Highest-Rated Movies about 'American Midwest'

Come and Get It (1936), Fargo (1996), Paper Moon (1973), Elmer Gantry (1960), Splendor in the Grass (1961), Nebraska (2013), Kings Row (1942), Take Shelter (2011) ... Let's take a look at the ranked list of the best American Midwest movies.

#16. A Serious Man (2009)

Storyline: Bloomington, Minnesota, 1967: Jewish physics lecturer Larry Gopnik is a serious and a very put-upon man. His daughter is stealing from him to save up for a nose job, his pot-head son, who gets stoned at his own bar-mitzvah, only wants him round to fix the TV aerial and his useless brother Arthur is an unwelcome house guest. But both Arthur and Larry get turfed out into a motel when Larry's wife Judy, who wants a divorce, moves her lover, Sy, into the house and even after Sy's death in a car crash they are still there. With lawyers' bills mounting for his divorce, Arthur's criminal court appearances and a land feud with a neighbour Larry is tempted to take the bribe offered by a student to give him an illegal exam pass mark. And the rabbis he visits for advice only dole out platitudes. Still God moves in mysterious - and not always pleasant - ways, as Larry and his family will find out.

Plot Keywords: black comedy, jewish culture, moral dilemma, existentialism, fate, religion, midlife crisis ...

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#17. Gypsy 83 (2001)

Storyline: Two young misfits head for New York City to celebrate their idol and muse, Stevie Nicks, at The Night of 1,000 Stevies. Along the road, in order for them to escape their painful pasts, they must discover their strengths and learn self-acceptance.—Sujit R. Varma

Plot Keywords: independent film, lgbtq+, music, road movie, coming of age, friendship, self-discovery ...

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#18. Kingpin (1996)

Storyline: Roy Munson was raised to be the best bowler in the world (trained early on by his father). But a fellow bowler, Ernie McCracken and a misunderstanding with some rough punks, leaves poor Roy with the loss of his bowling hand! Not to let this get him down, he gets a prosthetic hand and becomes a travelling sales man. But it's really all down hill for him from that night on until ... One day he meets Ishmael who is Amish and sneaks away from the farm to bowl (his fellow Amish would disown him if they knew)! Roy convinces Ishmael to let him be his trainer and he'll make him the best bowler the world has ever seen. Reluctantly Ishmael agrees to go on the road and shortly afterwards actually finds that life outside the farm is quite fun. Soon their paths cross that of Ernie McCracken who is still a top ranking bowler. While Roy's career and life have landed in the toilet bowl, Ernie is still drawing huge crowds and all the babes! They both square off for the ultimate bowling championship .....

Plot Keywords: comedy, sports, gambling, revenge, downfall, dark humor, rural ...

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#19. The Reflecting Skin (1990)

Storyline: A young boy tries to cope with rural life circa 1950s and his fantasies become a way to interpret events. After his father tells him stories of vampires, he becomes convinced that the widow up the road is a vampire, and tries to find ways of discouraging his brother from seeing her. He must deal with an abusive mother, a father with a charge of molestation, a band of youths creating havoc, and an unforgiving environment in general.—Ed Sutton <esutton@mindspring.com>

Plot Keywords: gothic, psychological thriller, surrealism, black comedy, childhood trauma, mysticism, allegory ...

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#20. Aurora Borealis (2005)

Storyline: Duncan is a depressed 20-something who has just lost another job. He makes extra money by letting out his flat for his brother's romantic trysts, but when a job comes up as a caretaker in his grandparent's building he takes it. His grandfather has Parkinson's Disease and he and his wife have a caregiver whom Duncan finds compellingly upbeat. As they begin a tentative romance, and Duncan spends more time with his grandparents, he begins to face his feelings about the early loss of his father. A moving drama, set in a frigid Minnesota landscape.—johnno.r[at]xtra.co.nz

Plot Keywords: drama, romance, family, coming of age, life crisis, self-discovery, winter ...

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#21. So Big (1953)

Storyline: After the death of her father and the loss of his fortune, Selina takes a job teaching school in the Dutch community of New Holland. She stays with the Pools and teaches young Roelf piano. He has a crush on her, but it is Pervus she marries. Dirk is their only child. After a few years Pervus dies. With a young child and only the farm, Selina begins her quest to grow high quality vegetables. She wants more for Dirk and guides his life until he graduates from college as an architect. As her vegetable label prospers, she sees Paula control Dirk's life as he moves away from creating and into sales, which is not where he wants to go.—Tony Fontana <tony.fontana@spacebbs.com>

Plot Keywords: drama, family, farm life, female coming-of-age, novel adaptation, motherhood, struggle ...

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#22. The Big Kahuna (1999)

Storyline: On the last evening of a convention two seen-it-all industrial lubricant salesmen and a youngster from the research department gather in the hotel's hospitality suite to host a delegates party. The main aim is to get the business of one particular big fish. When it becomes apparent that it is the lad who has developed a direct line to the guy, his strong religious beliefs bring him into sharp conflict with his older and more cynical colleagues.

Plot Keywords: drama, comedy, dialogue-driven, business, interpersonal relationships, moral dilemma, midlife crisis ...

