Best movies like Steel Magnolias
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
This heart wrenching drama is about a beauty shop, in Louisana owned by Truvy, and the tragedies of all of her clients.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 62000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 117 min
Plot tags: touching, sentimental, sad, inspirational, emotional, tear jerker, sweet, compassionate, sincere, romantic
Best tv shows and movies like Steel Magnolias (1989):
Similar in 83%
Moonlight and Valentino (1995)
Plot Summary:
Four women who discover untapped strength within themselves when they finally let go of what divides them.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, anamorphic, happy, independent film, psychological, sincere, realistic, gloomy, semi serious
Similar in 77%
Stanley & Iris (1990)
Plot Summary:
An illiterate cook at a company cafeteria tries for the attention of a newly widowed woman. As they get to know one another, she discovers his inability to read. When he is fired, she takes on trying to teach him to read in her kitchen each night.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 8000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: touching, emotional, sentimental, melancholic, sincere, serious, realistic, romantic, light, anamorphic
Similar in 80%
Used People (1992)
Plot Summary:
At her husband's funeral, Pearl (Shirley Maclean), Jewish mother of two divorced and antagonistic daughters, meets an old Italian friend (Marcello Mastroianni) of her husband, whose advice years previously had stopped the husband leaving home. For 23 years he, now a widower, has secretly loved Pearl.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Country: Japan, USA
Duration: 115 min
Plot tags: sentimental, sincere, touching, feel good, humorous, realistic, witty, semi serious, black comedy, dark comedy
Similar in 78%
In Her Shoes (2005)
Plot Summary:
Irresponsible party girl Maggie (Cameron Diaz) is kicked out of her father's (Ken Howard) and stepmother's (Candice Azzara) home, where she lives for free, and is taken in by her hard-working sister, Philadelphia lawyer Rose (Toni Collette). After Maggie's disruptive ways ruin her sister's love life, Rose turns her out as well. But when their grandmother, who they never knew existed, comes into their lives, the sisters face some complicated truths about themselves and their family.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 64000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Country: USA, Germany, UK
Duration: 130 min
Plot tags: light, sentimental, touching, emotional, sincere, realistic, semi serious, romantic comedy, romantic, erotic
Similar in 78%
Beaches (1988)
Plot Summary:
A privileged rich debutante and a cynical struggling entertainer share a turbulent, but strong childhood friendship over the years.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 28000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Music
Country: USA
Duration: 123 min
Plot tags: emotional, heartbreaking, tear jerker, sad, sentimental, melancholic, sweet, realistic, talky, inspirational
Similar in 78%
Mrs. Winterbourne (1996)
Plot Summary:
Connie Doyle is eighteen and pregnant her boyfriend has kicked her out. She accidentaly ends up on a train where she meets Hugh Winterbourne and his wife Patricia who is pregnant. The train wrecks and she wakes up in the hosptial to find out that it's been assumed that she's Patricia. Hugh's mother takes her in and she falls in love with Hugh's brother Bill. Just when she thinks everything is going her way, her ex-boyfriend shows up.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 8000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: touching, romantic, sweet, sentimental, feel good, humorous, semi serious, realistic, fairy tale, light
Similar in 81%
Murphy's Romance (1985)
Plot Summary:
Emma is a divorced woman with a teen aged boy who moves into a small town and tries to make a go of a horse ranch. Murphy is the town druggist who steers business her way. Things are going along predictably until her ex husband shows up, needing a place to stay. The three of them form an intricate circle, Emma's son liking Murphy, but desperately wanting his father back.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 107 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, humorous, feel good, realistic, semi serious, hilarious, light, romantic, road movie
Similar in 86%
Mermaids (1990)
Plot Summary:
Fifteen-year-old Charlotte Flax is tired of her wacky mom moving their family to a different town any time she feels it is necessary. When they move to a small Massachusetts town and Mrs. Flax begins dating a shopkeeper, Charlotte and her 9-year-old sister, Kate, hope that they can finally settle down. But when Charlotte's attraction to an older man gets in the way, the family must learn to accept each other for who they truly are.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 35000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: touching, sweet, teen, emotional, melancholic, sentimental, humorous, semi serious, feel good, funny
Similar in 85%
Where the Heart Is (2000)
Plot Summary:
Novalee Nation is a 17-year-old Tennessee transient who has to grow up in a hurry when she's left pregnant and abandoned by her boyfriend on a roadside in Sequoyah, Okla., and takes refuge in the friendly aisles of Wal-Mart. In short order, some eccentric, kindly strangers "adopt" Novalee and her infant daughter, helping them buck the odds and build a new life.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 36000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags: feel good, touching, sincere, sentimental, inspirational, romantic, sweet, humorous, realistic, cute
Similar in 79%
The Evening Star (1996)
Plot Summary:
Continuing the story of Aurora Greenway in her latter years. After the death of her daughter, Aurora struggled to keep her family together, but has one grandson in jail, a rebellious granddaughter, and another grandson living just above the poverty line.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 129 min
Plot tags: touching, cult classic, sentimental, feel good, humorous, realistic, talky, semi serious, romantic, road movie
Similar in 89%
Steel Magnolias (2012)
Plot Summary:
In an updated contemporary version of the beloved stage play and 1989 film, "Steel Magnolias" chronicles the lives and friendship of six women in Louisiana. Supporting each other through their triumphs and tragedies, they congregate at Truvy’s beauty shop to ponder the mysteries of life and death, husbands and children - and hair and nails - all the important topics that truly unite and celebrate women.
