Movies like The Pursuit of Happyness
If you like "The Pursuit of Happyness" you are looking for inspirational, emotional and sentimental movies about / with homeless, life, human spirit, rags to riches, life philosophy, success and single father themes of Biography and Drama genre shot in USA.
Find your next favorite and similar movies in two steps:
1. Identify all themes of interest from this film (block below).
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The Pursuit of Happyness (2006)
614K
Genre: Biography, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 117 min.
Story:
A struggling salesman takes custody of his son as he's poised to begin a life-changing professional career.
Style:
inspirational, emotional, sentimental, uplifting, motivational, touching, dramatic, heartbreaking, sad, tear jerker ...
Audience:
family outing, teens, chick flick, family friendly
Plot:
homeless, life, human spirit, rags to riches, life philosophy, success, single father, poverty, rise to the top, family drama, life is a bitch, biopic, down on your luck, against the odds, life lesson, ambition, financial problem, hopes, single parent, marketing, parents, entrepreneurship, father son relationship, salesman, once in a lifetime opportunity ...
Time:
80s, year 2006, 2010s, 20th century
Place:
usa, california, bay area, san francisco, america
Most similar movies to The Pursuit of Happyness
The list contains related movies ordered by similarity. Recommendation engine sorted out inspirational, motivational, realistic and dramatic films with plots about destiny, storytelling, mentor, redemption, courage, motivation and friendship mostly in Drama, Biography and Romance genres. Some movies like The Pursuit of Happyness: Seven Pounds (2008), Freedom Writers (2007), The Blind Side (2009), Joy (2015), Steve Jobs (2015). The matching attributes are highlighted in bold.
Genre: Biography, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min.
Story:
Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story is a movie based on the life story of world-renowned neurosurgeon Ben Carson from 1961 to 1987.
Style:
uplifting, sincere, inspirational, christian film, realistic ...
Audience:
family outing
Plot:
medical, african american, against the odds, neurosurgeon, human spirit, medicine, surgeon, ambition, biopic, medical school, physician, doctor ...
Time:
70s, 60s, 2010s, 20th century, 80s
Place:
cuba, usa, detroit, west germany
Similarity:
93%
325K
Genre: Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 123 min.
Story:
An IRS agent with a fateful secret embarks on an extraordinary journey of redemption by forever changing the lives of seven strangers.
Style:
touching, sad, emotional, philosophical, sentimental ...
Audience:
teens, chick flick
Plot:
redemption, depression, life philosophy, self sacrifice, life changing experience, motivation, true love, sacrifice, existentialism, life & death, melancholy, love ...
Time:
year 2008, 21st century
Place:
usa
Similarity:
93%
Genre: Biography, Crime, Drama
Country: USA, Germany
Duration: 123 min.
Story:
A young teacher inspires her class of at-risk students to learn tolerance, apply themselves, and pursue education beyond high school.
Style:
inspirational, touching, feel good, sentimental, rough ...
Audience:
teens, chick flick, girls' night, kids, teen drama ...
Plot:
high school, teacher, dedicated educator, teachers and students, lifestyle change, racism, teenage life, strong female lead, mentor, school teacher, bonding, idealism ...
Time:
year 2007, 20th century, year 1961, year 1999, year 2006 ...
Place:
california, los angeles, long beach california, usa
Similarity:
100%
Genre: Biography, Drama, Sport
Country: USA
Duration: 129 min.
Story:
Oversized African-American, Michael Oher, the teen from across the tracks and a broken home, has nowhere to sleep at age 16. Taken in by an affluent Memphis couple, Michael embarks on a remarkable rise to play for the NFL.
Style:
touching, inspirational, sentimental, emotional, motivational ...
Audience:
chick flick, family outing, teens, kids, family friendly ...
Plot:
american football, adoption, life, african american, football, christian, interracial relations, human spirit, family drama, rising to stardom, interracial adoption, strong female character ...
Time:
year 2009, 20th century, 2000s, 21st century
Place:
usa, boston, tennessee, america, mississippi ...
Similarity:
79%
Movie in collections
152K
Genre: Biography, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 124 min.
Story:
A story based on the life of a struggling Long Island single mom who became one of the country's most successful entrepreneurs.
