Best movies like The Boost
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
Lenny Brown moves to California to find his fortune in tax shelter investments. When the federal government changes the tax laws, poor Lenny finds himself $700,000 in hock with nowhere to turn. His friend, Joel, introduces him to cocaine to give Lenny that needed "boost". What ensues next is a descent into drug addiction and insanity as Lenny tries to regain control of his life, all the while needing that extra "boost".
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: bleak, independent film, touching, serious, realistic, gloomy, neo noir, psychological, depressing, unusual plot structure
Best tv shows and movies like The Boost (1988):
Similar in 85%
Torchlight (1984)
Plot Summary:
A happy marriage turns sour when the husband becomes addicted to cocaine.
IMDB Rating: 3.8
IMDB Votes: 151
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: independent film
Similar in 83%
Fine Things (1990)
Plot Summary:
Standard romantic melodrama from novelist Danielle Steele finds a couple embroiled in marital conflict with a nasty child-custody battle at its center.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 434
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 150 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic
Similar in 86%
Women and Men: Stories of Seduction (1990)
Plot Summary:
This trio of tales, based on classic short stories, chronicles the complicated relations between the sexes. In "The Man in the Brooks Brothers Shirt," salesman Gerry seduces train traveler Viki. Then, in "Dusk Before Fireworks," a night of romance between Hobie and Kit goes bad when the phone keeps ringing. Finally, in "Hills Like White Elephants," Robert discovers Hadley is pregnant.
IMDB Rating: 5.2
IMDB Votes: 348
Genere: Romance, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 83 min
Plot tags: anthology, touching, serious, realistic, stylized, gloomy
Similar in 80%
My Name Is Joe (1998)
Plot Summary:
Two thirtysomethings, unemployed former alcoholic Joe and community health worker Sarah, start a romantic relationship in the one of the toughest Glasgow neighbourhoods.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 9000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: UK, Germany, France, Spain
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: touching, realistic, thought provoking, serious, contemplative, gloomy, social, independent film, enigmatic, feel good
Similar in 78%
Leona Helmsley: The Queen of Mean (1990)
Plot Summary:
Spanning years of both Harry and Leona Helmsley's cutthroat control of their eponymonous empire, this made-for-TV movie chronicles both the high and low points of the couple's life together.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 286
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: sincere, serious, realistic, cynical
Similar in 80%
Millennium Mambo (2001)
Plot Summary:
Taipei. A voice off-camera looks back ten years to 2000, when Vicky was in an on-again off-again relationship with Hao-Hao.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Taiwan, France
Duration: 119 min
Plot tags: realistic, contemplative, touching, art house, aesthetic, tense, captivating, suspenseful, slow cinema, serious
Similar in 87%
Go Ask Alice (1973)
Plot Summary:
A 14-year-old girl in late 1960's America is inadvertently sucked into an odyssey of sex and drugs. She eventually seeks help.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 74 min
Plot tags: psychedelic, sincere, touching, bleak, serious, emotional, realistic, gloomy
Similar in 82%
Being Charlie (2015)
Plot Summary:
Charlie is a troublesome 18-year-old who breaks out of a youth drug treatment clinic, but when he returns home to Los Angeles, he's given an intervention by his parents and forced to go to an adult rehab. There, he meets a beautiful but troubled girl, Eva, and is forced to battle with drugs, elusive love and divided parents.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: touching, melancholic, sentimental, sincere, thought provoking, sad, freeze frame, exciting
Similar in 85%
Courage (1986)
Plot Summary:
A mother in Queens, New York, is so angered when she discovers that her son is a drug addict that she becomes an undercover agent for the DEA to clean up the drug trade in her neighborhood. Based on a true story.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 173
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 150 min
Plot tags: uplifting, serious, emotional, realistic
Similar in 79%
A Brother's Kiss (1997)
Plot Summary:
Two brothers, Lex and younger Mick, are living in Harlem. Mick is a policeman, and Lex, who spent youth years in reformatory because of injustice after he confronted the cop who tried to sodomize Mick on the street, is living with his wife Debbie trying to make ends meet and failing. One day Lex calls Mick - he has a problem.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 412
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: emotional, touching, serious, rough, bleak, erotic, independent film, realistic, gloomy
Similar in 87%
Most High (2004)
Plot Summary:
When Julius (Marty Sader) loses his girlfriend, his job and the life of his pseudo father, Jack, his itch for a "quick fix" suffocates his ambitions and takes him on a trip through the disturbing addiction of crystal meth. Julius confides in Erica (Laura Keys), who lures him into her erratic lifestyle, and their crazy romance brings him terrifying hallucinations and isolation as he learns that hedonism will not eliminate his pain.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 294
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: psychological, rough, serious, realistic, bleak, gloomy
Similar in 77%
Cocaine Angel (2006)
Plot Summary:
A week in the life of a young drug addict.
