Best movies like The Misfortunates
Last updated March 2024
Looking for movies like The Misfortunates? Provide your knowledge to direct others towards films and tv series you've seen before that they may enjoy also. Assist in enlarging the group of people proposing videos to each other. We appreciate your input!
Plot Summary:
13-year-old Gunther Strobbe grows up surrounded by alcohol, trash and his completely useless father and uncles. Slowly but surely, he's being prepared for the same hapless life. Can he defy his destiny?.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 11000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: Belgium, Netherlands
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: sincere, touching, semi serious, sentimental, humorous, realistic, dark comedy, epic, disturbing, comedy drama
Best tv shows and movies like The Misfortunates (2009):
Similar in 87%
Tricks (2007)
Plot Summary:
Six-year-old Stefek challenges fate. He believes that setting a chain of events in motion will help him get closer to his father who left his mother. His sister helps him bribe fate with small sacrifices, but things go wrong and then Stefek tries a very risky trick.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: Poland
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: feel good, humorous, touching, realistic, semi serious, sentimental
Similar in 88%
The First Beautiful Thing (2010)
Plot Summary:
The film tells the story of the Michelucci family, from the nineteen-seventies to the present day: the central character is the stunningly beautiful Anna, the lively, frivolous and sometimes embarrassing mother of Bruno and Valeria. Everything begins in the Summer of 1971, at the annual Summer beauty pageant held at Livorno’s most popular bathing establishment. Anna is unexpectedly crowned “Most Beautiful Mother”, unwittingly stirring the violent jealousy of her husband. From then on, chaos strikes the family and for Anna, Bruno and his sister Valeria, it is the start of an adventure that will only end thirty years later. Bruno ends up living in Milan after managing to escape from Livorno and his mother. He will return to his hometown at the end of the film to be at his mother’s side during her very last days.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: Italy
Duration: 122 min
Plot tags: sincere, humorous, captivating, realistic, semi serious, psychological, sexy, sentimental, complex
Similar in 76%
So Happy Together (2009)
Plot Summary:
Famille : Groupe de personnes réunies par des liens de parenté et un fort sentiment de solidarité morale et matérielle. Quand Alain a épousé Nathalie, il ne savait pas qu'il épouserait aussi sa famille. Ce samedi, comme toutes les semaines, ils sont invités à dîner chez son beau-frère, Jean-Pierre à Créteil. C'est vrai, Alain en a marre de ces dîners familiaux, mais il ne sait pas encore ce qui l'attend véritablement ce soir-là... Ni les jours qui suivent.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: France
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: humorous, semi serious, realistic, cynical, witty
Similar in 79%
Bonjour Monsieur Shlomi (2003)
Plot Summary:
16 years old Shlomi lives with his restless mother, his soldier brother and their ill grandfather. Although not doing well in school, Shlomi is a gifted cook and takes care of most household chores. One day, the school's principal finds out Shlomi is actually a genius and tries to get him into a more suitable curriculum. However, Shlomi is more interested in taking care of his family and his new love interest, the beautiful girl next door.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, Comedy
Country: Israel
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, feel good, humorous, sincere, uplifting, realistic, semi serious
Similar in 84%
Daddy Longlegs (2009)
Plot Summary:
After months of living a solitary existence, Lenny, 34, picks up his kids from school. Every year he spends a couple of weeks with his sons Sage, 9, and Frey, 7. Lenny hosts his kids within a midtown studio apartment in New York City. During these two weeks, he must figure out if he wants to act as their father or be their friend. Ultimately, their trip upstate results in complete lawlessness taking over their lives.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: France, USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: mumblecore, humorous, semi serious, sincere, realistic, inspirational, independent film, sentimental
Similar in 75%
The Summer of Flying Fish (2013)
Plot Summary:
Manena is the headstrong adolescent daughter of Pancho, a rich Chilean landowner who devotes his vacation to one thing : the invasion of his artificial lagoon by carps. While he employs increasingly radical methods, Manena has her first romantic experiences and hearbreak - and discovers a silent world in the shadow of her own : that of the Mapuche Indians who demand access to the land and clash with her father.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 285
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: Chile, France
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: touching, humorous, semi serious, realistic, sincere, captivating, light, suspenseful, exciting
Similar in 83%
The Best Thief in the World (2004)
Plot Summary:
Izzy, the youngest son of a troubled New York family, takes a shine to breaking into people's apartments as a way to get attention.
