Best movies like The Watsons Go to Birmingham
Last updated March 2024
Looking for movies like The Watsons Go to Birmingham? Provide your insights to direct others to films and tv shows you've watched already that may also enthral them. Help expand the group of people raising videos amongst one another. We welcome your participation!
Plot Summary:
In the Summer of 1963, Flint, Michigan is home to the Watsons, a close knit family. When 15 year-old Byron’s antics go over the top, his parents realize enough is enough and they decide the family needs a dose of Grandma Sands' no nonsense approach in Birmingham, Alabama. So the Watsons load up their 1948 Plymouth Brown Bomber and head South. When they finally make it to Birmingham, they meet Grandma Sands and her friend, Mr. Robert and discover that life is very different there than in Flint. During that historic summer, the Watsons find themselves caught up in something far bigger than Byron’s antics; something that will change their lives and country forever.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 792
Genere: Drama, Family, History
Country: USA
Duration: 87 min
Plot tags: captivating, realistic, sincere, humorous, family saga, sad, semi serious
Best tv shows and movies like The Watsons Go to Birmingham (2013):
Similar in 79%
A Perfect Day (2006)
Plot Summary:
A family man is warned he has only forty days to live.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, Family
Country: USA
Duration: 87 min
Plot tags: captivating, emotional, sentimental, light, realistic, semi serious
Similar in 85%
Out of the Woods (2005)
Plot Summary:
Matt, a self-absorbed young attorney, goes to visit his grandfather - an eccentric recluse who lives in the backwoods without gas, electricity, or phone - to convince him not to give away his estate as he plans to do. But in the end, it is Matt who is convinced to make some life changes. Jason London and Ed Asner star. When a woman needs someone to look after her aging father (Ed Asner), her irresponsible son isn't her first choice. Matt (Jason London) can't get his career, love life, or wallet in order, so how can he be expected to check in on his grandfather? But desperation leads Matt to visit his grandfather at his home in the middle of nowhere. For Matt, this barebones life takes some adjustment, but then he meets a single mother who helps him learn about the simple life.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 375
Genere: Family, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 87 min
Plot tags: touching, humorous, realistic, semi serious, sentimental, feel good
Similar in 86%
Raspberry Magic (2010)
Plot Summary:
Eleven-year-old Monica Shah is a brainy schoolgirl whose science fair project about growing raspberries becomes a touching emotional crusade. After her dad leaves and her mother falls into a funk, Monica decides it's her job to rescue the family.
IMDB Rating: 5.0
IMDB Votes: 191
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Family
Country: USA
Duration: 82 min
Plot tags: sentimental, sincere, humorous, captivating, sad, touching, serious, realistic
Similar in 76%
Brahmin Bulls (2013)
Plot Summary:
When Ashok makes a surprise visit to Los Angeles to visit his estranged son, the two begin a journey to mend their relationship until Sid discovers that his father has actually come in search of an old flame. A heartfelt and humorous exploration of the ever-evolving relationship between a father and son, the women in their lives, and the powerful secrets they keep.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 112
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: sincere, realistic, semi serious, tense, captivating
Similar in 84%
As Summers Die (1986)
Plot Summary:
Set in a sleepy Southern Louisiana town in 1959, a lawyer, searches for justice as he volunteers to help a black woman whose property is being threatened by the Holts, the first family of the town, after she refuses to sell her valuable land.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 853
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 87 min
Plot tags: political, touching, serious, captivating, realistic, independent film
Similar in 79%
Spencer's Mountain (1963)
Plot Summary:
Clay Spencer is a hard-working man who loves his wife and large family. He is respected by his neighbors and always ready to give them a helping hand. Although not a churchgoer, he even helps a newly arrived local minister regain his flock after he and Clay get into a bit of trouble. If he has one dream in life it's to build his wife Olivia a beautiful house on a piece of land he inherited on Spender's mountain. When his eldest son, Clayboy, graduates at the top of his high school class and has the opportunity to go to college, Clay has only one option left to him.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, Family
Country: USA
Duration: 118 min
Plot tags: emotional, talky, intense, touching, humorous, sentimental, feel good, retro, heartfelt, realistic
Similar in 78%
Blood Done Sign My Name (2010)
Plot Summary:
