Excellent in their Genre
by danelahiggins | created - 29 Jan 2021 | updated - 02 May 2022 | PublicGreat movies worth the watch in their respective genres but don't fit on one of my other movie lists.
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1. Bringing Down the House (2003)
PG-13 | 105 min | Comedy
When a lonely guy meets a woman on the internet who happens to be in prison, she breaks out to get him to prove her innocence, and proceeds to wreak havoc on his middle-class life.
Director: Adam Shankman | Stars: Steve Martin, Queen Latifah, Eugene Levy, Joan Plowright
Votes: 39,167 | Gross: $132.72M
2. He Was a Quiet Man (2007)
Not Rated | 100 min | Drama, Romance, Thriller
An unhinged office worker who planned to go on a shooting spree at his workplace struggles with his newfound status as a hero after he ends up stopping a shooting spree instead.
Director: Frank A. Cappello | Stars: Christian Slater, Elisha Cuthbert, William H. Macy, Michael DeLuise
Votes: 23,173
3. Return to Me (2000)
PG | 115 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
A man who falls in love with the woman who received his wife's heart must decide which woman it is who holds his heart.
Director: Bonnie Hunt | Stars: David Duchovny, Minnie Driver, Carroll O'Connor, Robert Loggia
Votes: 22,758 | Gross: $32.66M
4. Keeping the Faith (2000)
PG-13 | 128 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
Two friends, a priest and a rabbi, fall in love with the same woman they knew in their youth, but the religious position of both men denies them romance.
Director: Edward Norton | Stars: Ben Stiller, Edward Norton, Jenna Elfman, Anne Bancroft
Votes: 53,207 | Gross: $37.05M
5. Chocolat (2000)
PG-13 | 121 min | Drama, Romance
A French woman and her young daughter open up a chocolate shop in a small remote village that shakes up the rigid morality of the community.
Director: Lasse Hallström | Stars: Juliette Binoche, Johnny Depp, Judi Dench, Alfred Molina
Votes: 201,834 | Gross: $71.51M
6. My Life Without Me (2003)
R | 106 min | Drama, Romance
A young woman conceals the fact of her terminal cancer to live her life with a passion she never had before.
Director: Isabel Coixet | Stars: Sarah Polley, Scott Speedman, Mark Ruffalo, Leonor Watling
Votes: 25,832 | Gross: $0.40M
7. Tesla (I) (2020)
PG-13 | 102 min | Biography, Drama
A freewheeling take on visionary inventor Nikola Tesla, his interactions with Thomas Edison and J.P. Morgan's daughter Anne, and his breakthroughs in transmitting electrical power and light.
Director: Michael Almereyda | Stars: Ethan Hawke, Eve Hewson, Eli A. Smith, Josh Hamilton
Votes: 10,500
8. The Big Short (2015)
R | 130 min | Biography, Comedy, Drama
In 2006-2007 a group of investors bet against the United States mortgage market. In their research, they discover how flawed and corrupt the market is.
Director: Adam McKay | Stars: Christian Bale, Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling, Brad Pitt
Votes: 483,719 | Gross: $70.26M
9. Out of the Furnace (2013)
R | 116 min | Action, Crime, Drama
When Rodney Baze mysteriously disappears and law enforcement doesn't follow through fast enough, his older brother Russell takes matters into his own hands to find justice.
Director: Scott Cooper | Stars: Christian Bale, Casey Affleck, Zoe Saldana, Woody Harrelson
Votes: 125,011 | Gross: $11.33M
10. American Hustle (2013)
R | 138 min | Crime, Drama
A con man, Irving Rosenfeld, along with his seductive partner Sydney Prosser, is forced to work for a wild F.B.I. Agent, Richie DiMaso, who pushes them into a world of Jersey powerbrokers and the Mafia.
Director: David O. Russell | Stars: Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence
Votes: 500,100 | Gross: $150.12M
11. Little Women (1994)
PG | 115 min | Drama, Family, Romance
The March sisters live and grow in post-Civil War America.
Director: Gillian Armstrong | Stars: Susan Sarandon, Winona Ryder, Kirsten Dunst, Claire Danes
Votes: 63,530 | Gross: $50.08M
12. The Contender (2000)
R | 126 min | Drama, Thriller
Senator Laine Hanson is a contender for U.S. Vice President, but information and disinformation about her past surfaces that threatens to derail her confirmation.
