Movies Like Magic Trip: Ken Kesey's Search for a Kool Place (2011)

Magic Trip: Ken Kesey's Search for a Kool Place is a 2011 documentary, music film from Alison Ellwood with a MovieMagicScore of 6.9/10. Here are 20 similar films, ranked by real viewer ratings — starting with Into the Wild and The Straight Story.

Documentary Music

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

The Straight Story

1999

A retired farmer and widower in his 70s, Alvin Straight learns one day that his distant brother Lyle has suffered a stroke and may not recover. Alvin is determined to make things right with Lyle while he still can, but his brother lives in Wisconsin, while Alvin is stuck in Iowa with no car and no driver's license. Then he hits on the idea of making the trip on his old lawnmower, thus beginning a picturesque and at times deeply spiritual odyssey.

7.7

MagicScore

Nina

2016

The story of the late jazz musician and classical pianist Nina Simone including her rise to fame and relationship with her manager Clifton Henderson.

5.1

MagicScore

Flamin' Hot

2023

The inspiring true story of Richard Montañez, the Frito Lay janitor who channeled his Mexican American heritage and upbringing to turn the iconic Flamin' Hot Cheetos into a snack that disrupted the food industry and became a global pop culture phenomenon.

8.0

MagicScore

On the Basis of Sex

2018

Young lawyer Ruth Bader Ginsburg teams with her husband Marty to bring a groundbreaking case before the U.S. Court of Appeals and overturn a century of sex discrimination.

7.4

MagicScore

Queen of Katwe

2016

A young girl overcomes her disadvantaged upbringing in the slums of Uganda to become a Chess master.

7.2

MagicScore

Nowhere Boy

2009

A rebellious teenager, future Beatle John Lennon lives with his Aunt Mimi in working-class mid-1950s Liverpool, England. Mimi's husband suddenly dies, and John spies his mother Julia at the funeral. Despite Mimi's misgivings, John intends to have a real relationship with his mother. Julia introduces him to popular music and the banjo and, though a family conflict looms, young John is inspired to form his own band.

7.2

MagicScore

Mary Shelley

2017

The love affair between poet Percy Shelley and Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin resulted in the creation of an immortal novel, “Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus.”

7.0

MagicScore

Winner

2024

Winner is a brilliant young misfit from Texas who finds her morals challenged while serving in the U.S. Air Force and working as an NSA contractor. A fresh take on the traditional whistleblower thriller, the coming-of-age story follows an idealistic young woman persecuted for standing by her principles.

7.0

MagicScore

#10

The Photographer of Mauthausen

2018

Spanish photographer Francesc Boix, imprisoned in the Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp, works in the SS Photographic Service. Between 1943 and 1945, he hides, with the help of other prisoners, thousands of negatives, with the purpose of showing the freed world the atrocities committed by the Nazis, exhaustively documented. He will be a key witness during the Nuremberg Trials.

7.0

MagicScore

#11

Can You Ever Forgive Me?

2018

When a bestselling celebrity biographer is no longer able to get published because she has fallen out of step with current tastes, she turns her art form to deception.

6.8

MagicScore

#12

Riding in Cars with Boys

2001

In 1965, a young woman with dreams of becoming a writer has a son at the age of 15 and struggles to make things work with the drug-addicted father.

6.7

MagicScore

#13

A United Kingdom

2016

The inspiring true story of Seretse Khama, the King of Bechuanaland (modern Botswana), and Ruth Williams, the London office worker he married in 1948 in the face of fierce opposition from their families and the British and South African governments. Seretse and Ruth defied family, Apartheid and empire - their love triumphed over every obstacle flung in their path and in so doing they transformed their nation and inspired the world.

6.7

MagicScore

#14

Sagan

2008

France, 1950s. From the Quartier Latin to Saint-Tropez via New York, a young Parisienne becomes the icon of a whole generation. In 1954, 19-year-old Francoise Sagan shot to fame with her first novel, Bonjour Tristesse. Flamboyant, scandalous and underrated, Sagan lived her life at the furthest edge of excess. She won and lost fortunes at the roulette table, bought and crashed superb sports cars, drank, danced and partied, leaving a trail of lovers in her wake.

6.2

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

Green Book

2018

Tony Lip, a bouncer in 1962, is hired to drive pianist Don Shirley on a tour through the Deep South in the days when African Americans, forced to find alternate accommodations and services due to segregation laws below the Mason-Dixon Line, relied on a guide called The Negro Motorist Green Book.

8.2

MagicScore

#17

Salvador

1986

In 1980, an American journalist covering the Salvadoran Civil War becomes entangled with both the leftist guerrilla groups and the right-wing military dictatorship while trying to rescue his girlfriend and her children.

7.0

MagicScore

#18

The Sugarland Express

1974

Married small-time crooks Lou-Jean and Clovis Poplin lose their baby to the state of Texas and resolve to do whatever it takes to get him back. Lou-Jean gets Clovis out of jail, and the two steal their son from his foster home, in addition to taking a highway patrolman hostage. As a massive dragnet starts to pursue them across Texas, the couple become unlikely folk heroes and even start to bond with the captive policeman.

6.6

MagicScore

#19

A Day and a Half

2023

In a desperate bid to reunite with his daughter, an armed man bursts into the medical center where his estranged wife works and kidnaps her.

6.3

MagicScore

#20

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

Frequently asked

What are the best movies like Magic Trip: Ken Kesey's Search for a Kool Place?

The top films similar to Magic Trip: Ken Kesey's Search for a Kool Place by MovieMagicScore are Into the Wild (7.8), The Straight Story (7.7), Nina (5.1). Each shares documentary/music themes and is ranked by real viewer ratings, not critics or studios.

Is Magic Trip: Ken Kesey's Search for a Kool Place worth watching?

Magic Trip: Ken Kesey's Search for a Kool Place holds a MovieMagicScore of 6.9/10 from 27 viewer ratings.

What kind of movie is Magic Trip: Ken Kesey's Search for a Kool Place?

Magic Trip: Ken Kesey's Search for a Kool Place (2011) is a documentary, music film directed by Alison Ellwood, starring Ken Kesey, Jerry Garcia, Neal Cassady.

Where can I find more recommendations like Magic Trip: Ken Kesey's Search for a Kool Place?

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

Keep exploring

Movies like Into the Wild Movies like The Straight Story Movies like Nina Movies like Flamin' Hot Movies like On the Basis of Sex Movies like Queen of Katwe

About movies like Magic Trip: Ken Kesey's Search for a Kool Place

This ranked list pairs Magic Trip: Ken Kesey's Search for a Kool Place (2011), a documentary and music film from Alison Ellwood, with similar titles by genre, theme and cast overlap (fans of Ken Kesey 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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