IMDB Rating: 5.4
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 85 min
Plot tags: sentimental, sincere, touching, emotional, realistic, captivating, semi serious, crying
Similar in 88%
Places in the Heart (1984)
Plot Summary:
In 1930s Southern US, a widow and her family try to run their cotton farm with the help of a disparate group of friends.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 13000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 111 min
Plot tags: uplifting, christian film, sentimental, touching, emotional, inspirational, gothic, social, atmospheric, serious
Similar in 75%
Moonstruck (1987)
Plot Summary:
Cher is devastatingly funny, sinuous and beautiful as Loretta, an unlucky-in-love Italian widow who finds romance through the intervention of the Manhattan moon. With her wedding to a close friend just weeks away, she meets - and falls hopelessly in love with - his younger brother (Cage)!.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 66000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: romantic, sexy, sentimental, light, touching, humorous, sweet, melancholic, romantic comedy, clever
Similar in 84%
P.S. I Love You (2007)
Plot Summary:
A young widow discovers that her late husband has left her 10 messages intended to help ease her pain and start a new life.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 217000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 126 min
Plot tags: touching, romantic, emotional, sentimental, sad, uplifting, sweet, tear jerker, romantic comedy, cute
Similar in 80%
My Best Friend's Wedding (1997)
Plot Summary:
When she receives word that her longtime platonic pal Michael O'Neal is getting married to debutante Kimberly Wallace, food critic Julianne Potter realizes her true feelings for Michael -- and sets out to sabotage the wedding.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 152000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: romantic, feel good, sentimental, sweet, funny, romantic comedy, sexy, light, cute, clever
Similar in 83%
Sex and the City (2008)
Plot Summary:
A New York writer on sex and love is finally getting married to her Mr. Big. But her three best girlfriends must console her after one of them inadvertently leads Mr. Big to jilt her.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 126000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 145 min
Plot tags: light, romantic, witty, romantic comedy, sexy, teen, sex comedy, feel good, emotional, funny
Similar in 84%
Baby Boom (1987)
Plot Summary:
The life of super-yuppie J.C. is thrown into turmoil when she inherits a baby from a distant relative.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 19000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: light, touching, sentimental, sweet, sincere, humorous, realistic, semi serious, cute, retro
Similar in 84%
As Good as It Gets (1997)
Plot Summary:
New York City. Melvin Udall, a cranky, bigoted, obsessive-compulsive writer, finds his life turned upside down when neighboring gay artist Simon is hospitalized and his dog is entrusted to Melvin. In addition, Carol, the only waitress who will tolerate him, must leave work to care for her sick son, making it impossible for Melvin to eat breakfast.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 314000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 139 min
Plot tags: feel good, touching, sweet, emotional, sentimental, inspirational, romantic comedy, psychological, funny, romantic
Similar in 81%
The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (2005)
Plot Summary:
Four best friends (Tibby, Lena, Carmen & Bridget) who buy a mysterious pair of pants that fits each of them, despite their differing sizes, and makes whoever wears them feel fabulous. When faced with the prospect of spending their first summer apart, the pals decide they'll swap the pants so that each girl in turn can enjoy the magic.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 64000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 119 min
Plot tags: romantic, feel good, teen, touching, cute, semi serious, humorous, romantic comedy, light, sad
Similar in 86%
Uptown Girls (2003)
Plot Summary:
Molly Gunn, the freewheeling daughter of a deceased rock legend, is forced to get a job when her manager steals her money. As nanny for precocious Ray, the oft ignored daughter of a music executive she learns what it means to be an adult while teaching Ray how to be a child.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 42000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: romantic, touching, feel good, funny, inspirational, sweet, teen, sentimental, light, emotional
Similar in 80%
Mystic Pizza (1988)
Plot Summary:
Three teenage girls come of age while working at a pizza parlor in Mystic Connecticut.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 32000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: light, sentimental, sweet, melancholic, feel good, touching, humorous, realistic, semi serious, teen
Similar in 86%
Terms of Endearment (1983)
Plot Summary:
