Best movies like The Graduates

A unique, carefully handpicked, selection of the best movies like The Graduates Starring Mina Sundwall, Alex Hibbert, John Cho, Maria Dizzia, and more. If you liked The Graduates then you may also like: We Need to Talk About Kevin, Natural Selection, The Only Way, Run Hide Fight, Bang Bang You're Dead and many more popular movies featured on this list. You can further filter the list even more or get a random selection from the list of similar movies, to make your selection even easier.

A year after her boyfriend dies from gun violence, a young woman prepares to graduate high school as she navigates an uncertain future alongside a community that is searching for ways to heal.

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We Need to Talk About Kevin

After her son Kevin commits a horrific act, troubled mother Eva reflects on her complicated relationship with her disturbed son as he grew from a toddler into a teenager.

Natural Selection

Tyler is a young man who is desperately seeking direction from a world that seems to have abandoned him. Searching for answers he looks to his new friend Indrid who appears to have it all figured out.

The Only Way

Devon Browning is viewed as an outcast and is a victim of physical and emotional abuse from his classmates. After a tragic death in his family, his life begins to fall off course. He eventually seeks revenge by bringing a gun to school and opening fire on his classmates. The film offers an unwavering look at violence in schools today by showing the causes, effects, and consequences of a school shooting.

Run Hide Fight

A 17-year-old girl uses her wits, survival skills, and compassion to fight for her life, and those of her fellow classmates, against a group of live-streaming school shooters.

Bang Bang You're Dead

A troubled and bullied high school student fights against judgement from his community after threatening to bomb the football team.

Beautiful Boy

A married couple on the verge of separation are leveled by the news their 18-year-old son committed a mass-shooting at his college, then took his own life.

Bowling for Columbine

This is not a film about gun control. It is a film about the fearful heart and soul of the United States, and the 280 million Americans lucky enough to have the right to a constitutionally protected Uzi. From a look at the Columbine High School security camera tapes to the home of Oscar-winning NRA President Charlton Heston, from a young man who makes homemade napalm with The Anarchist's Cookbook to the murder of a six-year-old girl by another six-year-old. Bowling for Columbine is a journey through the US, through our past, hoping to discover why our pursuit of happiness is so riddled with violence.

A Night in the Life of Jimmy Reardon

A recent high school graduate is faced with two options, either go to a business school where his father wants him to go to, or get a full time job. However he decides to defy his father and go to Hawaii. Trouble is he has no money. Along the way he comes to understand his parents and eventually bonds with his father.

Holler

In a forgotten pocket of Southern Ohio where American manufacturing and opportunity are drying up, a determined young woman finds a ticket out when she is accepted to college. Alongside her older brother, Ruth Avery joins a dangerous scrap metal crew in order to pay her way. Together, they spend one brutal winter working the scrap yards during the day and stealing valuable metal from the once thriving factories by night. With her goal in sight, Ruth finds that the ultimate cost of an education for a girl like her may be more than she bargained for, and she soon finds herself torn between a promising future and the family she would leave behind.

Crossroads

Three friends get together and bury a box making a pact to open it at midnight at their high school graduation. In the little town in Georgia that they live in, things soon change. One is little miss perfect, one is an engaged prom queen, and the other is a pregnant outcast. The night of graduation, they open the box and they strike up a conversation. All of a sudden, one brings up the topic of her going to Los Angeles for a record contract audition. They all decide to go together and they leave. With a little money, they set out on the road with a guy named Ben. When one of them tells the other a rumor that he might be a homicidal maniac they are all scared of him. When they reach LA, Lucy falls in love with Ben and against her father's wishes, she stays and she goes to the audition.

Graduation

Four best friends, about to graduate from high school, must find a way to raise money to help a family member in need. When one of them discovers her banker father having an affair, the foursome plots to rob his bank during graduation ceremonies. When things don't go according to plan, they end up learning more about themselves in one day than they ever did in school.

Luckiest Girl Alive

A successful woman in New York City finds her life upended when she is forced to confront a dark truth that threatens to unravel her meticulously crafted life.

The Last Picture Show

High school seniors and best friends, Sonny and Duane, live in a dying Texas town. The handsome Duane is dating a local beauty, while Sonny is having an affair with the coach's wife. As graduation nears and both boys contemplate their futures, Duane eyes the army and Sonny takes over a local business. Each struggles to figure out if he can escape this dead-end town and build a better life somewhere else.

Elephant

Several ordinary high school students go through their daily routine as two others prepare for something more malevolent.

The Fallout

In the wake of a school tragedy, Vada, Mia and Quinton form a unique and dynamic bond as they navigate the never linear, often confusing journey to heal in a world that feels forever changed.

