first time in his life, he is without a job or a sense of direction, and he's too proud to ask for guidance. His best mates - rascally Danny, timid Norman and cynical Eddie - are there for him, but Frank still feels desperately alone. An offhand remark from Danny inspires Frank to challenge himself. Already contemplating the state of his relationships with loving wife Joan and all-but-estranged son Rob, Frank is determined to shore up his own self-confidence. He will attempt the near impossible - swimming the English Channel.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Romance, Sport
Country: UK
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: feel good, touching, humorous, emotional, stylized, realistic, compassionate, semi serious, crying, sentimental
Similar in 78%
Noi the Albino (2003)
Plot Summary:
17 year old Noi drifts through life on a remote fjord in Iceland. In winter, the fjord is cut off from the outside world, surrounded by ominous mountains and buried under a shroud of snow. Noi dreams of escaping from this white-walled prison with Iris, a city girl who works in a local gas staion. But his clumsy attempts at escape spiral out of control.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 10000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: Iceland, Germany, UK, Denmark
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: harsh, touching, depressing, enigmatic, bleak, realistic, art house, compassionate, philosophical, experimental
Similar in 84%
My Life as a Dog (1985)
Plot Summary:
A boy, obsessed with comparing himself with those less fortunate, experiences a different life at the home of his aunt and uncle in 1959 Sweden.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 22000
Genere: Drama, Comedy
Country: Sweden
Duration: 101 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, realistic, philosophical, existential, thought provoking, art house, cult classic, sincere, clever
Similar in 82%
My Life on Ice (2002)
Plot Summary:
Etienne is crazy about ice skating and videoing his daily life with a digital camera. He records his mother, friends, and geography teacher. Initially his intention is to setup a date between his mother and his teacher, however, he starts to realize that he is infatuated with the teacher himself.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 854
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Sport
Country: France
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: sentimental, serious, sexy, touching, realistic, psychological, art house, sexual, queer cinema, fake documentary
Similar in 85%
Touching Home (2008)
Plot Summary:
The true story about a father struggling to make amends with his twin sons as they pursue their dreams of professional baseball.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 788
Genere: Drama, Sport
Country: USA
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: emotional, realistic, psychological, captivating, anamorphic, sentimental, sincere, touching, serious, gloomy
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Valentin (2002)
Plot Summary:
Valentin, a 9-year-old boy living with his grandmother in late-1960s Buenos Aires, believes his family has problems that only he can solve. The youngster dreams of being reunited with his mother, who's separated from Valentin's abusive father.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Country: Argentina, Netherlands, France, Spain, Italy
Duration: 86 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, sweet, uplifting, realistic, lyrical, sincere, hispanic, serious, crying
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Wide Awake (1998)
Plot Summary:
A feel-good comedy about the laughter, excitement and fun that come with being a kid! Joshua is a thoughtful 10-year-old looking for some simple answers to life's eternal questions. The problem is that no one - including his concerned parents and his 5th grade teacher - seems to be making any sense!.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Family
Country: USA
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: sentimental, light, emotional, humorous, touching, spiritual, semi serious, crying, independent film, fairy tale
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The Perfect Game (2009)
Plot Summary:
Based on a true story, a group of boys from Monterrey, Mexico who become the first non-U.S. team to win the Little League World Series.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Family, Sport
Country: Canada, USA, Mexico
Duration: 118 min
Plot tags: touching, realistic, serious, disturbing, sentimental, scenic
Similar in 89%
Simon Birch (1998)
Plot Summary:
Simon Birch tells the story of Joe and Simon's heart-warming journey of friendship. Simon Birch was born with a condition that makes him much smaller than all the other kids in town. Now, due to his condition, Simon thinks God made him this way for a reason and highly believes in God. Together, Joe and Simon go on a journey of trust and friendship to find the answers to many things. Their friendship is put to the test when some unfortunate events happen.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 22000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Family
Country: USA
Duration: 114 min
Plot tags: sentimental, feel good, inspirational, sad, emotional, touching, light, sweet, compassionate, humorous
Similar in 75%
School of Life (2005)
Plot Summary:
At Fallbrook Middle School, the annual student-elected Teacher of the Year award is held. And every year for the last 43 years Norman Warner or most fondly called Stormin' Norman Warner has won the award. Now that he has died, the burden of carrying the legacy falls into the hands of Matt Warner, the son of the late Norman Warner who has always lived in the shadow of his father.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Family, Sport