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#23. Drop Dead Gorgeous (1999)

Storyline: In a small Minnesota town, the annual beauty pageant is being covered by a TV crew. Former winner Gladys Leeman wants to make sure her daughter follows in her footsteps. Explosions, falling lights, and trailer fires prove that. As the Leemans are the richest family in town the police are pretty relaxed about it all. Despite everything, main rival (but nice) Amber Atkins won't be stopped. There could well be more death and disappointment to come.

Plot Keywords: dark comedy, beauty pageant, satire, small-town life, teenagers, competition, murder mystery ...

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#24. Dutch (1991)

Storyline: Working-class good guy Dutch Dooley is the current boyfriend of a wealthy, snobbish tycoon's ex-wife. Volunteering to drive the woman's son home for Thanksgiving to Chicago from his boarding school in Georgia, little does Dutch expect the picaresque adventures in store for him. When a blunt, down-to-earth construction worker takes to the road with an insufferable twelve-year-old snob (desperately insecure under the surface) who does not approve of him in the least, quite a little must happen before they can reach their destination as friends -- or, for that matter, get home at all.

Plot Keywords: comedy, family, christmas, road movie, father-son relationship, american film, 1990s ...

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#25. Sex Drive (2008)

Storyline: Ian is a high school senior in suburban Chicago, plagued by being a virgin. Online he's inflated his resume, met Ms. Tasty, and agreed to drive to Knoxville where she promises sex. He steals his homophobic, macho brother's GTO, and, with his two best friends, Lance and Felicia, heads south. Every young woman who meets Lance, including Felicia, is attracted to him, as he practices his aptly learned "Pick-Up Artist" skills. Ian, on the other hand, is a decent guy who wouldn't mind if his friendship with Felicia became a romance. By the time they get to Knoxville, they have encountered a jealous boyfriend, a menacing hitchhiker, jail birds, carjackers, an Amish community, and Ian's better judgment.

Plot Keywords: road movie, sexual humor, coming of age, bromance, sexual exploration, sexual awakening, crude humor ...

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#26. Kansas City (1996)

Storyline: Robert Altman's jazz-scored film explores themes of love, crime, race, and politics in 1930s Kansas City. When Blondie O'Hara's husband, a petty thief, is captured by Seldom Seen and held at the Hey Hey Club, she launches a desperate plan to release him. She kidnaps the wife of a powerful local politician in an attempt to blackmail him into using his connections to free Johnny. Despite this being election time, he risks exposure by putting the political machine into action to free Johnny and thereby save his wife. Mrs. Stilton, meanwhile, has befriended Blondie and is impressed by her love and devotion to Johnny, especially in contrast to her own loveless marriage.—Tad Dibbern <DIBBERN_D@a1.mscf.upenn.edu>

Plot Keywords: crime, film noir, jazz, 1930s, kidnapping, gangsters, political corruption ...

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#27. Love and Terror on the Howling Plains of Nowhere (2014)

Storyline: In an isolated, high-plains community, a brilliant mathematics professor disappears from the local college without a trace. Three months later his body is discovered tied to a tree and burned beyond recognition in the remote hills south of campus. Iconoclastic author Poe Ballantine searches for clues related to the case while reflecting on his own life of wanderlust.—32-20 Productions

Plot Keywords: documentary, mystery, true story, investigation, disappearance, small town, murder ...

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#28. It Happens Every Thursday (1953)

Storyline: New York reporter Bob MacAvoy is persuaded by pregnant wife Jane to buy a broken-down weekly newspaper in Eden, California. They have humorous problems with small town mores and eccentric citizens. But their schemes to increase circulation get them in over their heads.—Rod Crawford <puffinus@u.washington.edu>

Plot Keywords: comedy, romance, family, small-town life, marriage, entrepreneurship, american dream ...

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#29. 1922 (2017)

Storyline: Featuring shades of Edgar Allen Poe's ["A Tell-tale Heart" and] "The Black Cat", 1922, with a Bonny and Clyde sub-plot, based on the Stephen King novella of the same name, centers on simple but proud farmer, Wilfred James, who, with the reluctant help of his teenage son, murders his wife to gain ownership of her inherited land. Shortly after, however, strange and supernatural occurrences begin to plague both James and his farm. Is it just simple bad luck, or is it the work of something much more sinister?

Plot Keywords: crime, thriller, horror, drama, mystery, psychological thriller, murder ...

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#30. The Ice Harvest (2005)

Storyline: Larceny, lust and lethal behavior. In icebound Wichita, Kansas, it's Christmas Eve, and this year Charlie Arglist just might have something to celebrate. Charlie, an attorney for the sleazy businesses of Wichita, and his unsavory associate, the steely Vic Cavanaugh have just successfully embezzled $2 million from Kansas City boss Bill Guerrard. But the real prize for Charlie is the stunning Renata, who runs the Sweet Cage strip club. Charlie hopes to slip out of town with Renata. But as daylight fades and an ice storm whirls, everyone from Charlie's drinking buddy Pete Van Heuten to the local police begin to wonder just what exactly is in Charlie's Christmas stocking - and the 12 hours of Christmas Eve are filled with surprises.

Plot Keywords: film noir, crime, comedy, thriller, christmas, betrayal, greed ...

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