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Movies like Permanent

Key Features:
Coming-of-age, Family drama, Small town setting, 1980s, Social awkwardness, High school, Fitting in, Bullying, Nostalgia, Humor
Tone:
humorous, earnest
Target Audience:
Families, Coming-of-age enthusiasts, Nostalgia seekers
Emotional Arc:
Amusement → Embarrassment → Acceptance

Permanent

2017-12-15
Permanent Poster - Find Similar Movies

This comedy, set in 1983 in small town Virginia, centers around a 13 year old and her family. The story of a hairstyle gone incredibly wrong and a young girl's plight to fit in while encountering bullies at a new school.

Genres
Comedy
Cast
Rainn Wilson, Patricia Arquette, Kira McLean, Michael Greene, Aidan Fiske, Lucas N. Hall, Brian Bremer, Jacqueline Jones, Alexis Leggett, Kaleigh Jo Keller
Crew
Colette Burson, Colette Burson
Rating
5.209(86 votes)
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Permanent Record
6.281

David Sinclair seems to have everything going for him: he's smart, musically talented, and very successful. To top off his senior year in high school, his band is trying to get a recording session. Therefore, David's suicide leaves everyone, especially his best friend and bandmate, Chris, with a lot of questions.



Premature
Premature(2014)
5.486

On the most important day of his young life, a high school senior is forced to relive his failed attempt at losing his virginity over and over again, until he gets it right.



Post Grad
Post Grad(2009)
4.989

Ryden Malby has a master plan. Graduate college, get a great job, hang out with her best friend and find the perfect guy. But her plan spins hilariously out of control when she’s forced to move back home with her eccentric family.



Private School
5.7

Private-school student Christine loves Jim. But her classmate, Jordan, is also vying for Jim's attention and trying to end his relationship with Christine. Meanwhile, Jim's friend Bubba embarks on a series of sexual escapades, including dressing up as a woman to access the girls' locker room. Despite Jim and Christine's efforts to spend some time alone, various shenanigans and schemes interfere.



Fitting In
6.672

A teenage girl gets diagnosed with a reproductive condition that upends her plans to have sex and propels her into exploring unusual methods to have a sex life, challenging her relationships with everyone in her life, but most importantly, herself.



Mirror Mirror
5.1

Shy teenager Megan moves to a new town with her widowed mother and quickly becomes the most unpopular girl in high school. But when she starts to communicate with a mysterious mirror, her tormentors begin to meet with a horrifying series of 'accidents'. Is the mirror a reflection of Megan's own inner demons... or has she unwittingly opened the doorway of the damned?



Palindromes
6.2

Aviva is thirteen, awkward and sensitive. Her mother Joyce is warm and loving, as is her father, Steve, a regular guy who does have a fierce temper from time to time. The film revolves around her family, friends and neighbors.



Odd Girl Out
5.5

A mother and her daughter confront the intimidation of teen peer pressure and the emotionally brutalizing social rituals of high school.



Thirteen
Thirteen(2003)
6.7

When 13-year-old Tracy befriends Evie, the most popular girl in school, her life is turned upside down as Evie introduces her to a world of sex, drugs, and money. But it isn’t long before Tracy’s new lifestyle begins to take a heavy toll on her and her family.



Lymelife
Lymelife(2008)
6.1

A coming of age dramedy where infidelity, real estate, and Lyme disease have two families falling apart on Long Island in the early eighties. Scott, 15, is at the point in his life when he finds out that the most important people around him, his father, his mother, and his brother, are not exactly who he thought they were. They are flawed and they are human.



Permanent Vacation
5.9

In downtown Manhattan, twentysomething Allie, whose father is not around and whose mother is institutionalized, is a big Charlie Parker fan. He almost subconsciously searches for meaning in his life and meets some idiosyncratic characters along the way.



Bad Hair
Bad Hair(2014)
6.509

A nine-year-old boy’s preening obsession with straightening his hair elicits a tidal wave of homophobic panic in his hard-working mother, in this tender but clear-eyed coming-of-age tale.