A drama based on the true story in which a black Vietnam-era veteran is allegedly murdered by a local white businessman who is later exonerated. The plot focuses on the role of a local high school teacher and the civil unrest that followed the acquittal.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 635
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 128 min
Plot tags: disturbing, serious, captivating, realistic, thought provoking, tense, bleak, contemplative, entertaining
Similar in 82%
A Raisin in the Sun (2008)
Plot Summary:
Dreams can make a life worth living, but they can also be dashed by bad decisions. This is the crossroads whare the Younger family find themselves when their father passes away and leaves them with $10,000 in life insurance money. Should they buy a new home for the family? Perhaps a liquor store? While no choice is easy, life on the South Side of Chicago in the 1950s is even harder.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 131 min
Plot tags: sentimental, sincere, emotional, uplifting, touching, serious, family saga, captivating, realistic
Similar in 84%
White Water (2015)
Plot Summary:
White Water is the story of a 7 year-old black kid in segregated 1963 Opelika, Alabama who becomes obsessed with the desire to taste the water from the "white's only" drinking fountain and sets out on a quest to do the unthinkable: drink from it.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 209
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 84 min
Plot tags: touching, sentimental, serious, suspenseful, realistic
Similar in 79%
Booky's Crush (2009)
Plot Summary:
The Thomsons - parents Thomas and Francie, and children Willa, Arthur, Beatrice (nicknamed Booky) and Jakey - are a loving working class family living in the Depression era in Toronto. Arthur is showing aptitude in drawing, and although his parents want to support his skill, Thomas in particular wants him to take up a vocation that is a little more stable. Willa, the part time librarian, is attracted to Russell, the medical student she meets at the library. And 11-year old Booky is happy that she has been asked to tutor the new older sixth grade student, Georgie Dunlop, in spelling, since she has a crush on him, her first ever. She just can't wait for him to ask her to the school dance. But she begins to have mixed feelings about Georgie based on a gift he gives to her. Digging a little deeper, Booky begins to understand both the good and bad of Georgie.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 144
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: sentimental, sincere, touching, feel good, humorous, realistic, semi serious
Similar in 90%
Mooz-lum (2010)
Plot Summary:
Thanks to a strict Muslim upbringing that largely shielded him from the outside world, Tariq's first year of college proves transformative. That is, until the 9/11 terrorist attacks invite growing suspicion and distrust from his angry classmates.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, Family
Country: USA
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: uplifting, sincere, thought provoking, emotional, powerful, serious, captivating, realistic, independent film
Similar in 85%
The Sound of the Spirit (2012)
Plot Summary:
Beautiful and precocious Rivka is a twelve-year-old Jewish girl who believes in Jesus. She and her father attend a Messianic Jewish congregation in their community. But when her father suddenly dies, Rivka's life changes forever. She ends up moving in with her traditional Jewish relatives and attending their synagogue. From her stormy relationship with her uncle, to a meeting with the synagogue’s senior rabbi, to the attention of the cutest boy in the synagogue, Rivka learns life lessons that stir her faith to new levels, touching the hearts of those whose lives she has reluctantly impacted. "The Sound of the Spirit" is the never-before-told story of a young girl caught in the crossfire of strong feelings between two faith communities. It’s told with humor, compassion, and grace.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 158
Genere: Drama, Family
Country: USA
Duration: 129 min
Plot tags: serious, touching, realistic, emotional, christian film, independent film
Similar in 80%
Anne of Green Gables: A New Beginning (2008)
Plot Summary:
Anne, now a middle-aged woman, is troubled by recent events in her life. Her husband, Gilbert, has been killed overseas as a medical doctor during World War II. Her two daughters are pre-occupied with their own young families and her adopted son Dominic has yet to return from the war. When a long-hidden secret is discovered under the floorboards at Green Gables, Anne retreats into her memories to relive her troubled early years prior to arriving as an orphan at Green Gables and being adopted by the Cuthberts.
IMDB Rating: 5.1
IMDB Votes: 652
Genere: Drama, Family
Country: Canada
Duration: 144 min
Plot tags: sincere, feel good, captivating, psychological, realistic, serious
Similar in 82%
When I Find the Ocean (2006)
Plot Summary:
A little girl leaves home with her pet dog and rabbit to escape abuse and find the ocean in the hopes of feeling closer to her father who has passed away.
