Best movies like The Mental State

Fifteen years after the murder of his older sister, taciturn Daniel finds himself falling for Cassie, a vivacious high school senior in this southern gothic-inspired Romeo & Juliet story set in the American heartland.

Diagnosed with a mental illness halfway through his senior year of high school, a witty, introspective teen struggles to keep it a secret while falling in love with a brilliant classmate who inspires him to open his heart and not be defined by his condition.

Rural Texas, 1960 -- An age of good times and innocence, when growing up was supposed to be easy. Six high school seniors know the terrible secret that will make the difference in the biggest election in the county's history. Now they must make the most difficult decision of their lives. They must become adults. Written by Concorde - New Horizons

A financially-strapped showboat captain struggles to stay in business.

Teenage Janie falls in love with a private from an Army base opposed by her editor father.

Carrie Watts is living the twilight of her life trapped in an apartment in 1940s Houston, Texas with a controlling daughter-in-law and a hen-pecked son. Her fondest wish – just once before she dies – is to revisit Bountiful, the small Texas town of her youth which she still refers to as "home."

Essie, a mountain girl, moves in with a family of neighboring bootleggers when her father, also a bootlegger, is killed by federal agents. She falls in love with Tom, one of the family's brothers, but another brother, the violent and brutal Lem, decides he wants her for himself, and beats Tom badly. What the girl doesn't know is that it wasn't the feds who killed her father--it was Lem. Complications ensue.

Patti (Lili Taylor) and her posse, Angela (Bruklin Harris), Emma (Anna Grace), and Nikki (Aunjanue Ellis) have only a few weeks left of the senior year before they graduate and go their separate ways. It's a bittersweet time for these unlikely best friends, who together have shared the many challenges of growing up female. Suddenly, an unforeseen tragedy shatters their already fragile world, hurling them into a soul-wrenching struggle over loyalty, love, betrayal, and identity in this funny, raw, exciting slice of real life.

Failed college coach Norman Dale gets a chance at redemption when he is hired to coach a high school basketball team in a tiny Indiana town. After a teacher persuades star player Jimmy Chitwood to quit and focus on his long-neglected studies, Dale struggles to develop a winning team in the face of community criticism for his temper and his unconventional choice of assistant coach: Shooter, a notorious alcoholic.

A comedy that follows two high school students -- one overachiever struggling to write his valedictorian speech, the other a senior now going on his 15th year of school.

Sam Martin grows up in the Kentucky hills with a preacher as his closest friend and father figure. The young man goes away and gets an education, and when he returns home, he wants to build a school so that others can learn, too.

Evan Hansen, a high schooler with social anxiety, unintentionally gets caught up in a lie after the family of a classmate who committed suicide mistakes one of Hansen’s letters for their son’s suicide note.

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.

John Brock is a down-on-his-luck archaeologist who returns from an expedition to the caves of rural Kentucky after unsuccessfully trying to locate a mysterious relic that his family has sought for generations. Upon his return, John starts to see dream-like visions of a ferocious bird-like creature from ancient folklore. John soon learns that the cave he came into contact with on his last expedition was indeed the cave that contains the relic and also a portal to Hell and a place of worship for the Occult. John discovers that the only way to stop the increasingly realistic visions is to go back to the cave with his family, find the relic once and for all, and destroy it.

A struggling rock band and other college students cope with the trials and tribulations of their young lives and find themselves in the role of determining what exactly is behind the recent full-moon killings which have been attributed to wild dogs.

Based on a True Story War Eagle, Arkansas is a character-driven drama about a young man’s choice of whether to leave his family and friends for a career in baseball or stay and redeem his struggling community. The story takes place over a few pivotal weeks in the summer after Enoch Cass’s senior year, and is set against the backdrop of Arkansas’ beautiful Ozark Mountains. War Eagle, Arkansas poses important questions that face all young people in rural America. The answers we find could touch us all.

In a small agricultural town in the Florida Everglades, hopes for the future are concentrated on the youth. Four teens face heartbreak and celebrate in the rituals of an extraordinary senior year.

Comic melodrama following the day-to-day life of high school senior Will, a promising but naive athlete struggling with choices that could determine his future, romance and family difficulties.

One of the most widely seen youth films of the late 70's, this dramatic motion picture follows the life of Steve and Angie during their senior year of high school. They each try to live for Christ and reach out to others around them. But, as they deal with their own struggles to share the Lord, a fellow classmate makes things very difficult for them.