Young Adult
5.8

A divorced writer from the Midwest returns to her hometown to reconnect with an old flame, who's now married with a family.



10 Years
10 Years(2012)
5.828

A group of friends reunite ten years after their high-school graduation.



Adventures in Public School

A socially-awkward, home-schooled kid forces his way into public school against his suffocating, but loving, mother's wishes.



Wildflower
7.463

The story of Bea Johnson from birth to graduation as she navigates life with an intellectually disabled parent and an extended family who can't quite agree on the best way to help.



Spontaneous
6.8

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.



Girl in Progress
5.6

As single mom Grace juggles work, bills, and her affair with a married doctor, her daughter, Ansiedad, plots a shortcut to adulthood after finding inspiration in the coming-of-age stories she's reading for school.



Welcome to the Dollhouse

An unattractive 7th grader struggles to cope with suburban life as the middle child with inattentive parents and bullies at school.



Senior Year
5.919

A 37-year-old woman wakes up from a 22-year coma, and returns to the high school where she was once a popular cheerleader to finish her senior year and become prom queen.



The Clique
5.902

A young girl tries to fit in with a clique of popular middle school girls after moving into the guest house of one of their homes.



Made in America
5.5

A young black woman discovers that her father was a sperm donor, and if that wasn't bad enough, he's white.



Boys and Girls
5.943

Ryan and Jennifer are opposites who definitely do not attract. At least that's what they always believed. When they met as twelve-year-olds, they disliked one another. When they met again as teenagers, they loathed each other. But when they meet in college, the uptight Ryan and the free-spirited Jennifer find that their differences bind them together and a rare friendship develops.



Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret.

When her family moves from New York City to New Jersey, an 11-year-old girl navigates new friends, feelings, and the beginning of adolescence.



The Final Girls
6.396

A young woman grieving the loss of her mother, a famous scream queen from the 1980s, finds herself pulled into the world of her mom's most famous movie. Reunited, the women must fight off the film's maniacal killer.



Beautiful Girls
6.7

During a snowy winter in the small fictional town of Knight's Ridge, Massachusetts, a group of lifelong buddies hang out, drink and struggle to connect with the women who affect their decisions, dreams and desires.



Boyhood
Boyhood(2014)
7.491

The film tells a story of a divorced couple trying to raise their young son. The story follows the boy for twelve years, from first grade at age 6 through 12th grade at age 17-18, and examines his relationship with his parents as he grows.



Slap Her... She's French

Welcome to Splendona High School, Texas, where football players, cheerleaders and beauty queens rule the hallways. And Starla Grady, the most popular girl in school, is on top of it all. That is, at least until Genevieve LePlouff, a French foreign exchange student arrives and turns her life upside down.



Permanent Midnight
5.903

Juggling increasing career success and a growing heroin habit, a television comedy writer attempts to go down a path of improvement.



The Marc Pease Experience

Former high school musical star, Marc Pease, finds himself still living in the past, eight years after graduating.



Back to School
5.375

Two adults go to their middle school reunion in order to show off their success to old bullies teenage crushes.



12 and Holding
6.8

Three close knit 12-year-olds - introverted Jacob, precocious Malee and vulnerable Leonard - start down the path of self-discovery and begin to distinguish their own voices from those of their parents.



Ordinary World
5.721

Perry is a happily married father of two living a comfortable but sedate life in the suburbs. On the occasion of his 40th birthday, he seeks to revisit his former life as the lead singer in a popular punk band though his middle-aged reality quickly (and hilariously) clashes with the indulgences of his youth.



Eighth Grade
7.2

Thirteen-year-old Kayla endures the tidal wave of contemporary suburban adolescence as she makes her way through the last week of middle school — the end of her thus far disastrous eighth grade year — before she begins high school.



Picture This
5.6

Bookish and unpopular Mandy finds her luck finally changing when Drew, the school hottie, invites her to the year's biggest party. But with being grounded and Drew's ex-girlfriend bent on thwarting her, Mandy may be destined to remain a geek. Can a little ingenuity and some help from her friends save the day?