Director: Rod Lurie | Stars: Joan Allen, Gary Oldman, Jeff Bridges, Christian Slater
Votes: 24,996 | Gross: $17.87M
13. The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
R | 142 min | Drama
Over the course of several years, two convicts form a friendship, seeking consolation and, eventually, redemption through basic compassion.
Director: Frank Darabont | Stars: Tim Robbins, Morgan Freeman, Bob Gunton, William Sadler
Votes: 2,885,131 | Gross: $28.34M
14. Misery (1990)
R | 107 min | Drama, Thriller
After a famous author is rescued from a car crash by a fan of his novels, he comes to realize that the care he is receiving is only the beginning of a nightmare of captivity and abuse.
Director: Rob Reiner | Stars: James Caan, Kathy Bates, Richard Farnsworth, Frances Sternhagen
Votes: 235,244 | Gross: $61.28M
15. The Blind Side (2009)
PG-13 | 129 min | Biography, Drama, Sport
The story of Michael Oher, a homeless and traumatized boy who became an All-American football player and first-round NFL draft pick with the help of a caring woman and her family.
Director: John Lee Hancock | Stars: Quinton Aaron, Sandra Bullock, Tim McGraw, Jae Head
Votes: 360,167 | Gross: $255.96M
16. Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood (2002)
PG-13 | 116 min | Drama
After years of mother-daughter tension, Siddalee receives a scrapbook detailing the wild adventures of the "Ya-Yas", her mother's girlhood friends.
Director: Callie Khouri | Stars: Sandra Bullock, Ellen Burstyn, Fionnula Flanagan, James Garner
Votes: 20,938 | Gross: $69.60M
17. Speed (1994)
R | 116 min | Action, Adventure, Thriller
A young police officer must prevent a bomb exploding aboard a city bus by keeping its speed above 50 mph.
Director: Jan de Bont | Stars: Keanu Reeves, Dennis Hopper, Sandra Bullock, Joe Morton
Votes: 391,423 | Gross: $121.25M
18. TMNT (2007)
PG | 87 min | Animation, Action, Adventure
When the world is threatened by an ancient evil, the Ninja Turtles must reunite and overcome their faults in order to stand against it.
Director: Kevin Munroe | Stars: Patrick Stewart, Mako, Chris Evans, Sarah Michelle Gellar
Votes: 69,217 | Gross: $54.15M
19. Hidden Figures (2016)
PG | 127 min | Biography, Drama, History
The story of a team of female African-American mathematicians who served a vital role in NASA during the early years of the U.S. space program.
Director: Theodore Melfi | Stars: Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer, Janelle Monáe, Kevin Costner
Votes: 254,953 | Gross: $169.61M
20. Girl, Interrupted (1999)
R | 127 min | Biography, Drama
A directionless teenager, Susanna, is rushed to Claymoore, a mental institution, after a supposed suicide attempt. There, she befriends a group of troubled women who deeply influence her life.
Director: James Mangold | Stars: Winona Ryder, Angelina Jolie, Clea DuVall, Brittany Murphy
Votes: 211,013 | Gross: $28.87M
21. Playing God (1997)
R | 94 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
A disgraced surgeon leaves his former life and reinvents himself as a gunshot doctor in the criminal underworld.
Director: Andy Wilson | Stars: David Duchovny, Timothy Hutton, Angelina Jolie, Michael Massee
Votes: 7,966 | Gross: $4.05M
22. The Libertine (2004)
R | 114 min | Biography, Drama, History
The story of John Wilmot, a.k.a. the Earl of Rochester, a 17th century poet who famously drank and debauched his way to an early grave, only to earn posthumous critical acclaim for his life's work.
Director: Laurence Dunmore | Stars: Johnny Depp, Samantha Morton, John Malkovich, Paul Ritter
Votes: 37,754 | Gross: $4.84M
23. Forrest Gump (1994)
PG-13 | 142 min | Drama, Romance
The history of the United States from the 1950s to the '70s unfolds from the perspective of an Alabama man with an IQ of 75, who yearns to be reunited with his childhood sweetheart.
Director: Robert Zemeckis | Stars: Tom Hanks, Robin Wright, Gary Sinise, Sally Field
Votes: 2,253,841 | Gross: $330.25M
24. Backdraft (1991)
R | 137 min | Action, Drama, Mystery
Two feuding siblings carrying on a heroic family tradition as Chicago firefighters. But when a puzzling series of arson attacks is reported, they are forced to set aside their differences to solve the mystery surrounding these crimes.