IMDB Rating: 5.1
IMDB Votes: 544
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: sincere, touching, emotional, realistic, independent film, humorous, semi serious
Similar in 76%
Popular Music (2004)
Plot Summary:
Two boys grow up together in town of Pajala at 60's united by rock-n-roll music.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: Sweden, Finland, Denmark
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: humorous, touching, sentimental, atmospheric, realistic, semi serious, funny, road movie, sexy, clever
Similar in 81%
The Happiest Girl in the World (2009)
Plot Summary:
Delia, a young Romanian girl, comes to Bucharest with her parents to collect a prize she has won in a contest organized by a soft-drinks company. The prize is a beautiful new car. All Delia has to do now is appear in front of the camera in a commercial. All goes well until it becomes clear that Delia and her parents have very different ideas about what to do with the new car. Meanwhile, the contest's sponsor needs a radiant prize-winner with a gleaming smile. A wicked satire and a psychological portrait of a society perverted by its slavery to capitalism and consumerism.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: Romania, Netherlands, France, Japan
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: sincere, serious, captivating, realistic, atmospheric, gloomy
Similar in 75%
Lost in Yonkers (1993)
Plot Summary:
In the summer of 1942 two young boys are sent to stay with their stern grandmother Kurnitz and their childlike aunt Bella in Yonkers, New York.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 114 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, psychological, feel good, humorous, realistic, semi serious, funny, light, sexy
Similar in 83%
Jack the Bear (1993)
Plot Summary:
Story of the relationships between two sons and their father, who moves the family to California and becomes a tv horror show host after the death of his wife.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, emotional, scary, uplifting, epic, psychological, humorous, realistic, semi serious
Similar in 85%
Accidents Happen (2009)
Plot Summary:
There are dysfunctional families... and then there are the Conways. After a family tragedy, 15-year-old Billy Conway has become the de facto glue between his bitter mom, distant brother, and stoic dad. But when Billy starts to act out, everything changes for him and his family.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: Australia, UK
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: touching, semi serious, clever, humorous, realistic, black comedy, dark comedy, inspirational, family saga
Similar in 75%
The Motel (2005)
Plot Summary:
Thirteen-year-old Ernest Chin lives and works at a sleazy hourly-rate motel on a strip of desolate suburban bi-way. Misunderstood by his family and blindly careening into puberty, Ernest befriends Sam Kim, a self-destructive yet charismatic Korean man who has checked in. Sam teaches the fatherless boy all the rites of manhood.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 75 min
Plot tags: humorous, semi serious, sincere, touching, realistic, independent film
Similar in 84%
With Friends Like These (2007)
Plot Summary:
When Black Kelly gets back from New York, she discovers that more has changed than just her hair color while she's been away. Frederic found himself a girlfriend and plans to move. Kurt and Blonde Kelly live together with their one-year-old child. And Patrick's gone. Reunited with the old gang, Black Kelly realizes that life went on during her absence and that things will never be the same.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: Belgium
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, semi serious, humorous, realistic, contemplative
Similar in 75%
True Adolescents (2009)
Plot Summary:
At 34, struggling Seattle musician Sam finds himself broke, jobless and losing touch with the person he wants to become. When his girlfriend kicks him out, he's forced to crash with his Aunt Sharon and is reluctantly enlisted to take her teen son, Oliver, and his friend Jake camping.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 776
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: touching, humorous, realistic, semi serious, mumblecore, indie film, talky, independent film
Similar in 79%
As Cool as I Am (2013)
Plot Summary:
A smart teenage girl comes of age in a small town with her self-centered parents who had her when they were teenagers.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: touching, humorous, semi serious, realistic, independent film, vintage
Similar in 86%
Isn't It Delicious (2013)
Plot Summary:
When Joan Weldon discovers she is dying of lung cancer, she sets out to reconcile her dysfunctional relationships with her three children, her husband, and along the way, her former best friend. The family's destructive ways are offset by messy and somewhat humorous attempts by Joan to set her children on the right course before she dies. In this big dysfunctional mix, they will all learn to connect in their own ways, and realize on their own terms what life is about.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 70
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: sincere, touching, humorous, realistic, semi serious, independent film, dark comedy
Similar in 82%
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
Similar in 75%
Two-Bit Waltz (2014)
Plot Summary:
Suspension from school, the loss of a friend, a broken heart and lack of inspiration lead to Maude's downfall in this romp through teenage error. Your teenage years are never easy… but for Maude, things couldn't be worse. Within one week, she is suspended from school, stranded by her best friend, dumped by the boy she loved and inherits an enormous amount of money with the passing of her grandmother– only to be claimed under one condition: Maude must prove by age 18 that she knows exactly what to do with her life. But with her 18th birthday rapidly approaching, Maude must dive into a world of self-discovery or else lose the inheritance.
IMDB Rating: 5.0
IMDB Votes: 455
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 81 min
Plot tags: semi serious, sentimental, humorous, realistic, witty, stylized, clever, offbeat, independent film
Similar in 75%
Rolling Family (2004)
Plot Summary:
A wedding invite from an estranged sibiling inspires a grandmother to assemble her family and embark on a roadtrip in a broken down caravan.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: Argentina, Brazil, France, Germany, Spain, UK
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags: road movie, touching, semi serious, feel good, humorous, realistic, offbeat
Similar in 89%
Manhood (2003)
Plot Summary:
A black comedy about a reformed womanizer who struggles to keep his family together.
IMDB Rating: 5.2
IMDB Votes: 293
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 82 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, humorous, emotional, realistic, semi serious
Similar in 89%
Soft Fruit (1999)
Plot Summary:
For the first time in 15 years, all four siblings in a family show up to care for their dying mother, who is only given a couple of weeks to live. One comes from America with her two children. A divorced sister also comes with her child and sneaks off regularly to meet a mystery man who may be her ex-husband. The third & youngest daughter is an unmarried nurse aware of her ticking biological clock. The only son chases after his grumpy father who seems to not care a whit about his wife's circumstances. The four are also faced my their mother's dreams to accomplish a few things before she dies - to visit a beach she had visited in the past, to see her youngest married, and to visit Paris. She also wants to be embalmed and be honored with a 21 gun salute. Thus the whole group has to set off in the quest to fulfill their mother's wishes.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 566
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: Australia, USA
Duration: 101 min
Plot tags: humorous, independent film, black comedy, sentimental, touching, offbeat, realistic, semi serious, dark comedy, erotic
Similar in 84%
Kryptonite! (2011)
Plot Summary:
Set in 1970s Naples, bullied nine year-old Peppino is watching the world around him as his extended dysfunctional family change. Psychedelic flower power and hippie love is threatening the old traditional southern Italian family. Dad is having an affair and Mom has taken to her bed with depression. Super-mod brother and sister Titina and Salvatore take the boy under their wings, introducing him to demonstrations and love-ins, whilst caped superhero Gennaro visits Peppino even after being knocked down and killed by the number 12 bus. It is the imaginary appearances of this older superman cousin that help the nine-year-old navigate the complicated adult world.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 695
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: Italy
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: semi serious, sentimental, touching, humorous, realistic
Similar in 85%
West Is West (2010)
Plot Summary:
Comedy sequel to "East is East". Manchester, North of England, 1975. The now much diminished, but still claustrophobic and dysfunctional, Khan family continues to struggle for survival. Sajid, the youngest Khan, the runt of the litter, is deep in pubescent crisis under heavy assault both from his father's tyrannical insistence on Pakistani tradition, and from the fierce bullies in the schoolyard. So, in a last, desperate attempt to 'sort him out', his father decides to pack him off to Mrs Khan No 1 and family in the Punjab, the wife and daughters he had abandoned 35 years earlier. It is not long before Ella Khan (Mrs Khan No2) with a small entourage from Salford, England, swiftly follows to sort out the mess, past and present.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags: touching, feel good, humorous, witty, sentimental, semi serious, realistic
