It’s been 2 months since the third season of Netflix’s Sweet Magnolias arrived and fans are still waiting on news for a potential fourth. The drama series centers around three best friends, Maddie (JoAnna Garcia Swisher), Helen (Heather Headley), and Dana Sue (Brooke Elliott), born and raised in a small southern town where everybody knows everybody and everybody knows everybody’s business. The series is a hit because of the storylines revolving around the importance of friendships and communities. We recently wrote about 12 shows to watch next after season 3 of Sweet Magnolias. Now we’re turning to movies that have the same feel as the Netflix series. Here are 8 movies like Sweet Magnolias to watch.
Beautiful Girls (1996)
Cast: Matt Dillon, Uma Thurman, Timothy Hutton, Natalie Portman, Michael Rapaport, Annabeth Gish, Mira Sorvino, Rosie O’Donnell, Lauren Holly, Martha Plimpton, Noah Emmerich, John Carroll Lynch
Synopsis: “A piano player at a crossroads in his life returns home to his friends and their own problems with life and love.”
Where to watch: Paramount+
Catch and Release (2006)
Cast: Jennifer Garner, Timothy Olyphant, Juliette Lewis, Sam Jaeger, Fiona Shaw, Kevin Smith, Tina Lifford, Georgia Craig
Synopsis: “For a grieving fiancée, learning to love again requires the help of her late love’s three best friends.”
Where to watch: Apple TV, Prime Video, Vudu
Enough Said (2013)
Cast: James Gandolfini, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Catherine Keener, Toni Collette, Eve Hewson, Tracey Fairaway, Toby Huss, Ben Falcone, Michaela Watkins
Synopsis: “A divorced woman who decides to pursue the man she’s interested in learns he’s her new friend’s ex-husband.”
Where to watch: Apple TV, Prime Video, Vudu
Fried Green Tomatoes (1991)
Cast: Kathy Bates, Mary Stuart Masterson, Mary-Louise Parker, Jessica Tandy, Chris O’Donnell, Afton Smith, Cicely Tyson, Nancy Moore Atchison
Synopsis: “Evelyn Couch is having trouble in her marriage, and no one seems to take her seriously. While in a nursing home visiting relatives, she meets Ninny Threadgoode, an outgoing old woman who tells her the story of Idgie Threadgoode, a young woman in 1920’s Alabama. Through Idgie’s inspiring life, Evelyn learns to be more assertive and builds a lasting friendship of her own with Ninny.”
Where to watch: Apple TV, Prime Video, Vudu
The Good House (2021)
Cast: Sigourney Weaver, Kevin Kline, Morena Baccarin, Beverly D’Angelo, Rob Delaney, Kathryn Erbe, David Rasche, Paul Guilfoyle
Synopsis: “A New England realtor ignites long-buried emotions and family secrets when she rekindles a romance with her old high school flame.”
Where to watch: Prime Video, Vudu
The Jane Austen Book Club (2007)
Cast: Emily Blunt, Maria Bello, Amy Brenneman, Kathy Baker, Maggie Grace, Hugh Dancy, Marc Blucas, Jimmy Smits, Lynn Redgrave, Kevin Zegers, Nancy Travis
Synopsis: “Six Californians start a club to discuss the works of Jane Austen, only to find their relationships — both old and new — begin to resemble 21st century versions of her novels.”
Where to watch: Prime Video, Vudu
Mystic Pizza (1988)
Cast: Julia Roberts, Annabeth Gish, Lili Taylor, Conchata Ferrell, Vincent D’Onofrio, William R. Moses, Adam Storke, Joanna Merlin
Synopsis: “Three teenage girls come of age while working at a pizza parlor in the Connecticut town of Mystic.”
Where to watch: Hulu, Max
Then She Found Me (2007)
Cast: Helen Hunt, Colin Firth, Bette Midler, Matthew Broderick, Ben Shenkman, John Benjamin Hickey, Daisy Tahan
Synopsis: “A New York schoolteacher hits a midlife crisis when, in quick succession, her husband leaves, her adoptive mother dies and her biological mother, an eccentric talk show host, materializes and turns her life upside down as she begins a courtship with the father of one of her students.”
Where to watch: Fubo, Peacock
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