Our Futures
6.207

Yann who is trying, albeit unsuccessfully, to cope with his life generally and especially bereavement decides to look up Thomas, his best friend from high school. Thomas is thee same crazy character as he ever was and between them they cook up a plan to rearrange Yann's birthday party from their high school days and get all their old friends to come along. This means locating their friends and a journey to visit and convince some of them to join in their plan. How their friends have changed, their lives and the revelations provide plenty of humour. But why is his friend Thomas just the same as he ever was ?



Virginia
Virginia(2010)
5.2

A sheriff sees his state senate bid slide out onto the ice when his daughter begins to date the son of a charming but psychologically disturbed woman with whom the sheriff has engaged in a two-decade-long affair.



3 Generations
6.362

A teenager transitions from female to male, and his family must come to terms with that fact.



Charm School
6.875

Defiant 18-year-old Adela León pushes her father and an unbending headmistress to the limit in this delicious comedy.



Love Don't Co$t a Thing

A high school outcast pays a cheerleader to pose as his girlfriend so he can be considered cool.



Terri
Terri(2011)
6.325

Terri, a pajama-clad, disaffected high school student learns how to engage the world with the help of Mr. Fitzgerald, his assistant principal.



Say Anything...
7

Lloyd, an eternal optimist, seeks to capture the heart of Diane, an unattainable high school beauty and straight-A student. He surprises just about everyone-including himself-when she returns the sentiment. But Diane's over-possessive, divorced Dad disapproves and it's going to take more than just the power of love to conquer all.



Geek Charming
6.7

Film geek Josh is looking for the subject of his new documentary when a chance meeting puts the perfect star in his sights—Dylan, his school's most popular junior. But Dylan's hopes of using the film to become Blossom Queen don't quite match with Josh's goal to make a hard-hitting exposé about popularity. Will Josh shoot the film as planned, or show Dylan as the truly interesting person she is?



Beauty Shop
6.292

Far from Chicago, hairdresser Gina Norris has relocated to Atlanta with her daughter and has quickly established herself as a rare talent in her profession. But after repeatedly butting heads with her shady, over-the-top boss, Jorge, Norris sets out to create her own salon -- even snagging a few of Jorge's employees and clients. Now, Jorge will do anything to shut her down.



That's What I Am
6.8

A coming-of-age story that follows 12-year-old Andy Nichol, a bright student who, like most kids his age, will do anything to avoid conflict for fear of suffering overwhelming ridicule and punishment from his junior high school peers.



Back to Mom's
5.656

At 40, Stephanie loses her job and is forced to move back in with her mother. She is welcomed with open arms to the joys of overheated apartment, Francis Cabrel playing on loop, Scrabble games and precious motherly advice on how to behave at the table and live her life.



Hairbrained
5.4

A fourteen-year-old genius gets rejected by Harvard and ends up at a much lower ranked school where he makes friends with a mature student.



mid90s
mid90s(2018)
7.5

In 1990s Los Angeles, a 13-year-old spends his summer navigating between a troubled home life and a crew of new friends he meets at a skate shop.



People, Places, Things

Will Henry is a newly single graphic novelist balancing being a parent to his young twin daughters and teaching a classroom full of college students, all the while trying to navigate the rich complexities of new love and letting go of the woman who left him.



Charlie Bartlett
6.675

Awkward teenager Charlie Bartlett has trouble fitting in at a new high school. Charlie needs some friends fast, and decides that the best way to find them is to appoint himself the resident psychiatrist. He becomes one of the most popular guys in school by doling out advice and, occasionally, medication, to the student body.



Nappily Ever After
7.197

After an accident at the hair salon, Violet realizes she's not living life to the fullest. A soulful barber helps her put the pieces back together.