Director: Ron Howard | Stars: Kurt Russell, William Baldwin, Robert De Niro, Donald Sutherland
Votes: 87,780 | Gross: $77.87M
25. Mank (2020)
R | 131 min | Biography, Comedy, Drama
1930s Hollywood is re-evaluated through the eyes of scathing social critic and alcoholic screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz as he races to finish the screenplay of Citizen Kane (1941).
Director: David Fincher | Stars: Gary Oldman, Amanda Seyfried, Lily Collins, Tom Pelphrey
Votes: 82,661
26. Now and Then (1995)
PG-13 | 102 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
Four 12-year-old girls grow up together during an eventful small-town summer in 1970.
Director: Lesli Linka Glatter | Stars: Christina Ricci, Demi Moore, Rosie O'Donnell, Thora Birch
Votes: 32,396 | Gross: $27.40M
27. Dick Johnson Is Dead (2020)
PG-13 | 89 min | Documentary, Biography, Drama
A daughter helps her father prepare for the end of his life.
Director: Kirsten Johnson | Stars: Michael Hilow, Ana Hoffman, Dick Johnson, Kirsten Johnson
Votes: 7,225
28. Collateral Beauty (2016)
PG-13 | 97 min | Drama, Romance
Retreating from life after a tragedy, a man questions the universe by writing to Love, Time, and Death. Receiving unexpected answers, he begins to see how these things interlock and how even loss can reveal moments of meaning and beauty.
Director: David Frankel | Stars: Will Smith, Edward Norton, Kate Winslet, Michael Peña
Votes: 104,950 | Gross: $31.02M
29. You've Got Mail (1998)
PG | 119 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
Book superstore magnate Joe Fox and independent book shop owner Kathleen Kelly fall in love in the anonymity of the Internet, both blissfully unaware that he's trying to put her out of business.
Director: Nora Ephron | Stars: Tom Hanks, Meg Ryan, Greg Kinnear, Parker Posey
Votes: 229,429 | Gross: $115.82M
30. Sleepless in Seattle (1993)
PG | 105 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
A recently widowed man's son calls a radio talk-show in an attempt to find his father a partner.
Director: Nora Ephron | Stars: Tom Hanks, Meg Ryan, Ross Malinger, Rita Wilson
Votes: 190,681 | Gross: $126.53M
31. Bliss (I) (2021)
R | 103 min | Drama, Romance, Sci-Fi
A mind-bending love story following Greg who, after recently being divorced and then fired, meets the mysterious Isabel, a woman living on the streets and convinced that the polluted, broken world around them is a computer simulation.
Director: Mike Cahill | Stars: Owen Wilson, Salma Hayek, Nesta Cooper, Jorge Lendeborg Jr.
Votes: 20,160
32. The Terminal (2004)
PG-13 | 128 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
An Eastern European tourist unexpectedly finds himself stranded in JFK airport, and must take up temporary residence there.
Director: Steven Spielberg | Stars: Tom Hanks, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Chi McBride, Stanley Tucci
Votes: 494,795 | Gross: $77.87M
33. Seven Pounds (2008)
PG-13 | 123 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller
A man with a fateful secret embarks on an extraordinary journey of redemption by forever changing the lives of seven strangers.
Director: Gabriele Muccino | Stars: Will Smith, Rosario Dawson, Woody Harrelson, Michael Ealy
Votes: 315,058 | Gross: $69.95M
34. Destination Wedding (2018)
R | 87 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
The story of two miserable and unpleasant wedding guests, Lindsay and Frank, who develop a mutual affection despite themselves.
Director: Victor Levin | Stars: Winona Ryder, Keanu Reeves, DJ Dallenbach, Ted Dubost
Votes: 33,356
35. What Dreams May Come (1998)
PG-13 | 113 min | Drama, Fantasy, Romance
Chris Nielsen dies in an accident, and enters Heaven. But when he discovers that his beloved wife Annie has killed herself out of grief over the loss, he embarks on an afterlife adventure to reunite with her.
Director: Vincent Ward | Stars: Robin Williams, Cuba Gooding Jr., Annabella Sciorra, Max von Sydow
Votes: 114,312 | Gross: $55.49M
36. Good Will Hunting (1997)
R | 126 min | Drama, Romance
Will Hunting, a janitor at M.I.T., has a gift for mathematics, but needs help from a psychologist to find direction in his life.
