20 best movies like Down and Out in Beverly Hills (1986)

Sloan is beautiful, stylish, and on the fast track to success at her public relations firm. After her client Caitlin ends up in a coma and becomes her own personal ghost of Christmas past, present, and future; she finds out first hand that her unethical ways needs to change and reuniting with a past jilted lover may be the answer.

Alternating between the past and the present, a precocious little girl sues her selfish, career-driven parents for emancipation, surprising them both.

Life for a single mom in Los Angeles takes an unexpected turn when she allows three young guys to move in with her.

Single mom Laura, along with her awkward 14 year-old son Henry is forced to drive Jack, her estranged, care-free pot dealing father across country after he's kicked out of yet another nursing home.

Aidan Bloom, a struggling actor, father and husband, is 35 years old and still trying to find a purpose for his life. He and his wife are barely getting by financially and Aidan passes his time by fantasizing about being the great futuristic Space-Knight he'd always dreamed he'd be as a little kid. When his ailing father can no longer afford to pay for private school for his two kids and the only available public school is on its last legs, Aidan reluctantly agrees to attempt to home-school them. Through teaching them about life his way, Aidan gradually discovers some of the parts of himself he couldn't find.

Liam Liu unwittingly gets involved with a high school girl. He suddenly has to go to China after learning from his father that he has inherited his grandmother's home in Shanghai. He's not very appreciative of his Chinese roots and at first only wants to sell the house and get back to the U.S. as fast as possible. He gets a taste of the Chinese culture and ends up having some big decisions to make

An adult swim class sets the stage for this sexually charged comedy-drama about love, loss, and second chances. Three strangers -- inextricably connected through personal heartbreak -- find themselves entering deep water as they learn that life isn't always about diving right in -- it's about getting your feet wet once in awhile.

Unable to cope with a recent personal tragedy, LA's top celebrity shrink turns into a pothead with no concern for his appearance and a creeping sense of his inability to help his patients.

Grace Bichon, who is managing her father's riding-stable, discovers that her husband Eddie is deceiving her with another woman. After confronting him in the middle of the night on the streets of their small home town, she decides to stay at her sister Emma Rae's house for a while to make up her mind. Breaking out of her everyday life, she starts to question the authority of everyone.

Jack McCall is a fast-talking literary agent, who can close any deal, any time, any way. He has set his sights on New Age guru Dr. Sinja (Cliff Curtis) for his own selfish purposes. But Dr. Sinja is on to him, and Jack’s life comes unglued after a magical Bodhi tree mysteriously appears in his backyard. With every word Jack speaks, a leaf falls from the tree and he realizes that when the last leaf falls, both he and the tree are toast. Words have never failed Jack McCall, but now he’s got to stop talking and conjure up some outrageous ways to communicate or he’s a goner.

When a professional couple, who have lived and worked together for many years, finally decide to marry, their sudden betrothal causes many unexpected difficulties. They soon find that being married is often quite different from being "best friends."

An estranged family gathers together in New York for an event celebrating the artistic work of their father.

Substance-addicted Hollywood actress, Suzanne Vale is on the skids. After a spell at a detox centre her film company insists as a condition of continuing to employ her that she live with her mother, herself once a star and now a champion drinker. Such a set-up is bad news for Suzanne who has struggled for years to get out of her mother's shadow, and who still treats her like a child. Despite these and other problems, Suzanne begins to see the funny side of her situation, and also realises that not only do daughters have mothers—mothers do too.

A film based on the semi-autobiographical novel of the same name by American writer Jonathan Safran Foer, in which a young Jewish American man endeavors—with the help of eccentric, distant relatives—to find the woman who saved his grandfather during World War II, in a Ukrainian village which was ultimately razed by the Nazis.

An actor who is considering the role of a supermarket manager arrives at a grocery store on the outskirts of Los Angeles to do some field research. He subsequently becomes stranded, without a car or cell phone, and accepts a ride home with Scarlet, a cashier who is about to interview for a new job. The actor rediscovers the essence of his craft while helping Scarlet gain the confidence she needs to change her life.

Three actors learn that their respective performances in the film "Home for Purim," a drama set in the mid-1940s American South, are generating award-season buzz.

A struggling screenwriter inadvertently becomes entangled in the Los Angeles criminal underworld after his oddball friends kidnap a gangster's beloved Shih Tzu.

After a breakup with her boyfriend, a young woman moves in with her older brother, his wife, and their 2-year-old son.

When a successful television writer's daughter becomes the interest of an aging filmmaker with an appalling past, he becomes worried about how to handle the situation.

