Movies like Stanley & Iris (1990)
The best movies like Stanley & Iris (1990) are What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993), Carried Away (1996) and Bounce (2000). If Stanley & Iris hooked you with its drama and romance, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedWhat's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993)7.7/10 from 4,440 votes
- NewestMonster's Ball (2001)Released 2001
What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993)
Gilbert Grape is a small-town young man with a lot of responsibility. Chief among his concerns are his mother, who is so overweight that she can't leave the house, and his mentally impaired younger brother, Arnie, who has a knack for finding trouble. Settled into a job at a grocery store and an ongoing affair with local woman Betty Carver, Gilbert finally has his life shaken up by the free-spirited Becky.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both romance & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCarried Away (1996)
Based on Jim Harrison's book, "Farmer". 47-year-old Joseph Svenden lives on the family farm with his dying mother and teaches at a two room schoolhouse with Rosealee, his lover and his best friend's widow. Joseph, who lacks a college degree, learns that he will lose his teaching job at the end of the year when the school district expands into his town. Meanwhile, he is seduced by 17-year-old Catherine, a new student in his class. His affair with Catherine and losing his teaching job forces Joseph to take a look at his previously dull life and to decide how he wants to live the rest of it.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance
Bounce (2000)
Buddy Amaral, a successful and self-absorbed Los Angeles advertising executive, switches airline tickets with a stranger just before boarding a long-delayed flight so that he might enjoy an overnight fling with a pretty Dallas businesswoman. When the plane goes down, killing all aboard, Buddy's guilt soon turns into an alcohol problem. As part of his 12-step program, Buddy seeks atonement and decides to seek out the woman he thinks he's left a widow.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance
SnoozefestMovies like thisListen to Me (1989)
It was the best time of their lives. A kid from Oklahoma. An immigrant's daughter. A senator's son, a society girl, and a college professor with a dream. They had one thing in common...the will to win. A group of college debaters learn about the world, friendships, love, dreams and family.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both romance & drama
Men Don't Leave (1990)
A widowed mother and her two sons move to Baltimore and struggle to adjust to urban life, encountering numerous eccentric characters along the way.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Untamed Heart (1993)
Caroline, a young waitress who seems to have bad taste in men, is on her way home one night when thugs attempt to rape her. Adam, the mysterious busboy who works at the same diner, helps fight off the assailants, and she begins a relationship with him -- but not all their fellow Minnesotans are happy for them. Meanwhile, the couple face their own difficulties when Caroline finds about Adam's past, including his unique health condition.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDogfight (1991)
In the fall of 1963, Eddie Birdlace is an 18-year-old Marine Corps volunteer who is about to ship out with three of his buddies for a tour of duty in Vietnam. Planning a massive blowout for their last night in San Francisco, Eddie, his buddies, and a number of other Marines set up a contest they call a "dogfight”.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHow to Make an American Quilt (1995)
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.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Shipping News (2001)
An emotionally-beaten man with his young daughter moves to his ancestral home in Newfoundland to reclaim his life.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Home of Our Own (1993)
In 1960s Los Angeles an energetic widow and her six children try to make a dream of theirs come true: to have a home of their own. They leave L.A. and head for the countryside, all the while facing numerous difficulties and obstacles during their journey.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWinter People (1989)
Wayland Jackson, a widower with a young daughter, moves to a small, impoverished mountain village in North Carolina, circa 1934. They are taken in by Collie Wright, a single mother with an illegitimate baby, and she and Wayland soon fall in love. Trouble starts when the identity of her baby's father is revealed.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance
Frankie and Johnny (1991)
When Johnny is released from prison following a forgery charge, he quickly lands a job as a short-order cook at a New York diner. Following a brief fling with waitress Cora, he develops an attraction for Cora's friend and fellow waitress Frankie. While Frankie resists Johnny's charms initially, she eventually relents when her best friend, Tim, persuades her to give Johnny a chance.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCross Creek (1983)
In the 1930s, Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings moves to Florida's backwaters to write in peace. She feels bothered by affectionate men, editors and confused neighbors, but soon she connects and writes The Yearling, a classic of American literature.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance
One True Thing (1998)
A career woman reassesses her parents' lives after she is forced to care for her cancer-stricken mother.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Cider House Rules (1999)
Homer is an orphan who was never adopted, becoming the favorite of orphanage director Dr. Larch. Dr. Larch imparts his full medical knowledge on Homer, who becomes a skilled, albeit unlicensed, physician. But Homer yearns for a self-chosen life outside the orphanage. What will Homer learn about life and love in the cider house? What of the destiny that Dr. Larch has planned for him?
