Movies Like The Straight Story (1999)

The Straight Story is a 1999 drama film from David Lynch with a MovieMagicScore of 7.7/10. Here are 20 similar films, ranked by real viewer ratings — starting with The Sound and the Fury and Chasing 3000.

Drama

The Sound and the Fury

2015

A look at the trials and tribulations of The Compson siblings, living in the deep south during the early part of the 20th century.

4.9

MagicScore

Chasing 3000

2010

As the 1972 baseball season draws to a close and star player Roberto Clemente prepares to knock hit number 3,000 out of the park, two brothers -- one of whom is afflicted with muscular dystrophy -- make the drive from Los Angeles to Pittsburgh in hopes of witnessing sports history in the making. Based on a true story, Chasing 3000 is directed by Gregory J. Lanesey and features Ray Liotta.

6.0

MagicScore

Into the Wild

2007

After graduating from Emory University in 1992, top student and athlete Christopher McCandless abandons his possessions, gives his entire $24,000 savings account to charity, and hitchhikes to Alaska to live in the wilderness.

7.8

MagicScore

Harry and Tonto

1974

Harry is a retired teacher in his 70s who has lived in the Upper West Side of New York City all his life. When his building is torn down to make way for a parking garage, Harry and his beloved cat Tonto begin a journey across the United States — visiting his children, seeing a world he never seemed to have the time to see before, making new friends, and saying goodbye to old friends.

7.1

MagicScore

The Iron Claw

2023

The true story of the inseparable Von Erich brothers, who made history in the intensely competitive world of professional wrestling in the early 1980s. Through tragedy and triumph, under the shadow of their domineering father and coach, the brothers seek larger-than-life immortality on the biggest stage in sports.

7.5

MagicScore

Half Brothers

2020

Mexican aviation exec Renato is shocked to learn that he has an American half-brother he never knew about: free-spirited Asher. They are forced on a road trip together, tracing the path their father took from Mexico to the U.S.

7.3

MagicScore

The Ties That Bind Us

2025

A young single father trying to find the strength to love. A feminist librarian, single by conviction, who’s decided that she won’t be a mother. A six-year-old child trying to find a place in a new family structure. By revealing their aspirations, their fears, their choices, Carine Tardieu depicts different ways in which humans create families.

7.2

MagicScore

Little Miss Sunshine

2006

A family loaded with quirky, colorful characters piles into an old van and road trips to California for little Olive to compete in a beauty pageant.

7.7

MagicScore

Vincent & Theo

1990

The tragic story of Vincent van Gogh broadened by focusing as well on his brother Theodore, who helped support Vincent. Based on the letters written between the two.

6.3

MagicScore

#10

Waves

2024

At the end of the 1960s, when the air is filled with rock-and-roll and student rebellions are changing the world, the older of two brothers joins a prestigious newsroom of the public radio broadcaster. Not long after, he finds himself in the middle of a dangerous conflict between journalists and the secret service.

7.4

MagicScore

#11

Butterflies

2018

Three strangers with one thing in common — the same father — come to a Turkish village to bury him, and learn about him and each other.

6.9

MagicScore

#12

Paris, Texas

1984

A man wanders out of the desert not knowing who he is. His brother finds him, and helps to pull his memory back of the life he led before he walked out on his family and disappeared four years earlier.

8.1

MagicScore

#13

Tracks

2013

Accompanied only by her faithful dog and four camels, an Australian satisfies her craving for solitude by embarking on a solo trip across the desert from Alice Springs to the Indian Ocean.

6.9

MagicScore

#14

The Apprentice

2024

A young Donald Trump, eager to make his name as a hungry scion of a wealthy family in 1970s New York, comes under the spell of Roy Cohn, the cutthroat attorney who would help create the Donald Trump we know today. Cohn sees in Trump the perfect protégé—someone with raw ambition, a hunger for success, and a willingness to do whatever it takes to win.

6.9

MagicScore

#15

Straight Outta Compton

2015

In 1987, five young men, using brutally honest rhymes and hardcore beats, put their frustration and anger about life in the most dangerous place in America into the most powerful weapon they had: their music. Taking us back to where it all began, Straight Outta Compton tells the true story of how these cultural rebels—armed only with their lyrics, swagger, bravado and raw talent—stood up to the authorities that meant to keep them down and formed the world’s most dangerous group, N.W.A. And as they spoke the truth that no one had before and exposed life in the hood, their voice ignited a social revolution that is still reverberating today.

7.8

MagicScore

#16

A Sunday in the Country

1984

In France, before WWI. As every Sunday, an old painter living in the country is visited by his son Gonzague, coming with his wife and his three children. Then his daugther Irene arrives. She is always in a hurry, she lives alone and does not come so often... An intimist chronicle in which what is not shown, what is guessed, is more important than how it looks, dealing with what each character expects of life.

7.0

MagicScore

#17

The Big Sick

2017

Pakistan-born comedian Kumail Nanjiani and grad student Emily Gardner fall in love but struggle as their cultures clash. When Emily contracts a mysterious illness, Kumail finds himself forced to face her feisty parents, his family's expectations, and his true feelings.

7.3

MagicScore

#18

Field of Dreams

1989

Ray Kinsella is an Iowa farmer who hears a mysterious voice telling him to turn his cornfield into a baseball diamond. He does, but the voice's directions don't stop -- even after the spirits of deceased ballplayers turn up to play.

7.1

MagicScore

#19

Stroszek

1977

Bruno Stroszek is released from prison and warned to stop drinking. He has few skills and fewer expectations: with a glockenspiel and an accordion, he ekes out a living as a street musician. He befriends Eva, a prostitute down on her luck and they join his neighbor, Scheitz, an elderly eccentric, when he leaves Germany to live in Wisconsin.

7.3

MagicScore

#20

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.

7.7

MagicScore

Frequently asked

What are the best movies like The Straight Story?

The top films similar to The Straight Story by MovieMagicScore are The Sound and the Fury (4.9), Chasing 3000 (6.0), Into the Wild (7.8). Each shares drama themes and is ranked by real viewer ratings, not critics or studios.

Is The Straight Story worth watching?

The Straight Story holds a MovieMagicScore of 7.7/10 from 1,694 viewer ratings, putting it among the better-reviewed titles in its genre.

What kind of movie is The Straight Story?

The Straight Story (1999) is a drama film directed by David Lynch, starring Richard Farnsworth, Sissy Spacek, Jane Galloway Heitz.

Where can I find more recommendations like The Straight Story?

Browse the full ranked list above, or explore more drama recommendations on MovieMagicScore, where every list is ordered by genuine viewer ratings.

Keep exploring

Movies like The Sound and the Fury Movies like Chasing 3000 Movies like Into the Wild Movies like Harry and Tonto Movies like The Iron Claw Movies like Half Brothers

About movies like The Straight Story

This ranked list pairs The Straight Story (1999), a drama film from David Lynch, with similar titles by genre, theme and cast overlap (fans of Richard Farnsworth take note). Unlike critic-driven sites, every position here is ordered by MovieMagicScore — a rating built only from real viewers, with no studio marketing or paid placement. Scores update as more people rate, so the list stays current.

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