Aurora and Emma are mother and daughter who march to different drummers. Beginning with Emma's marriage, Aurora shows how difficult and loving she can be. The movie covers several years of their lives as each finds different reasons to go on living and find joy. Aurora's interludes with Garrett Breedlove, retired astronaut and next door neighbor are quite striking.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 64000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 132 min
Plot tags: tear jerker, touching, emotional, sad, heartbreaking, sentimental, compassionate, romantic, crying, realistic
Similar in 81%
While You Were Sleeping (1995)
Plot Summary:
A love story built on a misunderstanding. A transit worker pulls commuter Peter off the tracks after he's mugged. But while he's in a coma, his family mistakenly thinks she's Peter's fiancée, and she doesn't correct them. Things get more complicated when she falls for his brother, who's not quite sure that she's who she claims to be.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 111000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags: romantic, sweet, light, sentimental, feel good, romantic comedy, cute, touching, witty, heartbreaking
Similar in 86%
The Notebook (2004)
Plot Summary:
An epic love story centered around an older man who reads aloud to a woman with Alzheimer's. From a faded notebook, the old man's words bring to life the story about a couple who is separated by World War II, and is then passionately reunited, seven years later, after they have taken different paths.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 605000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 123 min
Plot tags: touching, romantic, emotional, sentimental, sweet, sad, tear jerker, inspirational, motivational, feel good
Similar in 75%
How to Make an American Quilt (1995)
Plot Summary:
Soon-to-be-wed graduate student Finn Dodd develops cold feet when she suspects her fiancé is cheating on her. In order to clear her head, Finn visits her grandmother, Hy, and great aunt, Glady Joe Cleary, in Grasse, Calif. There, Finn learns that Hy and Glady Joe are members of a group of passionate quilters, and over the course of her visit she is regaled with tales of love and life by women who have collected rich experiences and much wisdom.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 12000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 117 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, light, emotional, sweet, melancholic, talky, sincere, humorous, semi serious
Similar in 80%
Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood (2002)
Plot Summary:
A mother and daughter dispute is resolved by the "Yaya sisterhood" - long time friends of the mother.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 21000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 116 min
Plot tags: touching, sentimental, emotional, intense, sincere, captivating, funny, gothic, feel good, independent film
Similar in 86%
Stepmom (1998)
Plot Summary:
Jackie is a divorced mother of two. Isabel is the career minded girlfriend of Jackie’s ex-husband Luke, forced into the role of unwelcome stepmother to their children. But when Jackie discovers she is ill, both women realise they must put aside their differences to find a common ground and celebrate life to the fullest, while they have the chance.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 73000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 125 min
Plot tags: sentimental, sad, inspirational, touching, emotional, tear jerker, heartbreaking, romantic, romantic comedy, depressing
Similar in 82%
Little Women (1994)
Plot Summary:
With their father away as a chaplain in the Civil War, Jo, Meg, Beth and Amy grow up with their mother in somewhat reduced circumstances. They are a close family who inevitably have their squabbles and tragedies. But the bond holds even when, later, male friends start to become a part of the household.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 62000
Genere: Drama, Family, Romance
Country: USA, Canada
Duration: 115 min
Plot tags: sentimental, uplifting, costume drama, period piece, tear jerker, sad, touching, serious, depressing, sex comedy
Similar in 89%
Fried Green Tomatoes (1991)
Plot Summary:
Amidst her own personality crisis, southern housewife Evelyn Couch meets Ninny, an outgoing old woman who tells her the story of Idgie Threadgoode and Ruth Jamison, two young women who experienced hardships and love in Whistle Stop, Alabama in the 1920s.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 80000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 130 min
Plot tags: feel good, sentimental, touching, captivating, inspirational, sad, tear jerker, heartbreaking, emotional, realistic
Similar in 83%
Mrs. Doubtfire (1993)
Plot Summary:
Loving but irresponsible dad Daniel Hillard, estranged from his exasperated spouse, is crushed by a court order allowing only weekly visits with his kids. When Daniel learns his ex needs a housekeeper, he gets the job -- disguised as an English nanny. Soon he becomes not only his children's best pal but the kind of parent he should have been from the start.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 285000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 125 min
Plot tags: feel good, touching, funny, hilarious, light, sentimental, romantic, sweet, romantic comedy, clever