Freshman Father
6.7

When high school sweethearts John and Kathy find out Kathy is pregnant, they decide to get married and move to Cambridge so John can fulfill his scholarship to Harvard. But faced with the harsh reality of their situation, Kathy leaves John behind, compelling him to rent a room from Dorothy, a psychic who encourages him as he struggles to balance school and fatherhood.



Barefoot
Barefoot(2014)
6.6

The "black sheep" son of a wealthy family meets a young psychiatric patient who's been raised in isolation her entire life. He takes the naive young woman home for his brother's wedding an improbable romance blooms, as she impresses everyone with her genuine, simple charms.



Suncoast
Suncoast(2024)
6.723

While caring for her brother along with her audacious mother, a teenager strikes up an unlikely friendship with an eccentric activist who is protesting one of the most landmark medical cases of all time.



18 Year Old Virgin
3.833

In a series of sexual mishaps, a high school senior tries to lose her virginity on the last night before graduation.



Laggies
Laggies(2014)
6.1

Overeducated and underemployed, 28 year old Megan is in the throes of a quarterlife crisis. Squarely into adulthood with no career prospects, no particular motivation to think about her future and no one to relate to, Megan is comfortable lagging a few steps behind - while her friends check off milestones and celebrate their new grown-up status. When her high-school sweetheart proposes, Megan panics and- given an unexpected opportunity to escape for a week - hides out in the home of her new friend, 16-year old Annika and Annika's world-weary single dad Craig.



It
It(2017)
7.238

In a small town in Maine, seven children known as The Losers Club come face to face with life problems, bullies and a monster that takes the shape of a clown called Pennywise.



4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days

Two college roommates have 24 hours to make the ultimate choice as they finalize arrangements for a black market abortion.



Incoming
Incoming(2024)
6.234

Their first week of high school. The biggest party of the year. Mistakes will be made as four teenage boys navigate a night of mayhem and debauchery.



Restless
Restless(2011)
6.506

Two outsiders, both shaped by the circumstances that have brought them together, forge a deep and lasting love.



1985
1985(2018)
6.174

Having been gone for three years, closeted advertising executive Adrian returns to his Texas hometown and struggles to reveal his dire circumstances to his conservative family.



The Immature
6.2

Six high school friends in their 40s who haven't seen each other in nearly 20 years rekindle their younger selves after a court cancels their diploma, forcing them to repeat the final high school exam.



Carrie
Carrie(2002)
6.1

An awkward, telekinetic teenage girl's lonely life is dominated by relentless bullying at school and an oppressive religious fanatic mother at home. When her tormentors pull a humiliating prank at the senior prom, she unleashes a horrifying chaos on everyone, leaving nothing but destruction in her wake.



Love Untangled
8.427

A lovestruck teen plans to win the school heartthrob by going from curly to straight hair — until a new transfer student changes everything.



Instant Family
7.506

When Pete and Ellie decide to start a family, they stumble into the world of foster care adoption. They hope to take in one small child but when they meet three siblings, including a rebellious 15 year old girl, they find themselves speeding from zero to three kids overnight.



Adult Life Skills
6.2

Anna is stuck: she’s approaching 30 and has just moved back to her rural home-town, and into a shed in her mother’s backyard. She spends her time working a menial job at a local boating center and hides in the depths of her imagination, making movies with her thumbs. Irritated by her childish behavior, Anna's mother insists that she move out of her shed and on with her life. When a troubled young boy starts hanging around, the two form an unlikely bond. Through their strange yet mutually beneficial friendship, Anna slowly begins to confront her perpetual state of arrested development.



Life During Wartime

Friends, family, and lovers struggle to find love, forgiveness, and meaning in an almost war-torn world riddled with comedy and pathos.



Family Life
7.2

A young woman, Janice, is living with her restrictive and conservative parents, who lead a dull working-class life and consider their daughter to be “misbehaving” whenever she’s trying to find her own way in life.



The Beach House
6.383

Cara Rudland thought she’d left her Southern roots and troubled family far behind, but returns to the scenic Lowcountry of her childhood summers after losing her job in Chicago. There, she reconnects with her mother Lovie, who has been caring for her young, pregnant friend Toy in her charming beach house.