Style:
inspirational, intense, sentimental, serious, realistic ...
Plot:
entrepreneur, business, strong female lead, businesswoman, career woman, entrepreneurship, inventor, marketing, divorce, career, women, destiny ...
Time:
80s, 2010s, year 2015, 20th century, 70s ...
Place:
boston, usa, new jersey, california, new york state ...
Similarity:
86%
186K
Genre: Biography, Drama
Country: UK, Japan, USA
Duration: 122 min.
Story:
Set backstage at three iconic product launches and ending in 1998 with the unveiling of the iMac, Steve Jobs takes us behind the scenes of the digital revolution to paint an intimate portrait of the brilliant man at its epicenter.
Style:
cerebral, realistic, factual, talky, melancholic ...
Audience:
teens, date night
Plot:
entrepreneur, business, entrepreneurship, marketing, computer, biopic, prodigy, internet, father daughter relationship, computers and web, technology, inventions and discoveries ...
Time:
20th century, year 2015, 2010s, 90s, year 1998 ...
Place:
san francisco, north america, usa, california
Similarity:
100%
111K
Genre: Biography, Drama, Family
Country: USA
Duration: 108 min.
Story:
Based on the true story of Homer Hickam, a coal miner's son who was inspired by the first Sputnik launch to take up rocketry against his father's wishes, and eventually became a NASA scientist.
Style:
inspirational, touching, realistic, sentimental, feel good ...
Audience:
teens, kids, family outing, date night, teen drama
Plot:
friendship, small town, teacher, follow your dream, teenage life, against the odds, competition, mathematics, generation gap, scientist, biopic, nerd ...
Time:
1950s, 50s, year 1957, year 1999, 90s ...
Place:
west virginia, virginia, usa, indianapolis indiana, appalachia ...
Similarity:
81%
169K
Genre: Biography, Drama, Sport
Country: USA, Australia
Duration: 144 min.
Story:
The story of how Richard Williams served as a coach to his daughters Venus and Serena, who will soon become two of the most legendary tennis players in history.
Style:
inspirational, emotional, thought provoking, serious, captivating ...
Audience:
kids, adult
Plot:
tennis, athlete and trainer, father daughter relationship, athlete's life, strict father, biopic, black, african american, family relations, coach, rivalry, real life ...
Time:
2020s, 90s, 20th century
Place:
los angeles
Similarity:
100%
Movie in collections
2.5M
Genre: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 142 min.
Story:
A man with a low IQ has accomplished great things in his life and been present during significant historic events - in each case, far exceeding what anyone imagined he could do. Yet, despite all the things he has attained, his one true love eludes ...
Style:
inspirational, touching, feel good, sentimental, uplifting ...
Audience:
girls' night, date night, chick flick, kids, teens ...
Plot:
life philosophy, philosophy, life, mentally challenged, destiny, storytelling, love, rise to the top, human spirit, selflessness, vietnam war, life & death ...
Time:
70s, 20th century, 50s, 60s, 1950s ...
Place:
china, alabama, vietnam, america, savannah georgia ...
Similarity:
79%
202K
Genre: Biography, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 115 min.
Story:
The true story of how Ray Kroc, a salesman from Illinois, met Mac and Dick McDonald, who were running a burger operation in 1950s Southern California. Kroc was impressed by the brothers’ speedy system of making the food and saw franchise ...
Style:
inspirational, motivational, realistic, cerebral, uplifting ...
Audience:
family friendly, teens
Plot:
business, businessman, fast food, capitalism, rags to riches, entrepreneurship, entrepreneur, salesman, money, marketing, greed, food ...
Time:
50s, 1950s, 2010s, year 2016, year 1954 ...
Place:
usa, america, california, arizona, illinois ...
Similarity:
77%
504K
Genre: Biography, Drama, Sport
Country: USA
Duration: 133 min.
Story:
The story of Oakland Athletics general manager Billy Beane's successful attempt to put together a baseball team on a budget, by employing computer-generated analysis to draft his players.
Style:
inspirational, feel good, clever, realistic, captivating ...
Plot:
baseball, mathematics, underdog, success, rise to the top, strategy, business, entrepreneurship, based on real people, biopic, entrepreneur, motivation ...