IMDB Rating: 4.3
IMDB Votes: 259
Genere: Drama, Family
Country: USA
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, realistic, sincere, captivating
Similar in 85%
Wishin' and Hopin' (2014)
Plot Summary:
Based on the New York Times best-selling novel by award winning author Wally Lamb. A vivid slice of 1960s life, Wishin' and Hopin' is a wise-and-witty holiday tale that celebrates where we've been-and how far we've come. In the small town of Three Rivers, Connecticut, we go straight into the halls of St. Aloysius Gonzaga Parochial School with Felix Funicello, a Catholic school fifth-grader in 1964, whose claim to fame is his cousin Annette Funicello, the famous Mouseketeer and teen movie queen. But grammar and arithmetic move to the back burner this holiday season with the sudden arrivals of substitute teacher Madame Frechette and feisty Russian student Zhenya Kabakova. While Felix learns the meaning of French kissing, cultural misunderstanding, and tableaux vivants, Wishin' and Hopin' barrels toward one outrageous Christmas!.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 794
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Family
Country: USA
Duration: 87 min
Plot tags: humorous, semi serious, light, sincere, captivating, entertaining, sentimental, touching, realistic
Similar in 85%
Chlorine (2013)
Plot Summary:
In the town of Copper Canyon, people are cashing in on an economic housing boom, and the local country club is buzzing about the investment opportunity. Once vivacious couple, Roger (Vincent D'Onofrio) and Georgie (Kyra Sedgwick), have settled into a complacent lifestyle of mediocrity where their marriage is falling apart and their children are turning away from them. Nonetheless, the desperately discontent Georgie pushes Roger into finding a way to invest in the market bubble in the hopes that their family can be saved with the money they are sure to make. When local tennis pro and part-time drug dealer, Pat (Rhys Coiro), comes to Roger for investment advice, Roger sees his opportunity. Torn by the reality that his family could be saved by this dirty money, Roger finds himself staring down the barrel of a moral conundrum.
IMDB Rating: 4.6
IMDB Votes: 503
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Family
Country: USA
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: cynical, semi serious, humorous, realistic, independent film
Similar in 90%
Booky & the Secret Santa (2007)
Plot Summary:
Booky does everything she can to make an enjoyable Christmas, for her family, during the depression as her father is out of work.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 311
Genere: Drama, Family
Country: Canada
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, realistic, sincere, captivating, feel good, serious
Similar in 80%
Smitty (2012)
Plot Summary:
SMITTY is a family film about a rescue dog. When life gets tough for Ben, a friendly paw is all it takes to pull him through. Mischievous thirteen-year-old Ben is sent to his grandfather's farm for the summer, where he crosses paths with a lovable mutt. With help from the unlikely canine companion, Ben learns the importance of friendship, family and responsibility.
IMDB Rating: 5.4
IMDB Votes: 659
Genere: Drama, Family
Country: USA
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: sincere, captivating, light, feel good, touching, humorous, realistic, semi serious
Similar in 79%
The Christmas Bunny (2010)
Plot Summary:
The Christmas Bunny tells the story of a lonely foster child (Sophie Bolen) who finds a lost, injured rabbit in the woods on Christmas Eve. The rabbit is nursed back to health by The Bunny Lady (Florence Henderson), who runs a rabbit rescue in an old barn behind her Michigan farmhouse.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 854
Genere: Drama, Family
Country: USA
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: sentimental, uplifting, touching, sincere, captivating, light, serious, realistic, gloomy
Similar in 75%
Mayor Cupcake (2011)
Plot Summary:
A hard-working cupcake maker is inadvertently elected mayor of a small town burdened with debt. Uneducated, she relies on her street smarts to clean up the town.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 685
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Family
Country: USA
Duration: 86 min
Plot tags: humorous, sincere, captivating, entertaining, touching, realistic, semi serious, independent film
Similar in 79%
Paper Birds (2010)
Plot Summary:
Jorge and Enrique are two artist in the post Spanish Civil War times that adopt an orphan child called Miguel. With a varieté company that travel around the country, Jorge and Enrique see the horrors left by the war meanwhile the Republic Army watch Jorge and the rest of the company suspecting that some of them collaborate with the rebels opposite to the Francoist Regime.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 786
Genere: Comedy, Drama, History
Country: Spain
Duration: 122 min