The War
The War(1994)
6.6

The son of a Vietnam War Veteran must deal with neighborhood bullies as well as his dad's post-traumatic stress disorder while growing up in the deep south in the 1970's.



1969
1969(1988)
5.6

Two rebellious youths, Ralph and Scott, find themselves struggling with adulthood as the Vietnam War rages. Feeling trapped in their small town, Scott battles with his conservative veteran father, Cliff, and Ralph deals with his desperately sexual mother, Ev. When tragic news arrives from overseas, the entire town, inspired by Ralph and Scott's antiwar efforts, reevaluates its attitude toward the war.



The Lost Boys
7.1

When an unsuspecting town newcomer is drawn to local blood fiends, the Frog brothers and other unlikely heroes gear up to rescue him.



Eduardo and Monica
7.7

On an unusual day, a series of coincidences lead Eduardo to meet Monica at a party. A curiosity is aroused between the two and, despite not being alike, they fall madly in love. In 1980s Brasília, their love needs to mature and learn to overcome differences.



Carolina
Carolina(2003)
5.759

A young woman escapes her wildly eccentric family in search for a life of normalcy.



Keith
Keith(2008)
7.042

Natalie is high school royalty, but her queen bee status falls apart when she falls for the new guy at school. Although Keith ignores her at first, they soon become friends -- even though Natalie suspects that Keith has something to hide. As the free-spirited Keith shows Natalie how to embrace what life offers, they grow closer -- until a secret tests the bounds of their relationship



Teen Witch
5.984

Louise is not very popular at her highschool. Then she learns that she's descended from the witches of Salem and has inherited their powers. At first she uses them to get back at the girls and teachers who teased her and to win the heart of the handsome footballer's captain. But soon she has doubts if it's right to 'cheat' her way to popularity.



SPF-18
SPF-18(2017)
4.423

Eighteen-year-old Penny Cooper spent years pining for heartthrob surfer Johnny Sanders Jr. before his father’s tragic death brought them closer together. But now high school is over, and when mysterious country musician Ash Baker shows up on the beach, Penny is torn.



Being 17
Being 17(2016)
6.8

Damien lives with his mother Marianne, a doctor, while his father, a pilot, is on a tour of duty abroad with the French military. At school, Damien is bullied by Thomas, who lives in the farming community up in the mountains. The boys find themselves living together when Marianne invites Thomas to come and stay with them while his mother is ill in hospital. Damien must learn to live with the boy who terrorized him.



Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen

After moving to New Jersey, Lola bags a coveted role in a school play, which earns her the wrath of Carla, the most popular girl in school, who will do anything to ruin Lola's life.



Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging

Georgia Nicolson is fourteen, lives with nosey parents who don't understand her, an annoying three year old sister and has to wear a beret to school. She would, however, rather be blonde, have a smaller nose and a boyfriend. Revolving around her hilarious journal entries, prepare to be engulfed in the world of the soaring joys and bottomless angst of being a teenager.



ATL
ATL(2006)
6.9

As four friends prepare for life after high school, different challenges bring about turning points in each of their lives. The dramas unfold and resolve at their local rollerskating rink, Cascade.



Share
Share(2019)
5.3

After discovering a disturbing video from a night she doesn’t remember, sixteen-year-old Mandy must try to figure out what happened and how to navigate the escalating fallout.



The Party
The Party(1980)
6.604

A thirteen-year-old French girl deals with moving to a new city and school in Paris, while at the same time her parents are getting a divorce.



Better Off Dead...
6.6

High school student Lane Meyer sinks into suicidal depression when his girlfriend dumps him for jock Roy Stalin, the high school ski racing champion. Meanwhile, he has to deal with his eccentric family, a tenacious paperboy and an obnoxious neighbor whose mother is hosting a beautiful French exchange student named Monique.