Time:
year 2011, 2010s, year 2002, 2000s, 80s ...
Place:
boston, california, usa, san francisco, bay area ...
Similarity:
82%
Genre: Biography, Drama, Romance, Sport
Country: USA
Duration: 144 min.
Story:
The true story of boxer, Jim Braddock who, in the 1920’s after his retirement, has a surprise comeback in order to get him and his family out of a socially poor state.
Style:
touching, inspirational, sentimental, motivational, uplifting ...
Audience:
boys' night, teens, manly
Plot:
boxing, underdog, human spirit, great depression, boxer, biopic, athlete's life, roman empire, poverty, fight scenes, depression, protective male ...
Time:
1930s, year 2005, 2000s, year 2006, 1920s ...
Place:
netherlands, usa, new jersey, new york, madison square garden manhattan new york city ...
Similarity:
80%
Genre: Crime, Drama, Romance
Country: UK, France, USA, India
Duration: 120 min.
Story:
Jamal Malik is an impoverished Indian teen who becomes a contestant on the Hindi version of ‘Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?’ but, after he wins, he is suspected of cheating.
Style:
touching, uplifting, motivational, realistic, feel good ...
Audience:
date night, chick flick, teens, teen drama, adult
Plot:
poverty, childhood, destiny, orphan, rags to riches, against the odds, love, street life, society, journey, true love, life is a bitch ...
Time:
year 2008, 2000s, 20th century, 90s, year 2005 ...
Place:
india, mumbai india, asia, taj mahal, britain
Similarity:
82%
Genre: Biography, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 104 min.
Story:
The story is located in Los Angeles in the sixties. An energetic widow, Frances Lacey, with her six children try to make a dream of theirs come true: to have a home of their own. Therefore they leave Los Angeles and head for the countryside, while ...
Style:
emotional, sentimental, touching, realistic, semi serious ...
Audience:
kids
Plot:
single parent, christmas, family relations, corporal punishment, heartwarming, widow, biopic, youth, coming of age, family problems, children, parenthood ...
Time:
year 1993, 1900s, 90s
Place:
california, los angeles, idaho, usa, salt lake city utah
Similarity:
88%
129K
Genre: Biography, Comedy, Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 115 min.
Story:
Meet Patch Adams, a doctor who doesn't look, act or think like any doctor you've met before. For Patch, humor is the best medicine, and he's willing to do just anything to make his patients laugh - even if it means risking his own ...
Style:
inspirational, touching, uplifting, feel good, emotional ...
Audience:
kids, family friendly, girls' night, teen drama
Plot:
medical school, hospital, human spirit, doctors and patients, life philosophy, compassion, medical profession, friendship, dealing with death, doctor, happy ending, stereotypes ...
Time:
20th century, 70s, 90s, year 1998, 60s ...
Place:
usa, virginia
Similarity:
81%
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Country: France
Duration: 112 min.
Story:
A true story of two men who should never have met – a quadriplegic aristocrat who was injured in a paragliding accident and a young man from the projects.
Style:
feel good, inspirational, touching, uplifting, sincere ...
Audience:
date night, teens, family friendly, adult
Plot:
friendship, disability, unlikely friendships, life philosophy, friendship between men, disabled person, human relationship, handicapped, interracial friendship, culture clash, caregiver, friends ...
Time:
2010s, year 2011, 21st century
Place:
france, paris france
Similarity:
76%
265K
Genre: Biography, Drama
Country: UK, Australia, USA
Duration: 118 min.
Story:
A five-year-old Indian boy gets lost on the streets of Calcutta, thousands of kilometers from home. He survives many challenges before being adopted by a couple in Australia; 25 years later, he sets out to find his lost family.
Style:
touching, emotional, sentimental, inspirational, feel good ...
Audience:
family outing, chick flick, family friendly, date night, kids
Plot:
adoption, poverty, loneliness, courage, survival, childhood, mother son reunion, foster child, foster home, train, boyfriend girlfriend relationship, brother brother relationship ...
Time:
year 1986, 2010s, year 2016, year 2012, year 2010 ...
Place:
india, australia, tasmania, kolkata, melbourne
Similarity:
69%
Genre: Biography, Drama, History
Country: UK, Malawi, USA, Kenya
Duration: 113 min.