Plot tags: humorous, realistic, semi serious, atmospheric, psychological, captivating, touching
Similar in 76%
Selma, Lord, Selma (1999)
Plot Summary:
In 1965 Alabama, an 11 year old girl (Jurnee Smollett) is touched by a speech by Martin Luther King, Jr. (Clifton Powell) and becomes a devout follower. But her resolution is tested when she joins others in the famed march from Selma to Montgomery. This movie is based on the memoir "Selma, Lord, Selma: Girlhood Memories of the Civil Rights Days" by Sheyann Webb and Rachel West Nelson, as told to Frank Sikora, first published in 1980.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 586
Genere: Adventure, Comedy, Drama, Family, Fantasy
Country: USA
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: gothic, sincere, uplifting, thought provoking, touching, serious, captivating, emotional, realistic, contemplative
Similar in 86%
Imaginary Crimes (1994)
Plot Summary:
A recently widowed, small-time hustler struggles to raise his two teenage daughters on his own and still make a dishonest living in 1950s Indiana.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 107 min
Plot tags: touching, emotional, sad, sentimental, sincere, realistic, depressing, contemplative, semi serious, sexy
Similar in 88%
The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman (1974)
Plot Summary:
In February, 1962, as the civil rights movement reaches Bayonne, Louisiana, a New York journalist arrives to interview Jane Pittman, who has just turned 110. She tells him her story dating back to her earliest memories before slavery ended. In between the chapters of her life, the present-day struggles of Blacks in Bayonne, urged on by Jimmy, are dramatized.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, History
Country: USA
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: political, epic, sincere, uplifting, thought provoking, touching, serious, captivating, emotional, realistic
Similar in 75%
The Long Walk Home (1990)
Plot Summary:
Two women, black and white, in 1955 Montgomery Alabama, must decide what they are going to do in response to the famous bus boycott lead by Martin Luther King.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Drama, History
Country: USA
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: inspirational, independent film, touching, realistic, political, gothic, sincere, uplifting, thought provoking, serious
Similar in 84%
Of Boys and Men (2008)
Plot Summary:
Robert Townsend stars as the patriarch of a family devastated when his wife is killed in a senseless auto accident. Reeling with grief, each family member must find courage and vision to carry on, ultimately eager to do the mother proud.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 192
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: realistic, psychological, sentimental, captivating, touching, serious, independent film
Similar in 77%
Boycott (2001)
Plot Summary:
This made-for-TV movie dramatizes the historic boycott of public buses in the 1950s, led by civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, History
Country: USA
Duration: 118 min
Plot tags: sincere, serious, realistic, political, talky
Similar in 79%
Bilal's Stand (2010)
Plot Summary:
Bilal, a Muslim high school senior works at his family's long-owned taxi stand. "The Stand," as they call it, has been the source of all activity and money for the family for the last sixty years. It seems like Bílal is about to carry the torch. He secretly submits a college application and takes up the art of ice carving in order to win a scholarship. However, he is forced to decide whether he will continue working at the Stand - the only life he's ever known - or take a chance at social mobility.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 99
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: sentimental, sincere, touching, realistic, independent film, uplifting, serious, captivating, spiritual, educational
Similar in 80%
Just a Dream (2002)
Plot Summary:
Film crew arrives in a small town in Nevada desert. Ends up changing the life of a 12-year-old kid and a friend of his, a movie lover.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 367
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: feel good, humorous, semi serious, sentimental, touching, realistic
Similar in 82%
Angels Sing (2013)
Plot Summary:
As a child, Michael Walker wished every day could be Christmas. That is, until a tragic accident crushed his holiday spirit. Thirty years later, Michael still can't muster any joy for the holidays, despite encouragement from his playful wife and well-intentioned parents. But when his young son faces a tragedy, Michael needs to make amends with his past. A mysterious man named Nick gives Michael a gift and instills in him the courage to find the joy that he lost.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Family
Country: USA
Duration: 87 min
Plot tags: touching, feel good, semi serious, realistic