IMDB Rating: 5.2
IMDB Votes: 323
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 75 min
Plot tags: realistic, serious, psychological, captivating, mumblecore, independent film, sincere, witty, gloomy
Similar in 81%
I'm Dancing as Fast as I Can (1982)
Plot Summary:
An adaptation of Barbara Gordon's nonfiction account of her addiction to Valium.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 556
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 107 min
Plot tags: thought provoking, sincere, serious, realistic, gloomy
Similar in 82%
Clean and Sober (1988)
Plot Summary:
Hotshot real estate salesman Daryl has a bad cocaine habit. After embezzling his company's money, he wakes up next to a girl who overdosed. To hide from the police, he checks into a rehabilitation program guaranteeing anonymity. Under the mentorship of counselor Craig, Daryl accepts that he has a substance abuse problem. As he falls in love with fellow patient Charlie, Daryl begins committing to a newly sober life.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 124 min
Plot tags: realistic, touching, emotional, compassionate, melancholic, sincere, serious, psychological, depressing, spiritual
Similar in 82%
Big Sur (2013)
Plot Summary:
Big Sur is a film adaptation of the Jack Kerouac autobiographical novel of the same name.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 81 min
Plot tags: sincere, realistic, serious, captivating, independent film
Similar in 89%
In My Pocket (2011)
Plot Summary:
A harrowing journey down the dark spiral of drug addiction. As Stephen Jameson's carefully constructed life slowly falls apart, his belief system is shattered when he discovers that he's no longer the functioning addict that he once was.
IMDB Rating: 4.8
IMDB Votes: 234
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, psychological, atmospheric, captivating, independent film
Similar in 87%
Jungle Fever (1991)
Plot Summary:
A successful and married black man contemplates having an affair with a white girl from work. He's quite rightly worried that the racial difference would make an already taboo relationship even worse.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 19000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 132 min
Plot tags: sexy, serious, emotional, realistic, controversial, hood, sentimental, captivating, scary, touching
Similar in 85%
Bright Lights, Big City (1988)
Plot Summary:
A young kid from Kansas moves to New York to work on a magazine. He gets caught up in the world of drink and drugs, and starts a steady decline. The only hope is the cousin of one of his drinking partners, can she pull him through it ?.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 9000
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan, USA
Duration: 107 min
Plot tags: intense, serious, sentimental, touching, bleak, realistic, stylized, unusual plot structure, suspense, melancholic
Similar in 88%
Smashed (2012)
Plot Summary:
Kate and Charlie like to have a good time. Their marriage thrives on a shared fondness for music, laughter… and getting smashed. When Kate’s partying spirals into hard-core asocial behavior, compromising her job as an elementary schoolteacher, something’s got to give. But change isn’t exactly a cakewalk. Sobriety means she will have to confront the lies she’s been spinning at work, her troubling relationship with her mother, and the nature of her bond with Charlie.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 18000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 81 min
Plot tags: sincere, depressing, touching, realistic, indie film, sentimental, spiritual, mumblecore, cute, informative
Similar in 76%
My Name Is Bill W. (1989)
Plot Summary:
Based on the true story of Bill W. (James Woods), a successful stock broker whose life falls apart after the stock crash of the 20's and how he comes to grips with his alcoholism. Along with a fellow alcoholic (James Garner) he forms a support group that would eventually become Alcoholics Anonymous.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: touching, realistic, sincere, uplifting, thought provoking, serious, spiritual, contemplative
Similar in 90%
Drunks (1995)
Plot Summary:
At the beginning of a nightly Alcoholics Anonymous meeting, Jim seems particularly troubled. His sponsor encourages him to talk that night, the first time in seven months, so he does - and leaves the meeting right after. As Jim wanders the night, searching for some solace in his old stomping grounds, bars and parks where he bought drugs, the meeting goes on, and we hear the stories of survivors and addicts - some, like Louis, who claim to have wandered in looking for choir practice, who don't call themselves alcoholic, and others, like Joseph, whose drinking almost caused the death of his child - as they talk about their lives at the meeting.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: independent film, realistic, talky, spiritual, sincere, serious, emotional, thought provoking, clever, depressing
Similar in 87%
Sweet Nothing (1995)
Plot Summary:
Angel celebrates the birth of his daughter by taking his first hit of crack cocaine. With the hesitant support of his wife, Monika, he joins a friend of his to deal drugs for a short time--enough time to get out of debt and buy some nice things for the family. Three years later, Angel is still dealing, and has not saved any money, instead spending it on crack. His addiction grows, straining his friendship and his family life, and he gradually loses control.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 580
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: melancholic, realistic, serious, independent film, crying, bleak, gloomy, weeping, light, road movie
Similar in 85%
When a Man Loves a Woman (1994)
Plot Summary:
An airline pilot and his wife are forced to face the consequences of her alcoholism when her addictions threaten her life and their daughter's safety. While the woman enters detox, her husband must face the truth of his enabling behavior.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 23000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 126 min
Plot tags: sentimental, emotional, romantic, intense, psychological, touching, sad, retro, spiritual, romantic drama
Similar in 82%
The Rose (1979)
Plot Summary:
Midler is the rock-and-roll singer Mary Rose Foster (known as the Rose to her legions of fans), whose romantic relationships and mental health are continuously imperiled by the demands of life on the road.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 9000
Genere: Drama, Music, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 125 min
Plot tags: retro, sincere, touching, serious, captivating, emotional, realistic, gloomy, sentimental, light
Similar in 85%
The Panic in Needle Park (1971)
Plot Summary:
This movie is a stark portrayal of life among a group of heroin addicts who hang out in Needle Park in New York City. Played against this setting is a low-key love story between Bobby, a young addict and small-time hustler, and Helen, a homeless girl who finds in her relationship with Bobby the stability she craves.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 20000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: depressing, disturbing, bleak, rough, serious, controversial, grim, cult classic, realistic, dark
Similar in 76%
Acts of Worship (2001)
Plot Summary:
Alix is taken in by a photographer, Digna, who despite her friends' protests, tries to help Alix piece her life back together and overcome her addictions.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 316
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: rough, serious, realistic, disturbing, bleak, gloomy
Similar in 80%
Zooey (2006)
Plot Summary:
Angel and Zooey are not your typical newlyweds. Zooey is a professional prostitute and Angel is a drug dealer. Yet they are not without hopes and dreams, of escaping their life in the streets and starting a new in a fresh painted cottage with picked fence, kid and a dog, in Manitoba, Canada, Life gets in the way however when their best friend gets in trouble with her pimp. They sacrifice everything to save her, including their own dreams.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 70
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags: rough, serious, realistic, bleak, gloomy
Similar in 76%
Dangerous Game (1993)
Plot Summary:
A New York film director, working on his latest movie in Los Angeles, begins to reflect the actions in his movie and real life, especially when he begins an affair with the lead actress.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama
Country: Italy, USA
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: psychological, sexy, melancholic, erotic, rough, art house, independent film, erotic drama, bleak, serious
Similar in 90%
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 78%
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