Best movies like The Year Dolly Parton Was My Mom
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
Elizabeth Alison Gray is just your average suburban 11-year old waiting for adolescence to arrive when she finds out her whole life has been a lie. With only her imagination to guide her, she runs away to find the truth.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 632
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: Canada
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, feel good, humorous, realistic, semi serious, psychological, sincere, captivating
Best tv shows and movies like The Year Dolly Parton Was My Mom (2011):
Similar in 79%
The Talent Given Us (2004)
Plot Summary:
A retired New York City couple drive across country to reconnect with their reclusive son, joined by their two unmarried daughters.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 463
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: touching, humorous, realistic, witty, semi serious, clever, offbeat, independent film
Similar in 77%
Becoming Redwood (2012)
Plot Summary:
A quirky coming of age story about an 11-year-old boy named Redwood who dreams that if he can beat Jack Nicklaus at the 1975 Master's of golf he'll reunite his parents.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 184
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, realistic, sincere, gloomy
Similar in 89%
The Girl with Brains in Her Feet (1997)
Plot Summary:
A 13 year old talented athlete struggles to come to terms with the traumas of life as she prepares for a very important athletics event.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 127
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Sport
Country: UK
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: independent film, sentimental, sincere, touching, humorous, serious, realistic
Similar in 83%
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 88%
So Much Water (2013)
Plot Summary:
A family vacation is bogged down by unrelenting rain, as a teenage girl and her divorced father try to find common ground.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 452
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: Uruguay, Mexico, Netherlands, Germany
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: humorous, captivating, psychological, atmospheric, touching, realistic, semi serious
Similar in 81%
Pieces of Me (2012)
Plot Summary:
A crazy father old before his time, a tyrannical, sick mother, a sister who disappeared four years ago and me, Erell, who films everything, all the time... A fine family portrait. I live in the same town I've always lived in. You're born here, you die here. And between the two, there's nothing to do except hang out with my buddies, Gabin, Javier and The Major. One night, my sister Sarah reappears. The pieces of me are put together again.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 512
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: France
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: touching, realistic, psychological, humorous, captivating, sincere, semi serious
Similar in 80%
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 90%
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 88%
Sassy Pants (2012)
Plot Summary:
Desperate to get out from under her overprotective mother, a home-schooled teen runs off to live with her dad, and forms a bond with his much-younger boyfriend.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: feel good, humorous, semi serious, independent film, realistic, teen, indie film, queer cinema
Similar in 80%
Lost Islands (2008)
Plot Summary:
A family with five kids in the 80s get into a crisis when twin brothers fall in love with the same girl.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 664
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: Israel
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags: humorous, semi serious, captivating, emotional, sentimental, realistic, stylized
Similar in 81%
Two Bits (1995)
Plot Summary:
It's a hot summer day in 1933 in South Philly, where 12-year old Gennaro lives with his widowed mom and his ailing grandpa, who sits outside holding tight to his last quarter, which he's promised to Gennaro and which Gennaro would like to have to buy a ticket to the plush new movie theater. But grandpa's not ready to pass on the quarter or pass on to his final reward: he has some unfinished business with a woman from his past, and he enlists Gennaro to act as his emissary.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 85 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, emotional, independent film, anamorphic, cult classic, serious, realistic, thought provoking, feel good
Similar in 80%
The Amazing Catfish (2013)
Plot Summary:
Young Claudia works in a supermarket where she promotes various types of products. One night, she ends up in the emergency room with severe appendicitis and meets Martha, a patient, laying in the bed next to hers.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: Mexico, France
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: touching, semi serious, sentimental, humorous, realistic, social, art house, road movie, beautiful
Similar in 81%
Faith, Fraud, & Minimum Wage (2010)
Plot Summary:
A rebellious teenage girl wrestles with the true nature of miracles when her father begins to believe in a religious hoax which she has secretly created.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 175
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: Canada
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: touching, realistic, semi serious, humorous
Similar in 88%
Easy! (2011)
Plot Summary:
Bruno Beltrame makes a living of sorts. He wanted to be a great writer but he is content to write the books of others. He also gives private lessons to students who are not serious. Among his pupils is fifteen-year-old Luca, more quick-witted and revolted than the others. The day he meets his mother, a woman he once loved, Luca gets upset when she tells him bluntly that not only Luca is his son but that she intends to entrust him to his care as well.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: Italy
Duration: 101 min
Plot tags: feel good, touching, humorous, semi serious, realistic
Similar in 88%
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 86%
Mo (2007)
Plot Summary:
Every kid wants to be cool and fit in - life's a blast even when you're different. When Mo's reflection is revealed, he sees a body that doesn't quite resemble any of his peers. Here, he tells the tale of his youth, growing up on the south shore of Long Island, New York.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 222
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Family, Fantasy
Country: USA
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, feel good, semi serious, offbeat, humorous, realistic
Similar in 76%
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 83%
Paper Moon (1973)
Plot Summary:
During the Great Depression, a con man finds himself saddled with a young girl who may or may not be his daughter, and the two forge an unlikely partnership.