Spontaneous

When students in their high school begin inexplicably exploding (literally), seniors Mara and Dylan struggle to survive in a world where each moment may be their last.

Remember the Daze

During the summer of 1999, a group of teenagers, through interconnected narratives, live through their last day of high school and prepare for the future. Holly, once the new girl in school, does whatever it takes to remain popular. Dawn, who is secretly a lesbian, battles drugs. Tori is the valedictorian of her class, but, on the eve of graduation, she decides to experiment with drugs for the first time.

Lady Bird

Lady Bird McPherson, a strong willed, deeply opinionated, artistic 17 year old comes of age in Sacramento. Her relationship with her mother and her upbringing are questioned and tested as she plans to head off to college.

Consent

A wealthy Manhattan family's inability to cope with the suicide of their eldest daughter sends them into a downward spiral of drugs, alcohol and sexual taboos that threatens to destroy them.

There Goes My Baby

It's the summer of 1965, and the members of the graduating class of upscale Westwood High are eager to reinvent themselves. Valedictorian Mary Beth wants to attend a liberal university. Surfer bum Stick plans to enlist to fight in Vietnam. Calvin lives in the poor Watts section of Los Angeles, which is slowly erupting in violence. As the summer nights grow long, they'll all be forced to make decisions that will affect the rest of their lives.

Last Summer

Luke and Jonah, two high school sweethearts, spend their final days together over the course of a long, quiet summer in the rural US South, contemplating their uncertain future and the uncertain future of the United States.

Home Room

A high school shooting has repercussions on the town and students.

Daria in 'Is It College Yet?'

All vile things must come to an end, and for Daria Morgendorffer that means it's time to look beyond high school to college. Our little girl has grown up so fast. It's time for higher learning, lowered expectations, and a heavy dose of sarcasm. Life can't suck more after high school, can it?

The Life Before Her Eyes

As the 15th anniversary of a fatal high school shooting approaches, former pupil Diana McFee is haunted by memories of the tragedy. After losing her best friend Maureen in the attack, Diana has been profoundly affected by the incident - her seemingly perfect life shaped by the events of that day.

Make-Out with Violence

A genre-bending tale of a boy trying to fulfill his unrequited love for a girl who has risen from the dead. It tells the story of twin brothers Patrick and Carol Darling, newly graduated from high school and struggling to come to terms with the mysterious disappearance of their friend, the bright and beautiful Wendy Hearst. When a drive through the countryside surrounding their suburban community leads to the discovery of Wendy's mysteriously animated corpse, the boys secretly transport the un-dead Wendy to an empty house in hopes of somehow bringing her back to life. As the sweltering summer pushes on, they must maintain the appearance of normalcy for their friends and family as they search for ways to revive the Wendy they once knew, or, failing that, to satisfy their own quests for love amongst the living and the dead.

Mass

Two couples meet for a painful and raw conversation in the aftermath of a violent tragedy.

Stuck Between Stations

A decade after they graduated from high school and went their separate ways, Casper, a soldier haunted by the horrors of war, and Rebecca, a whip-smart graduate student with a shaky future, reunite by chance and get to know each other over the course of an accidental tour of the little-known underbelly of Minneapolis. The evening's odyssey includes a bar fight, a house party, a punk-rock circus, a spontaneous burglary, a home Casper did not know he had, and a cast of strange characters, unexpected allies and disappointing friends.

Love Everlasting

Bridger is a young outsider who's always wanted more. He and his mother flee an abusive home, eventually finding a small town in the middle of nowhere. Once there, Bridger finds true acceptance with another misfit.

Newtown

A look at how the community of Newtown, Connecticut came together in the aftermath of the largest mass shooting of schoolchildren in American history.

Brightest Star

A recent college graduate sets out to win back the girl of his dreams.

Heart of America

Starring Jurgen Prochnow ('The Replacement Killers' 'Air Force One' and Patrick Muldoon 'Stigmata' 'Starship Troopers'), 'Heart of America' is a powerhouse of a contemporary drama and essential viewing for anyone who was captivated by Michael Moore's 'Bowling For Columbine'. It is the last day of high school and the unthinkable is about to happen. Distraught at the constant abuse and bullying they have been subjected to, two students have made a suicide pact. But before they take their own lives, they are determined to cause chaos and murder amongst their fellow students.

This Is Our Time

After graduation, five friends set out to make a difference in the world for God. Their ambitions are high, their passions are strong but will they have the courage to fulfill their calling regardless of what comes their way. The sacrifice they are asked to pay may just be too high. Through Godly council from an outside source, the group realizes that this is not their time after all, it's all His.