Story:
Against all the odds, a thirteen year old boy in Malawi invents an unconventional way to save his family and village from famine.
Style:
motivational, rough, disturbing, factual, bleak ...
Audience:
date night, family outing, family friendly, teens
Plot:
farming, hunger, childhood, teenage boy, destiny, school expulsion, bicycle, chief, teacher, school, desperation, life is a bitch ...
Time:
2010s, year 2019
Place:
africa
Similarity:
100%
Movie in collections
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 156 min.
Story:
Charlie Simms is a student at a private preparatory school who comes from a poor family. To earn the money for his flight home to Gresham, Oregon for Christmas, Charlie takes a job over Thanksgiving looking after retired U.S. Army officer Lieutenant ...
Style:
inspirational, sentimental, touching, dramatic, realistic ...
Audience:
teens
Plot:
friendship, blindness, mentor, blind character, tango, human spirit, human nature, life philosophy, coming of age, thanksgiving, loneliness, preparatory school ...
Time:
20th century, 90s
Place:
new york, new england, new hampshire, usa, seattle
Similarity:
100%
Genre: Biography, Drama
Country: Ireland, UK, USA
Duration: 145 min.
Story:
Based on the best selling autobiography by Irish expat Frank McCourt, Angela's Ashes follows the experiences of young Frankie and his family as they try against all odds to escape the poverty endemic in the slums of pre-war Limerick. The film ...
Style:
sad, touching, depressing, compassionate, serious ...
Audience:
toddlers, teen drama
Plot:
poverty, ira, injustice, parents and children, youth, family relations, depression, life is a bitch, death, children, rich and poor, human nature ...
Time:
1940s, year 1999, 90s, 1930s, 20th century ...
Place:
ireland, new york, brooklyn new york city, europe, usa ...
Similarity:
100%
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 142 min.
Story:
Framed in the 1940s for the double murder of his wife and her lover, upstanding banker Andy Dufresne begins a new life at the Shawshank prison, where he puts his accounting skills to work for an amoral warden. During his long stretch in prison, ...
Style:
clever, uplifting, inspirational, touching, twist ending ...
Audience:
date night, chick flick, teens, kids, family friendly ...
Plot:
prison, prison escape, freedom, friendship between men, hopes, friendship, corruption, human spirit, justice, prison life, life, stephen king ...
Time:
1940s, 1950s, 90s, year 1994, 2010s ...
Place:
usa, maine, columbus ohio, persia, iran ...
Similarity:
67%
Genre: Biography, Drama, Mystery
Country: USA
Duration: 135 min.
Story:
At Princeton University, John Nash struggles to make a worthwhile contribution to serve as his legacy to the world of mathematics. He finally makes a revolutionary breakthrough that will eventually earn him the Nobel Prize. After graduate school he ...
Style:
psychological, touching, cerebral, dramatic, intellectual ...
Audience:
teens, date night, chick flick, family friendly
Plot:
mathematics, mental illness, schizophrenia, genius, paranoia, insanity, imagination, scientist, prodigy, nobel prize, imaginary friend, mathematician ...
Time:
year 2001, 60s, 1940s, 20th century, 2000s ...
Place:
harvard university, boston, new jersey, detroit, persia ...
Similarity:
77%
Genre: Biography, Drama
Country: Thailand
Duration: 131 min.
Story:
The Billionaire tells the story of Aitthipat Kulapongvanich and how he, at the age of nineteen, dropped out from university to launch a packaged fried seaweed business that is now Taokaenoi Food & Marketing and became one of Thailand's ...
Style:
inspirational, motivational, thought provoking, realistic, captivating ...
Audience:
teens, boys' night, chick flick
Plot:
rise to the top, success, entrepreneur, teenage protagonist, business, coping, rags to riches, dream, businessman, get rich quick scheme, billionaire, direction and purpose ...
Time:
21st century
Place:
thailand
Similarity:
75%
Movie in collections
Genre: Biography, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 110 min.
Story:
A dramatization of the relationship between heart surgery pioneers Alfred Blalock and Vivien Thomas.
Style:
sincere, inspirational, serious, realistic, uplifting ...