Soulmates
Soulmates(2021)
6.1

Lifelong best friends, Sam and Jess, are each other’s everything. But when Jess meets a handsome out-of-stater, Landon, Sam begins to fear she’s being cast aside. To make matters worse, a massive corporation - who happens to be Landon’s employer - is threatening the small-town way of life they know and love in Vermont. In order to save her sisterhood and protect the town, Sam will pull out all the stops to keep both Jess’s relationship and the ominous company from developing any further.



Bottoms
Bottoms(2023)
6.743

Unpopular best friends PJ and Josie start a high school self-defense club to meet girls and lose their virginity. They soon find themselves in over their heads when the most popular students start beating each other up in the name of self-defense.



Ordinary Angels
7.682

Inspired by the incredible true story of a hairdresser who single-handedly rallies an entire community to help a widowed father save the life of his critically ill young daughter.



Forever Young
6.43

At the end of the 1980s, Stella, Victor, Adèle and Etienne are 20 years old. They take the entrance exam to the famous acting school created by Patrice Chéreau and Pierre Romans at the Théâtre des Amandiers in Nanterre. Launched at full speed into life, passion, and love, together they will experience the turning point of their lives, but also their first tragedy.



Flower
Flower(2017)
6.3

Rebellious, quick-witted Erica Vandross is a 17-year-old firecracker living with her single mom, Laurie, and her mom's new boyfriend, Bob, in L.A.'s San Fernando Valley. When Bob's mentally unbalanced son, Luke, arrives from rehab to live with the family, Erica finds her domestic and personal life overwhelmed. With Luke and her sidekicks Kala and Claudine in tow, Erica acts out by exposing a high school teacher's dark secret.



#realityhigh
6.257

When nerdy high schooler Dani finally attracts the interest of her longtime crush, she lands in the cross hairs of his ex, a social media celebrity.



Palm Trees and Power Lines

A disconnected teenage girl enters a relationship with a man twice her age. She sees him as the solution to all her problems, but his intentions are not what they seem.



Dumplin'
Dumplin'(2018)
6.773

To prove a point about measuring up and fitting in, Texas teen Willowdean “Dumplin’” Dickson enters a local pageant run by her ex-beauty queen mom.



The Final
The Final(2010)
6

A group of high school outcasts get revenge on the students that torment them.



Accidents Happen
5.9

There are dysfunctional families... and then there are the Conways. After a family tragedy, 15-year-old Billy Conway has become the de facto glue between his bitter mom, distant brother, and stoic dad. But when Billy starts to act out, everything changes for him and his family



Bad Hair Day
6.461

Monica is desperate to be prom queen, but on the big night, her hair is an uncontrollable mess. Meanwhile, FBI agent Liz Morgan is on the hunt for a jewel thief who is looking for a stolen necklace, which Monica has in her possession. Soon, she and the agent chase the jewel thief, and she's whizzed on a wild adventure in the city.



Winter Spring Summer or Fall

Remi and Barnes, two very different teenagers, meet by chance in the winter of their senior year, then spend four days together over the course of a year that will change their lives forever.



Stuck in the Suburbs

Brittany Aarons is one of the many girls who has a crush on popular singer and boy-toy Jordan Cahill. However, she is bored of living a suburban existence and seeks a little something more.



Cerise
Cerise(2015)
5.5

Cerise is fourteen years old but she looks twenty. Cerise grew up on the outskirts, but now she's exiled to Ukraine. Cerise wears excessive amounts of makeup, but she still has a little girl's dreams. Cerise doesn't know her father, even though she's going to have to live with him. Cerise has only ever thought about herself and now she finds herself in the middle of a revolution.



Whatever It Takes
5.8

A nerdy teen, Ryan Woodman is smitten with the popular and gorgeous Ashley Grant, who apparently has no interest in him. Meanwhile, dim star athlete Chris Campbell has his eye on Ryan's brainy and beautiful friend, Maggie Carter. The two agree to help each other in their romantic quests, but, as they come closer to their goals, both Ryan and Chris suspect that they might be pursuing the wrong girls.

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