Graduation Day

A masked killer begins murdering students on the school track team after a track runner dies upon completion of a 30 second 200-meter race.

A Girl Like Her

Sophomore year has been a nightmare for Jessica Burns. Relentlessly harassed by her former friend Avery Keller, Jessica doesn't know what she did to deserve the abuse from one of South Brookdale High's most popular and beautiful students. But when a shocking event changes both of their lives, a documentary film crew, a hidden digital camera, and the attention of a reeling community begin to reveal the powerful truth about A Girl Like Her.

State's Evidence

Six high school teenagers decide to commit suicide together, but their plans soon go awry when one of them has something darker in mind as well.

Pivot Point

A psychological drama that follows four high schoolers down a dark ride. As each struggle separately in their own lives they will soon discover that their lives are interconnected in ways they never would have guessed. They also effect each other in unimaginable ways which have devastating consequences. As they all lay bloody on the floor of their high school, only one question can be asked, "What could have been done to prevent this?" Pivot Point follows each of these characters on an unforgettable journey as they each plod down a lonely road. Only time will tell if they can reach out before it is too late.

American Teacher

As the debate over the state of America's public school system rages on, one thing everyone agrees on is the need for great teachers. Yet, while research proves that teachers are the most important school factor in a child's future success, America's teachers are so woefully underpaid that almost a third must divide their time between a second job in order to make a living. Chronicling the stories of four teachers in different areas of the country, American Teacher reveals the frustrating realities of today's educators, the difficulty of attracting talented new teachers, and why so many of our best teachers feel forced to leave the profession altogether. But this wake-up call to our system's failings also looks at possibilities for reform. Can we re-value teaching in the United States and turn it into a prestigious, financially attractive and competitive profession? With almost half of American teachers leaving the field in the next five years, now is the time to find out.

The Babysitter's Seduction

The mother of the family for which Michelle baby-sits dies unexpectedly. Michelle is asked to take over looking after the children and is gradually "seduced" by the father.

A Long Way Home

Family members struggle to heal their emotional wounds after an incident of sexual abuse.

Homegrown Christmas

After stepping down as CEO of her dream job, Maddie heads home for the holidays to gain perspective. She finds herself running into her old high school sweetheart Carter, and tensions quickly arise. When forced to put together a Christmas dance for the local high school, Carter and Maddie find themselves putting their differences aside and rediscover what made them fall in love all those years ago.

Say You Will

A recent high school graduate cares for his mother and navigates his first relationship in the wake of his father's suicide.

Time Kid

An adaptation of H.G Well's Time Machine for Nickleodon. Tom's scientist father, overwhelmed with grief over the loss of his wife, invents a time machine. He attempts to go in to the future to find a cure that he can take back in time to his wife, so that she might live. He never comes back, only his time machine. So Tom goes into the future to rescue his dad.

Good Girls Get High

Two overachieving “good girls” decide to experience all they’ve missed out on in one crazy, unforgettable night prior to their high school graduation.

The Giant

A teenager's small town life is changed forever when a series of murders begin on the same night that her missing boyfriend suddenly reappears.

6 Years

A young couple bound by a seemingly ideal love, begins to unravel as unexpected opportunities spin them down a volatile and violent path and threaten the future they had always imagined.

A Greater Yes: The Story of Amy Newhouse

Amy Newhouse must now fight the biggest battle of her life - cancer. Her open heart to the people of her school now sparks a passionate rally from the community. However, this passion dwindles as her cancer metastasizes. Her cancer seems to miraculously disappear, but just as it seems the community has prevailed and the battle won, Amy discovers that the deadly disease has returned and is incurable. Amy's prayers for healing continue, but with the seemingly dried-up support of her community, and an apparent "no" from God, she dies from the one battle she cannot win. However, with her death comes life and redemption of Pampa High, as her club grows exponentially, redeeming the school of the once-rampant violence, drugs, and alcohol that she so passionately fought against, and proving to all doubters that God has a "Greater Yes" after all. Written by Anonymous

Ditch Party

Five students trap themselves in the basement of their high school during an all-out assault on students and faculty, all at the hands of one disturbed student geared with guns and explosives.

Knights of Swing

Set in 1947, Knights of Swing is a feature film that chronicles a group of young jazz musicians whose dream is to form a “really swingin’ Big Band”. Unfortunately, things prove much more complicated when the community objects to the diversity of the band. Alliances form, and lines are drawn. What follows is soul searching, uplifting, and through music, our story illuminates forgiveness, healing and unconditional love.

Fruits of Labor

A Mexican-American teenage farmworker dreams of graduating high school, when ICE raids in her community threaten to separate her family and force her to become her family’s breadwinner.

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