Country: Canada, USA
Duration: 111 min
Plot tags: touching, feel good, humorous, semi serious, sincere, captivating, entertaining, funny, realistic, contemplative
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Driving Lessons (2006)
Plot Summary:
A shy teenage boy trying to escape the influence of his domineering mother, has his world changed when he begins to work for a retired actress.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 11000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: sentimental, witty, feel good, touching, humorous, realistic, semi serious, inspirational, uplifting, spiritual
Similar in 85%
House of D (2004)
Plot Summary:
In the present, artist Tom Warshaw recalls his traumatic coming of age. As a 13-year-old growing up in New York City in 1973, Tom hangs out with Pappass, a mentally disabled man. With Tom's mother battling depression after the death of her husband, the young boy is left to his own devices. When Tom develops a crush on schoolmate Melissa, Pappass feels abandoned and begins behaving erratically.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 10000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: sentimental, light, emotional, intense, spiritual, period piece, cult classic, feel good, humorous, realistic
Similar in 83%
Hardball (2001)
Plot Summary:
An aimless young man who is scalping tickets, gambling and drinking, agrees to coach a Little League team from the Cabrini Green housing project in Chicago as a condition of getting a loan from a friend.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 33000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Sport
Country: Germany, USA
Duration: 106 min
Plot tags: feel good, emotional, suspense, serious, tear jerker, touching, sad, black comedy, cult classic, exciting
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Gracie (2007)
Plot Summary:
This is the story of a teenager named Gracie Bowen, who lives in South Orange, New Jersey, is crazy about soccer, as are her three brothers and former soccer star father. Although Gracie wants to join her brothers and father in the nightly practices, she is discouraged by everyone except her elder brother, Johnny. Her father does not believe that girls should play soccer and tells her that she is neither tough enough nor talented enough to play with the boys team. Undeterred, Gracie finds reserves of strength she never knew existed, and persists in changing everyone's beliefs in what she is capable of, including her own. She faces an uphill battle when she fights to give women the opportunity to play competitive soccer. But as the beautiful and strong person that she has always been but she also brings her family together in the face of their own tragedy.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Biography, Drama, Sport
Country: USA
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, emotional, realistic, sincere, serious, crying
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Philomena (2013)
Plot Summary:
A woman searches for her adult son, who was taken away from her decades ago when she was forced to live in a convent.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 103000
Genere: Biography, Comedy, Drama
Country: UK, France, USA
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: touching, sentimental, captivating, emotional, realistic, sad, compassionate, cerebral, road movie, intense
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Evelyn (2002)
Plot Summary:
Desmond Doyle is devastated when his wife abandons their family on the day after Christmas. His unemployment and the fact that there is no woman in the house to care for the children, Evelyn, Dermot and Maurice, make it clear to the authorities that his is an untenable situation. The Catholic Church and the Irish courts decide to put the Doyle children into Church-run orphanages.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA, Germany, Ireland, UK, Netherlands
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: sentimental, emotional, touching, sincere, feel good, intense, social, uplifting, bleak, serious
Similar in 80%
The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys (2002)
Plot Summary:
A group of Catholic school friends, after being caught drawing an obscene comic book, plan a heist that will outdo their previous prank and make them local legends.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 14000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: realistic, talky, teen, harsh, touching, independent film, epic, sex comedy, sentimental, atmospheric
Similar in 82%
Monsieur Ibrahim (2003)
Plot Summary:
Monsieur Ibrahim is a story about a young Jewish boy in Paris who meets an old Muslim Turkish grocery store owner. The film touches the themes of friendship and love as the old man is a father figure to the boy as he teaches him of the Koran. The film is based on a book of the popular book by the French author Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 12000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: France
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, sweet, emotional, uplifting, feel good, atmospheric, serious, captivating, dramatic
Similar in 86%
Bruno (2000)
Plot Summary:
The story of a unique young boy genius, Bruno, whose expression of his own individuality leads his family and community along an emotional journey.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: touching, realistic, emotional, semi serious, sentimental, humorous, inspirational, motivational, independent film, flamboyance
