Movies like A Family Thing (1996)
The best movies like A Family Thing (1996) are The Spitfire Grill (1996), Fried Green Tomatoes (1991) and Cookie's Fortune (1999). If A Family Thing hooked you with its comedy and drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedFried Green Tomatoes (1991)7.7/10 from 1,546 votes
- NewestAugust: Osage County (2013)Released 2013
The Spitfire Grill (1996)
Percy, upon being released from prison, goes to the small town of Gillead, to find a place where she can start over again. She is taken in by Hannah, to help out at her place, the Spitfire Grill. Percy brings change to the small town, stirring resentment and fear in some, and growth in others.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFried Green Tomatoes (1991)
Amidst her own personality crisis, a southern housewife meets an outgoing old woman who tells her the story of Idgie Threadgoode and Ruth Jamison, two young women who experienced hardships and love in 1920s Whistle Stop, Alabama.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCookie's Fortune (1999)
Conflict arises in the small town of Holly Springs when an old woman's death causes a variety of reactions among family and friends.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTwister (1989)
An oddball family on a Kansas farm are trapped in their farmhouse by an impending storm. The patriarch of the clan is a retired soda pop tycoon. He is currently dating a children's TV evangelist. Also living at the farm is his layabout daughter and her precocious 8 year old daughter, his would-be artist son, the son's fiancée, and the black maid. Also thrown into the mix is the daughter's ex-husband, a ne-er-do-well who is seeking to get back in his ex-wife's good graces.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & comedy
SnoozefestMovies like thisDriving Miss Daisy (1989)
The story of an old Jewish widow named Daisy Werthan and her relationship with her black chauffeur, Hoke. From an initial mere work relationship grew in 25 years a strong friendship between the two very different characters, in a time when those types of relationships were shunned.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisParenthood (1989)
The story of the Buckman family and friends, attempting to bring up their children. They suffer/enjoy all the events that occur: estranged relatives, the 'black sheep' of the family, the eccentrics, the skeletons in the closet, and the rebellious teenagers.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisJunebug (2005)
On the way to meet with an independent artist in the South, newlywed art dealer Madeleine is convinced by her husband, George, that they should stop to meet his family in North Carolina. Madeleine's affluent lifestyle clashes with the family, but she befriends George's wide-eyed and pregnant sister-in-law, Ashley, who is nearing her due date. Through the family, Madeleine gains greater insight into George's character.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAbout Schmidt (2002)
A recently retired man embarks on a journey to his estranged daughter's wedding, only to discover more about himself and life than he ever expected.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & comedy
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 thisMen 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 & comedy
Crimes of the Heart (1986)
Three sisters try to come to grips with the meaning of their mother's suicide.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNobody's Fool (1994)
A rascally man nearing retirement juggles a workers' compensation suit while secretly working for his nemesis and flirting with his nemesis' young wife. As his estranged son returns, he faces new family responsibilities, while a banker plots to evict him from his home.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTerms of Endearment (1983)
Aurora, a finicky woman, is in search of true love while her daughter faces marital issues. Together, they help each other deal with problems and find reasons to live a joyful life.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Station Agent (2003)
When his only friend dies, a man born with dwarfism moves to rural New Jersey to live a life of solitude, only to meet a chatty hot dog vendor and a woman dealing with her own personal loss.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Evening Star (1996)
Continuing the story of Aurora Greenway in her latter years. After the death of her daughter, Aurora struggled to keep her family together, but has one grandson in jail, a rebellious granddaughter, and another grandson living just above the poverty line.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWhere There's a Will (2006)
A hapless grifter stands to inherit a small fortune from his estranged grandmother if he travels to Harmony, Texas to live with her. Instead of a short road to easy money, he finds a soft spot in his heart for the little town and unconditional love from his only living relative.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & drama
Hidden in America (1996)
Story of a man whose pride in being the head of his family won't let him accept help from his sick daughters doctor. He has to prove to his kids that even with the death of his wife and the loss of his job that they can and will survive. After hitting brick wall after brick wall comes a glimmer of hope.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
August: Osage County (2013)
An intense look at the lives of the strong-willed daughters of the Weston family, whose paths have diverged until a family crisis brings them back to the Midwest house they grew up in, and to the dysfunctional mother who raised them.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTumbleweeds (1999)