IMDB Rating: 8.1
IMDB Votes: 51000
Genere: Comedy, Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: sentimental, road movie, black and white, touching, humorous, funny, witty, talky, period piece, dorama
Similar in 81%
Cleopatra (2003)
Plot Summary:
A retired teacher and a soap star leave their routines and the men in their lives behind and embark on a weekend trip.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 622
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: Spain, Argentina
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: touching, sentimental, humorous, semi serious, emotional, realistic
Similar in 76%
Quints (2000)
Plot Summary:
Jamie Grover (Kimberly J. Brown) is an only child who has always wanted out from the constant attention her parents give her. Her wish is finally granted when she finds out her mother is pregnant, but when she turns out to have quints, Jamie's life changes in ways she had never imagined. She discovers she might not want the same things her parents want for her, but nonetheless, her parents focus all of their attention on her baby brothers and sisters. But when one of her brothers gets terribly ill (from quints) she discovers that she really doesn't mind the babies, and that she does have the courage to let her parents know she has dreams of her own.
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Family
Country: Canada, USA
Duration: 83 min
Plot tags: feel good, humorous, semi serious, realistic
Similar in 76%
Men Don't Leave (1990)
Plot Summary:
After her husband John dies unexpectedly, Beth Macauley is unprepared for life without him. She is unemployed with no job skills and $60,000 in debt from on-going renovations to their house located in suburban Bingham. She doesn't know what to do but sell what material possessions she has, such as the family pick-up truck and the house, and move into an apartment in the city, namely Baltimore. Beth just wants to survive by finding a job she doesn't dislike, and keep her family together while trying to maintain her sanity and sense of self-worth.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 115 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, humorous, sincere, feel good, realistic, semi serious, independent film, light, road movie
Similar in 81%
Anywhere But Here (1999)
Plot Summary:
In this adaptation of the Mona Simpson novel, single mother Adele August is bad with money, and even worse when it comes to making decisions. Her straight-laced daughter, Ann, is a successful high school student with Ivy League aspirations. When Adele decides to pack up and move the two of them from the Midwest to Beverly Hills, Calif., to pursue her dreams of Hollywood success, Ann grows frustrated with her mother's irresponsible and impulsive ways.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 19000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 114 min
Plot tags: touching, sentimental, clever, feel good, humorous, realistic, contemplative, semi serious, light, road movie
Similar in 78%
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 79%
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 82%
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 82%
Anita & Me (2002)
Plot Summary:
Meena, a 12-year-old living in a mining village in the English Midlands in 1972, is the daughter of Indian parents who've come to England to give her a better life. This idyllic existence is upset by the arrival in the village of Anita Rutter and her dysfunctional family.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, realistic, humorous, semi serious
Similar in 75%
Girl in Progress (2012)
Plot Summary:
As single mom Grace juggles work, bills, and her affair with a married doctor, her daughter, Ansiedad, plots a shortcut to adulthood after finding inspiration in the coming-of-age stories she's reading for school.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: touching, sentimental, humorous, semi serious, independent film, teen, realistic
Similar in 77%
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 84%
Treading Water (2013)
Plot Summary:
At first glance, Mica seems a perfectly normal boy. But first glances can often be deceiving... For one, Mica's house is now a museum honouring Guillermo Garibai, the legendary Mexican crooner. Mica spends most of his time there, giving guided tours to aging Garibai fans. But stranger still, Mica smells. He smells like fish. Numerous doctors, his life-long therapist and even his own parents are at a loss. No one wants to be Mica's friend. Girls won't talk to him. His life appears pointless, uneventful, doomed. That is, until Laura walks into it.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 728
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: Mexico, Canada
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: semi serious, touching, humorous, realistic, stylized, offbeat, vintage
Similar in 86%
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