Director: Gus Van Sant | Stars: Robin Williams, Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Stellan Skarsgård
Votes: 1,066,257 | Gross: $138.43M
37. Dead Poets Society (1989)
PG | 128 min | Comedy, Drama
Maverick teacher John Keating returns in 1959 to the prestigious New England boys' boarding school where he was once a star student, using poetry to embolden his pupils to new heights of self-expression.
Director: Peter Weir | Stars: Robin Williams, Robert Sean Leonard, Ethan Hawke, Josh Charles
Votes: 544,943 | Gross: $95.86M
38. The Night Listener (2006)
R | 91 min | Crime, Drama, Horror
In the midst of his crumbling relationship, a radio show host begins speaking to his biggest fan, a young boy, via the telephone. But when questions about the boy's identity come up, the host's life is thrown into chaos.
Director: Patrick Stettner | Stars: Robin Williams, Toni Collette, Rory Culkin, Joe Morton
Votes: 16,003 | Gross: $7.83M
39. Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017)
R | 115 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
A mother personally challenges the local authorities to solve her daughter's murder when they fail to catch the culprit.
Director: Martin McDonagh | Stars: Frances McDormand, Woody Harrelson, Sam Rockwell, Caleb Landry Jones
Votes: 554,420 | Gross: $54.51M
40. Gran Torino (2008)
R | 116 min | Drama
After a Hmong teenager tries to steal his prized 1972 Gran Torino, a disgruntled, prejudiced Korean War veteran seeks to redeem both the boy and himself.
Director: Clint Eastwood | Stars: Clint Eastwood, Bee Vang, Christopher Carley, Ahney Her
Votes: 814,338 | Gross: $148.10M
41. Remember (I) (2015)
R | 94 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller
With the aid of a fellow Auschwitz survivor and a hand-written letter, an elderly man with dementia goes in search of the person he believes to be responsible for the death of his family in the death camp to kill him himself.
Director: Atom Egoyan | Stars: Christopher Plummer, Kim Roberts, Amanda Smith, Martin Landau
Votes: 27,820 | Gross: $0.64M
42. Julie & Julia (2009)
PG-13 | 123 min | Biography, Drama, Romance
Julia Child's story of her start in the cooking profession is intertwined with blogger Julie Powell's 2002 challenge to cook all the recipes in Child's first book.
Director: Nora Ephron | Stars: Amy Adams, Meryl Streep, Chris Messina, Stanley Tucci
Votes: 128,772 | Gross: $94.13M
43. Soul Surfer (2011)
PG | 112 min | Biography, Drama, Family
Bethany Hamilton, a professional surfer, loses her left arm in a shark attack. Unwilling to pay attention to the gravity of her situation, Bethany decides to get back into the ocean and surf again.
Director: Sean McNamara | Stars: AnnaSophia Robb, Dennis Quaid, Helen Hunt, Carrie Underwood
Votes: 52,848 | Gross: $43.85M
44. The Unforgivable (2021)
R | 112 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
A woman is released from prison after serving a sentence for a violent crime and re-enters a society that refuses to forgive her past.
Director: Nora Fingscheidt | Stars: Sandra Bullock, Viola Davis, Vincent D'Onofrio, Jon Bernthal
Votes: 118,857
45. Ride the Eagle (2021)
88 min | Comedy, Drama
Leif is left with a conditional inheritance when his estranged mother Honey dies. Before he can move into her picturesque Yosemite cabin, he has to complete her elaborate, and sometimes dubious, to-do list.
Director: Trent O'Donnell | Stars: Jake Johnson, Susan Sarandon, D'Arcy Carden, J.K. Simmons
Votes: 4,020
46. The Last Duel (2021)
R | 152 min | Action, Drama, History
The Knight Jean de Carrouges must settle the dispute over his wife Marguerite by challenging his former friend to a duel to the death.
Director: Ridley Scott | Stars: Matt Damon, Adam Driver, Jodie Comer, Harriet Walter
Votes: 181,653 | Gross: $10.85M
47. 28 Days (2000)
PG-13 | 103 min | Comedy, Drama
A big-city newspaper columnist is forced to enter a drug and alcohol rehab center after ruining her sister's wedding and crashing a stolen limousine.
Director: Betty Thomas | Stars: Sandra Bullock, Viggo Mortensen, Dominic West, Elizabeth Perkins
Votes: 54,385 | Gross: $37.17M
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