Similar in 76%
The Best Things in the World (2010)
Plot Summary:
Everyday family life as perfectly normal madness. “As Melhores Coisas do Mundo“ follows a few days in the life of the 15-year-old Mano, who is fighting on two fronts: his parents have just got divorced and he is going through puberty. Mano tries to make his way through life, with its first sexual experiences, his depressed brother and his self-centered parents. It’s a humorous homage to the pitfalls of daily life and the diversity of life.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: Brazil
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, humorous, semi serious, captivating, spectacular, realistic, queer cinema
Similar in 77%
Two Shots Fired (2014)
Plot Summary:
One early morning, at the beginning of a very hot summer, Mariano, a sixteen-year-old teenager, returns home, jumps into the pool and does some laps with a stopwatch. Then he gets out and mows the lawn, where he accidentally cuts the mower’s power cord when he runs over it. Set on fixing it, he goes to find tools but stumbles across a gun that he brings back to his room to shoot himself twice. But Mariano survives: one bullet just grazed his head and the other one, he believes, is stuck somewhere inside his body even if the doctors can’t find it anywhere, nor any exit wound for that matter. The only aftereffect he seems to have is a mysterious double-note when he plays music with his friends, which according to him is probably the result of the bullet still being inside him. But Mariano’s impulsive act will have other consequences on the people surrounding him….
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 669
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: Argentina, Chile, Germany, Netherlands
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: semi serious, realistic, disturbing, offbeat, humorous
Similar in 81%
Papa Was Not a Rolling Stone (2014)
Plot Summary:
The 1980s. Stéphanie grows up in La Courneuve, on the outskirts of Paris, in a home where her mother is rarely there and her step-father is brutal. She quickly decides to escape her morose everyday life. Thanks to her grandmother's love, reading, her passion for dance, and for French pop-star Jean-Jacques Goldman, Stéphanie copes in this colorful neighborhood where friendship is primordial. One day, she knows that she'll leave this place to lead the life she's always dreamed of.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 159
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Music
Country: France
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: sentimental, sincere, touching, humorous, semi serious, realistic
Similar in 80%
The Debut (2000)
Plot Summary:
Filipino-American high school student Ben (Dante Mercado) works in a comic book shop to earn money to pay his way into Cal Arts. His father, a postman, is determined that his son--who has won a pre-med scholarship to UCLA--will become a doctor. The eighteenth birthday party of Ben's sister, Rose, sets off a comedic and touching series of events and family struggles that will in turn determine young Ben's future. This fresh independent production from Gene Cajayon presents a lighthearted and warm coming-of-age tale filtered through the eyes of an American subculture rarely seen on film.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 686
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: humorous, semi serious, touching, realistic, witty, independent film
Similar in 84%
Kick'n Rush (2003)
Plot Summary:
The story revolves around Jakob, Bo and Mikkel - three friends who spend their days lusting over unattainable women and engaging in a variety of illegal activities (i.e. they'll rent a movie and then break into a house to watch it). After he's assigned to work with Mathilde on a school project, Jakob finds himself falling for the girl - despite the fact that Mikkel has been secretly lusting after her for years.
IMDB Rating: 4.6
IMDB Votes: 502
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: Denmark
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: realistic, humorous, semi serious
Similar in 77%
Housekeeping (1987)
Plot Summary:
In the Pacific Northwest during the 1950s, two young sisters whose mother has abandoned them wind up living with their Aunt Sylvie, whose views of the world and its conventions don't quite live up to most people's expectations.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 116 min
Plot tags: sad, atmospheric, realistic, thought provoking, sentimental, touching, feel good, humorous, semi serious, light