Whenever trouble strikes in one of her relationships, single mother Mary Jo Walker and her daughter, Ava, pack up and move to another city, a routine Ava is tiring of. This time, they are helped on their move to San Diego by trucker Jack Ranson. While Ava settles in, getting a leading part in the school play, Jack starts dating Mary Jo but soon reveals himself to be controlling and aggressive. Mary Jo prepares to flee again, angering Ava.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBagdad Cafe (1987)
A German woman named Jasmin stumbles upon a dilapidated motel/diner in the middle of nowhere. Her unusual appearance and demeanor are at first suspicious to Brenda, the exasperated owner who has difficulty making ends meet. But when an unlikely magic sparks between the two women, this lonely desert outpost is transformed into a thriving and popular oasis.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLilies of the Field (1963)
An unemployed construction worker heading out west stops at a remote farm in the desert to get water when his car overheats. The farm is being worked by a group of East European Catholic nuns, headed by the strict mother superior, who believes the man has been sent by God to build a much needed church in the desert.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWhat'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 drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMarvin's Room (1996)
A leukemia patient attempts to end a 20-year feud with her sister to get her bone marrow.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLittle John (2002)
The unmarried daughter of a Texas rancher gives birth to an unwanted child. She puts the child up for adoption and moves away from home. Without her knowledge, her father took the boy and raised him. Twelve years later, she is now a successful family-court judge in L.A. Over the years, she has avoided her father and knows nothing of the child. That all changes when he decides that is time she knew her own child and heads for L.A.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Crazy in Alabama (1999)
An abused wife heads to California to become a movie star while her nephew back in Alabama has to deal with a racially-motivated murder involving a corrupt sheriff.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Perez Family (1995)
In the midst of the Mariel boat lift -- a hurried exodus of refugees from Cuba going to America -- an immigration clerk accidentally presumes that dissident Juan Raul Perez and Dorita Evita Perez are married. United by their last name and a mutual resolve to emigrate, Dorita and Juan agree to play along. But it gets complicated when the two begin falling for each other just as Juan reunites with his wife, Carmela, whom he hasn't seen in decades.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Hobo's Christmas (1987)
A hobo played by Barnard Hughes decides it's time to go home. Drifting from place to place, Hughes finds himself in his hometown of Salt Lake City at Christmas time. Here he hopes to close old wounds and be reunited with his unforgiving son played by Gerald McRaney, and get to know the grandchildren he has never met. McRaney, still resenting the fact that Hughes ran out on his family 25 years earlier, gives his father only one day with his grandkids; after that, he's expected to leave and never come back. All the while Hughes' friends warn him that his son and the past are memories that are best left alone, and should leave, but he has to find out for himself.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Flirting with Disaster (1996)
Adopted as a child, new father Mel Colpin decides he cannot name his son until he knows his birth parents, and determines to make a cross-country quest to find them. Accompanied by his wife, Nancy, and an inept yet gorgeous adoption agent, Tina, he departs on an epic road trip that quickly devolves into a farce of mistaken identities, wrong turns, and overzealous and love-struck ATF agents.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMy Family (1995)
Traces over three generations an immigrant family's trials, tribulations, tragedies, and triumphs. Maria and Jose, the first generation, come to Los Angeles, meet, marry, face deportation all in the 1930s. They establish their family in East L.A., and their children Chucho, Paco, Memo, Irene, Toni, and Jimmy deal with youth culture and the L.A. police in the '50s. As the second generation become adults in the '60s, the focus shifts to Jimmy, his marriage to Isabel (a Salvadorian refugee), their son, and Jimmy's journey to becoming a responsible parent.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMarilyn Hotchkiss' Ballroom Dancing & Charm School (2006)
Frank Keane, a baker by trade, has been consumed by grief over his wife's untimely death. But everything changes when he pulls his bread truck over on a rural highway to help a dying stranger entangled in a car wreck, who was on his way to a fateful reunion.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & comedy
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like A Family Thing?
The closest matches to A Family Thing are The Spitfire Grill (1996), Fried Green Tomatoes (1991) and Cookie's Fortune (1999). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after A Family Thing?
People who watched A Family Thing most often go on to The Spitfire Grill (1996), Fried Green Tomatoes (1991) and Cookie's Fortune (1999).
What is the highest-rated movie like A Family Thing?
Fried Green Tomatoes (1991), rated 7.7/10 by 1,546 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like A Family Thing?
August: Osage County (2013) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like A Family Thing?
Yes: The Spitfire Grill (1996), Fried Green Tomatoes (1991) and Cookie's Fortune (1999).
How are movies similar to A Family Thing chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside A Family Thing, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.