Documentary film contrasting the experiences of two high-school seniors, basketball players from remarkably different backgrounds. Brian Walker is taken from his close-knit Indiana family, living in a small town. In contrast, Stretch Graham has practically no family support, and looks to his Brooklyn team and his warm-hearted coach for support. Both are actively being recruited by colleges.

The dramatic story of a normal, intelligent man of good principles driven to contemplate thoughts of murder.

Sach learns that he has inherited a farm in rural hillbilly country, and when he and the Boys arrive there, they find themselves mixed up with a hillbilly clan named Smith who'll shoot anybody named Jones, plus a gang of bank robbers.

Hanna Brooks is the new girl in town who is looking to find her place and fit in at Lakewood High School, which was rocked a couple of years earlier by the shocking drug overdose of a popular student. Hanna suffers from an anxiety disorder and the move to a new school is especially stressful for her. While trying to fit in with the “it” crowd, she finds herself pulled between two boys – a bad boy with a heart of gold, and an alluring, popular rich kid who is not as straight of an arrow as he seems. Her relationship with them sweeps her into a dangerous situation that her mother Deborah must fight to save her from.

As Christmas approaches, a single mother (played by Reba McEntire) struggles to raise her son and keep up the payments on her Oregon ranch, which is difficult since she's heavily in debt. But she's a tough cookie, and proves that a steadfast attitude and an open heart go a long way in surviving the cold hearts and greed of the Scrooges around her.

French Club is a Goonies-esque, teenage girl adventure that takes three high school friends on a trip across rural Kentucky. To fulfill the dying wish of one of the girl's grandmother, they must enlist the help of a gypsy cab driver to return a mysterious brass figurine to its rightful owner. This coming of age journey has the girls learn that the grandmother and her family are more than meets the eye.

MARTHA EVANS has been abandoned by her ne'er-do-well husband, who took all their cash and left her homeless and virtually destitute with her two daughters and stepson. Martha leaves town in hopes of finding a job and a place to stay, she finally finds a job at a sleepy rural diner, formerly famous for its home-made root beer. But with her car broken down and the bills piling up, it looks like it's going to be a bleak Christmas for the Evans family. However, there are warm hearts working behind the scenes that ultimately make this the happiest holiday of Martha's life -- a real answer to her prayers

Gus, the trusty family retainer, has hopes of riding his boss' horse, Big Boy, to victory at the Kentucky Derby.

When an overachieving college senior makes a wrong turn, her road trip becomes a life-changing fight for survival in rural Kentucky.

Deep in the throes of a global pandemic, up and coming TV star, Ava Boone, is forced to flee the mounting chaos in Los Angeles and return to her rural hometown. But as she struggles to acclimate to a way of life she left behind long ago, her homecoming attracts a dangerous figure from her past – threatening both her and the family that serves as her only sanctuary.

“The Rocket" is a small town story inspired by true events, about a high school football star who suffers a severe head injury and loses his entire life plan. The heaviness of a broken relationship with his father, and losing the identity of "football star" push him to seek a new way to prove himself. Restricted from playing any sports and despite being an unlikely runner, the cross country coach brings the young man aboard his high school team out of necessity, and through much struggle, doubt, and determination, he finds a new way to push towards greatness. With colorful characters, youthful insights, and nostalgic storytelling, "The Rocket" brings together the elements of family, loss, failure, and redemption. The entire story is based on real characters and events that took place in the mid-west in 1999.

When a high school senior finds out from her parents that she must miss the town's winter dance in order to attend church, she successfully wishes their faith away, bringing disastrous consequences to her family and community. To restore their faith, she is led through a series of Christmas adventures that change her heart and those around her.

Ben and Maura have been married for years, and they are in a rut…so much of a rut that they are contemplating if it would be better to live separate lives. That’s when their two teenage children step in and scheme to try to get them back together and make them realize how much they still need each other.

Mackenzie Sullivan is a New York-based marketing executive struggling to keep her clients. When she returns home to a rural maple farm to help her best friend plan her wedding in just two weeks, Mackenzie learns the hard way that the love and support of family and true friends means more than she'd imagined.

An orphan boy from the Kentucky hills joins the Union Army and rescues his adopted family from Morgan's raiders. He learns his real identity when he returns after the war.

A sweeping small town romance exploring the grit of craft, the heart of family, and the pains of love, told over the span of several years.