Audience:
family outing
Plot:
surgery, medical, prejudice, racism, african american, biopic, interracial relations, blacks and whites, surgeon, following a dream, medical research, friendship between men ...
Time:
1930s, 1940s, 20th century, 60s, 70s ...
Place:
maryland, america, baltimore, usa, nashville tennessee ...
Similarity:
75%
161K
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 132 min.
Story:
Sam has the mental capacity of a 7-year-old. He has a daughter with a homeless woman who abandons them when they leave the hospital, leaving Sam to raise Lucy on his own. But as Lucy grows up, Sam's limitations start to become a problem and the ...
Style:
touching, inspirational, sad, emotional, sentimental ...
Audience:
chick flick, girls' night, adult
Plot:
lawyer, mentally challenged, father daughter relationship, single father, child custody, social services, custody, custody battle, disability, parents and children, foster child, love ...
Time:
year 2001, 21st century
Place:
california, los angeles, usa
Similarity:
67%
107K
Genre: Biography, Drama
Country: USA, Switzerland
Duration: 128 min.
Story:
The story of Steve Jobs' ascension from college dropout into one of the most revered creative entrepreneurs of the 20th century.
Style:
inspirational, serious, factual, realistic, intense ...
Audience:
teens, girls' night
Plot:
entrepreneur, business, creativity, computer, rise to the top, entrepreneurship, biopic, inventor, marketing, inventions and discoveries, prodigy, startup ...
Time:
70s, 80s, 20th century, year 2013, 90s ...
Place:
california, los angeles, usa, india, new jersey
Similarity:
71%
131K
Genre: Biography, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 129 min.
Story:
Against formidable odds -- and an old-school diving instructor embittered by the U.S. Navy's new, less prejudicial policies -- Carl Brashear sets his sights on becoming the Navy's first African-American master diver in this uplifting true ...
Style:
inspirational, touching, motivational, sincere, sexy ...
Audience:
girls' night
Plot:
racism, african american, courage, u.s. navy, racial discrimination, military, navy, racial segregation, human spirit, dream come true, diving, underdog ...
Time:
1950s, 20th century, year 2000, y2k, 60s ...
Place:
america, africa, usa, pacific ocean, cuba ...
Similarity:
64%
Genre: Biography, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 117 min.
Story:
Loosely based on the true-life tale of Ron Woodroof, a drug-taking, women-loving, homophobic man who in 1986 was diagnosed with HIV/AIDS and given thirty days to live.
Style:
cerebral, inspirational, psychological, heartbreaking, clever ...
Audience:
teens, chick flick, adult
Plot:
aids, transsexual, fighting the system, hiv, transgender, human spirit, casual sex, treatment, hiv positive, life is a bitch, gay slur, drug ...
Time:
80s, year 2013, 2000s, 20th century, 90s ...
Place:
texas, usa, idaho, midwest, nebraska ...
Similarity:
83%
Genre: Biography, Drama, Romance
Country: UK, Japan, USA
Duration: 123 min.
Story:
The Theory of Everything is the extraordinary story of one of the world’s greatest living minds, the renowned astrophysicist Stephen Hawking, who falls deeply in love with fellow Cambridge student Jane Wilde.
Style:
touching, uplifting, inspirational, compassionate, sentimental ...
Audience:
kids, teens, chick flick
Plot:
genius, disability, love, cambridge university, physicist, mathematics, husband wife relationship, prodigy, supportive spouse, handicapped, against the odds, relationships ...
Time:
year 2014, 2010s, 20th century, 60s, 70s ...
Place:
oxford university, england, united kingdom
Similarity:
59%
Genre: Biography, Drama
Country: Canada, USA
Duration: 119 min.
Story:
In this David vs. Goliath drama based on a true story, college professor Robert Kearns (Greg Kinnear) goes up against the giants of the auto industry when they fail to give him credit for inventing intermittent windshield wipers. Kearns doggedly ...
Style:
inspirational, thought provoking, sentimental, sincere, serious ...
Plot:
business, underdog, inventor, entrepreneurship, entrepreneur, legal, lawsuit, marketing, courtroom, lawyer, car, justice ...
Time:
20th century, year 2008, 60s, 70s, 80s
Place:
michigan, usa, detroit, california
Similarity:
60%
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