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMoonlight and Valentino (1995)
A young widow still grieving over the death of her husband finds herself being comforted by a local housepainter.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance
SnoozefestMovies like thisMy Life (1993)
It seems that Bob Jones has everything a man could want, namely a fulfilling job and a beautiful, pregnant wife, Gail. But Bob's life is turned upside-down when he is diagnosed with cancer and given four months to live -- not even enough time to see his first child's birth. To cleanse himself of demons in his remaining days, Bob makes a video diary, hoping to pass along some wisdom to his future child. Along the way, he discovers a lot about himself.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Cool, Dry Place (1998)
Russell, a single father, balances his work as a lawyer with the care of his five-year-old son after his wife abandoned them. When she reappears creating turmoil, he must deal with his new love interest and the job opportunity of a lifetime.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance
Regarding Henry (1991)
After being shot, a lawyer loses his memory and must relearn speech and mobility, but he has a loving family to support him.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both romance & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Bridges of Madison County (1995)
Photographer Robert Kincaid wanders into the life of housewife Francesca Johnson for four days in the 1960s.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMr. Jones (1993)
The story about the relationship between a manic depressive man, Mr. Jones, and the female doctor who takes more than a professional interest in his treatment.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance
SnoozefestMovies like thisDigging to China (1997)
Precocious young Harriet and her older sister Gwen live at their mother's motel in small-town New Hampshire. Harriet dreams of a life beyond her inattentive family and the stultifying town. A mentally disabled man named Ricky comes to stay at the motel, and Harriet finds him kinder and more interesting than anyone she has ever met. After tragedy strikes, Harriet and Ricky cling to each other ever more tightly.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPlaces in the Heart (1984)
In 1935 rural Texas, recently widowed Edna Spaulding struggles to survive with two small children, a farm to run, and very little money in the bank - not to mention a deadly tornado and the unwelcome presence of the Ku Klux Klan. Edna is aided by her beautician sister, Margaret; a blind boarder, Mr. Will; and a would-be thief, Moze, who decides to teach Edna how to plant and harvest cotton.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAt First Sight (1999)
A blind man has an operation to regain his sight at the urging of his girlfriend and must deal with the changes to his life.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisStepmom (1998)
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.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Majestic (2001)
Set in 1951, a blacklisted Hollywood writer gets into a car accident, loses his memory and settles down in a small town where he is mistaken for a long-lost son.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe House of the Spirits (1993)
A rancher, his clairvoyant wife and their family face turbulent years in South America.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both romance & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBenny & Joon (1993)
A mentally ill young woman finds love with an eccentric man who models himself after Buster Keaton.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMonster's Ball (2001)
A prison guard begins a tentative romance with the unsuspecting widow of a man whose execution he presided over.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMusic of the Heart (1999)
After Roberta Guaspari separates from her husband, she receives encouragement from her mother to take up a job of a music teacher at the Central Park East School in East Harlem.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
Like Stanley & Iris and something else?
Blend two favourites and we’ll find the films in between.
Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Stanley & Iris?
The closest matches to Stanley & Iris are What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993), Carried Away (1996) and Bounce (2000). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Stanley & Iris?
People who watched Stanley & Iris most often go on to What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993), Carried Away (1996) and Bounce (2000).
What is the highest-rated movie like Stanley & Iris?
What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993), rated 7.7/10 by 4,440 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Stanley & Iris?
Monster's Ball (2001) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Stanley & Iris?
Yes: What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993), Carried Away (1996) and Bounce (2000).
How are movies similar to Stanley & Iris chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Stanley & Iris, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.