Each member of a group of people has a connection to a self-help book authored by a reclusive former football coach.

After the bizarre death of her brother, Johana Burwood must return home after four years, to face her strange siblings, her out of touch father and her very touchy past.

A group of suburban teenagers try to support each other through the difficult task of becoming adults.

A teenager living with her sister and parents in Manhattan during the 1990s discovers that her father is having an affair.

Richard and Rachel, a couple in the throes of infertility, try to maintain their marriage as they descend deeper and deeper into the insular world of assisted reproduction and domestic adoption.

Detective Yvonne is the widow of police chief Santi, a local hero in a town on the French Riviera. When she learns he was in fact a crooked cop, she tries to right his wrongs. Crossing paths with Antoine, a victim of Santi, sets off a series of wild events.

Professor Lawrence Wetherhold (Dennis Quaid) might be imperiously brilliant, monumentally self-possessed and an intellectual giant -- but when it comes to solving the conundrums of love and family, he's as downright flummoxed as the next guy.

A young autistic woman runs away from her caregiver in order to boldly go and deliver her 500-page Star Trek script to a writing competition in Hollywood. On an adventure full of laughter and tears, Wendy follows the guiding spirit of Mr. Spock on her journey into the unknown.

Christopher Robin, the boy who had countless adventures in the Hundred Acre Wood, has grown up and lost his way. Now it’s up to his spirited and loveable stuffed animals, Winnie The Pooh, Tigger, Piglet, and the rest of the gang, to rekindle their friendship and remind him of endless days of childlike wonder and make-believe, when doing nothing was the very best something.

Based on the John Irving novel, this film chronicles the life of T S Garp, and his mother, Jenny. Whilst Garp sees himself as a "serious" writer, Jenny writes a feminist manifesto at an opportune time, and finds herself as a magnet for all manner of distressed women.

For Shirin, being part of a perfect Persian family isn't easy. Acceptance eludes her from all sides: her family doesn't know she's bisexual, and her ex-girlfriend, Maxine, can't understand why she doesn't tell them. Even the six-year-old boys in her moviemaking class are too ADD to focus on her for more than a second. Following a family announcement of her brother's betrothal to a parentally approved Iranian prize catch, Shirin embarks on a private rebellion involving a series of bisexual escapades, while trying to decipher what went wrong with Maxine.

A wealthy businessman shows his young adult kids how tough life can be.

TV reporter Rob Salinger is married to Micki, but because she's always busy working, they hardly ever spend time together. One night at which he got stood up by Micki again, Rob meets cellist Maude and they soon get romanticly involved. When it turns out Maude is pregnant with his baby, Rob decides to marry Maude. When he's on the verge of telling Micki, she tells him she's pregnant, so he doesn't have the heart to leave her, but he marries Maude anyway. Now married to two pregnant women who don't know about each other, Rob has a busy time taking care of both and keep them from finding out.

Alex, Emily, and their son, RJ, are new to Los Angeles. A chance meeting at the park introduces them to the mysterious Kurt, Charlotte, and Max. A family “playdate” becomes increasingly interesting as the night goes on.

Although Brad has a satisfying career, a sweet wife and a comfortable life in suburban Sacramento, things aren't quite what he imagined during his college glory days. When he accompanies his musical prodigy son on a university tour, he can't help comparing his life with those of his four best college friends who seemingly have more wealthy and glamorous lives. But when circumstances force him to reconnect with his former friends, Brad begins to question whether he has really failed or if their lives are actually more flawed than they appear.

When real estate developer Dan Sanders finalizes plans to level a swath of pristine Oregon forest to make way for a soulless housing subdivision, a band of woodland creatures rises up to throw a monkey wrench into the greedy scheme. Just how much mischief from the furry critters can the businessman take before he calls it quits?

Maya Dolittle can talk to animals. She gets discovered and Tiffany Monaco, a Hollywood star, brings her to L.A. to help her little puppy, who turns out to be a boy.

Al Fountain, a middle-aged electrical engineer, is on the verge of a mid-life crisis, when he decides to take his time coming home from a business trip, rents a car, and heads out looking for a lake he remembers from his childhood. But his wandering takes him into the life of Kid, a free-spirited young man who helps Al escape from the routine of everyday life and find freedom to enjoy himself.