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The Last of the High Kings (1996)
Plot Summary:
It is 1977, Dublin rocks to the music of Thin Lizzy and the world is stunned by the death of Elvis Presley. Frankie, caught between acne and adulthood, has just completed his final exams in school. Convinced he will fail, he survives the summer organising a beach party, having lustful thoughts about two girls he believes are unobtainable and fending off the advances from a visiting American family friend, all whilst coping with his oddball family.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: Ireland, Denmark, UK
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags: humorous, light, talky, sentimental, touching, feel good, semi serious, sincere, independent film, realistic
Similar in 86%
Without Limits (1998)
Plot Summary:
The film follows the life of famous 1970s runner Steve Prefontaine from his youth days in Oregon to the University of Oregon where he worked with the legendary coach Bill Bowerman, later to Olympics in Munich and his early death at 24 in a car crash.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Biography, Drama, Sport
Country: USA
Duration: 117 min
Plot tags: inspirational, sincere, factual, exciting, captivating, touching, emotional, realistic, feel good, crying
Similar in 80%
You're My Hero (2003)
Plot Summary:
Thirteen-year-old Ramon is on the verge of many adolescent discoveries -- and the confusion that goes along with them. Shy and awkward, he's moved from town to town throughout his childhood and believes that life is about winning and losing. But he soon learns it's all about survival. Like Ramon, Spain is in transition (President Francisco Franco is about to die); it's a time of social upheaval marked by change, illusion and struggle.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 382
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: Spain
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: realistic, touching, semi serious, captivating, humorous
Similar in 78%
Saved! (2004)
Plot Summary:
Teenage Mary Cummings, who has "been Born Again her whole life," is about to enter her senior year at American Eagle Christian High School near Baltimore with her Fundamentalist Christian friends Hilary Faye and Veronica, the three of whom have formed a girl group called the Christian Jewels. Everything seems perfect—until Mary’s "perfect Christian boyfriend" Dean tells her, as they’re swimming underwater, that he thinks he's gay.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 49000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA, Canada
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: touching, independent film, witty, humorous, funny, teen, dark comedy, clever, realistic, cult classic
Similar in 87%
St. Vincent (2014)
Plot Summary:
A young boy whose parents just divorced finds an unlikely friend and mentor in the misanthropic, bawdy, hedonistic, war veteran who lives next door.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 108000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: realistic, feel good, inspirational, entertaining, witty, humorous, touching, sincere, social, sad
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With Honors (1994)
Plot Summary:
Convinced he'll graduate with honors because of his thesis paper, a stuffy Harvard student finds his paper being held hostage by a homeless man, who might be the guy to school the young man in life.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 16000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 101 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, feel good, inspirational, road movie, humorous, semi serious, realistic, light, sincere
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The Way Way Back (2013)
Plot Summary:
Over the course of his summer break, a teenager comes into his own thanks in part to the friendship he strikes up with one of the park's managers.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 155000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags: touching, emotional, realistic, teen, independent film, sweet, indie film, semi serious, sentimental, witty
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Dead Poets Society (1989)
Plot Summary:
At an elite, old-fashioned boarding school in New England, a passionate English teacher inspires his students to rebel against convention and seize the potential of every day, courting the disdain of the stern headmaster.
IMDB Rating: 8.1
IMDB Votes: 530000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 128 min
Plot tags: philosophical, inspirational, sentimental, emotional, uplifting, intellectual, touching, motivational, sad, tear jerker
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C.R.A.Z.Y. (2005)
Plot Summary:
A story of two love affairs. A father's love for his five sons. And one son's love for his father, a love so strong it compels him to live a lie. That son is Zac Beaulieu, born on the 25th of December 1960, different from all his brothers, but desperate to fit in. During the next 20 years, life takes Zac on a surprising and unexpected journey that ultimately leads him to accept his true nature and, even more importantly, leads his father to love him for who he really is.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 34000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: Canada, Morocco, France
Duration: 129 min
Plot tags: touching, emotional, humorous, sentimental, realistic, heartbreaking, talky, semi serious, independent film, inspirational