When Eric and Marsha break off their long-term relationship, journalist Eric is able to weather it pretty well. He still has his long time canine companion Gabe, and his boss, Ms Andrews, wants to send him to London to open an office. But first Ms Andrews says Eric must find out the true identity of the best-selling author R L Dutton. A bigger obstacle for Eric's trip, however, comes from his dog. Gabe does not want to face six months in quarantine with big pit bulls and mastiffs waiting for an OK to the UK. Getting ideas from a pretty TV host, Gabe acts as Cupid Dog, doing his best to bring Eric and their neighbor Sara together. Gabe's plan works, only to go up in smoke when Eric realizes Sara is the mysterious author. Now Sara thinks Eric was just using her for a story before leaving for London. Gabe the Cupid Dog must go to new lengths to get Sara and Eric to tie the "leash."

While on a journey of discovery in exotic India, beautiful young Ruth Barron falls under the influence of a charismatic religious guru. Her desperate parents then hire PJ Waters, a macho cult de-programmer who confronts Ruth in a remote desert hideaway. But PJ quickly learns that he's met his match in the sexy, intelligent and iron-willed Ruth.

Jerry Springer stars as more or less himself, the host of a raunchy, controversial and popular Los Angeles talk show which features everyday people with problems and who frequently vent their problems on the air.

Eleven-year-old North has had it with his parents. They are always busy with their careers and don't give North the attention he needs, so he files a lawsuit against them. The judge rules that North should either find new parents or return to his own parents within two months. Thus North starts off on a journey around the world to find parents that really care about him.

Margot and her son Claude decide to visit her sister Pauline after she announces that she is getting married to less-than-impressive Malcolm. In short order, the storm the sisters create leaves behind a mess of thrashed relationships and exposed family secrets.

When Duffy Bergman, a New York cartoonist, meets Meg Lloyd, a gourmet chef, he discovers the love of his life and they marry -- yet love alone isn't enough to make them happy. Meg decides she wants to have a baby, a goal that initially makes Duffy frantic, but soon becomes his most important desire as well. When they are unable to have a baby, Meg begins concentrating on her career and the two slowly drift apart -- eventually separating. Later, when Duffy is speaking at a convention of the Delta Gamma sorority, he reveals that the Delta Gamma girls have always been his dream girls -- his Love Goddesses. There he meets the young and uninhibited Delta Gamma girl, Daphne Delillo. When Daphne moves to New York to work as a network sports reporter, their mutual attraction and Daphne's spontaneity spark an adventurous new relationship for Duffy. Now Duffy must decide which is more valuable to him -- the relationship he has given up, or the relationship he has always dreamed of having.

After being thrown away from home, pregnant high school dropout Maria meets Matthew, a highly educated and extremely moody electronics repairman. The two begin an unusual romance built on their sense of mutual admiration and trust.

A renowned New York playwright is enticed to California to write for the movies and discovers the hellish truth of Hollywood.

Arlo accepts what seems to him to be a dream promotion to Idaho. He soon discovers, however, that moving has its own share of problems.

When Lenny and his wife, Amanda, adopt a baby, Lenny realizes that his son is a genius and becomes obsessed with finding the boy's biological mother in hopes that she will be brilliant too. But when he learns that Max's mother is Linda Ash, a kindhearted prostitute and porn star, Lenny is determined to reform her immoral lifestyle. A Greek chorus chimes in to relate the plot to Greek mythology in this quirky comedy.

Eleven articulate people work through affairs of the heart in L.A. Paul produces Hannah's TV cooking show. Mark is dying of AIDS. Men have scalded Meredith so she rebuffs Trent's charm, but he persists. The trendy, prolix Joan tries to pull the solitary Keenan into her orbit. An adulterous couple meet at hotels for evening sex. Hugh tells tall tales, usually tragic, to women in bars.

In LA's Fairfax district, where ethnic groups abound, four households celebrate Thanksgiving amidst family tensions. In the Nguyen family, the children's acculturation and immigrant parents' fears collide. In the Avila family, Isabel's son has invited her estranged husband to their family dinner. Audrey and Ron Williams want to keep their own family's ruptures secret from Ron's visiting mother. In the Seelig household, Herb and Ruth are unwilling to discuss openly their grown daughter's living with her lover, Carla. Around each table, things come to a head. A gun, an affair, a boyfriend, and a pregnancy precipitate crises forcing each family to find its center.

Newly arrived in Hollywood from England, Dennis Barlow finds he has to arrange his uncle's interment at the highly-organised and very profitable Whispering Glades funeral parlour. His fancy is caught by one of their cosmeticians, Aimee Thanatogenos. But he has three problems - the strict rules of owner Blessed Reverand Glenworthy, the rivalry of embalmer Mr Joyboy, and the shame of now working himself at The Happy Hunting Ground pets' memorial home.