Top 10 Depressing Movies With A Happy Ending

Whether you cry sad tears or happy tears, you’ll need your tissues ready for this one. Welcome to WatchMojo.com and today we’ll be counting down our picks for the Top 10 Depressing Movies That Have a Happy Ending.

For this list, we’re taking a look at movies that had us down in the dumps, but then left us feeling ultimately uplifted. Since we’ll be discussing film endings, a spoiler alert is most definitely in order.

This coming-of-age drama isn’t just renowned for its strong themes and sumptuous cinematography. After watching Chiron grow through a pretty tragic childhood, adolescence and adulthood, you’re really rooting for the guy by the movie’s climax, which is what makes this happy ending oh-so-sweet. Following a seemingly endless struggle with his sexuality, school bullies and an abusive, drug-addicted mother, Chiron eventually reunites with childhood best friend Kevin. After years of romantic tension, Chiron admits to Kevin that he hasn’t been intimate with anyone since their first encounter and they embrace, finally free to love each other - a tender and emotional ending that had us all reaching for our handkerchiefs.

This Depression-era drama follows the real-life story of boxer James J. Braddock, who’s forced to give up the sport due to injuries to his right hand. After struggling financially for years, he’s offered a last-minute boxing job as a substitute. Miraculously, he finds that he can still fight - and win - thanks to a defter left hand. In a true rags-to-riches story, he defeats the daunting heavyweight champion Max Baer, and uses the prize money to buy a house where he and his wife live happily ever after - giving us the fairy-tale ending we were pining for.

Who could forget Julia Roberts playing this film’s formidable namesake? Erin struggles through unemployment and single motherhood before landing a low-paying job at a law firm. When sent to Hinkley, California, however, she encounters tales of far worse troubles. The residents there suffer severe health issues due chromium dumped by gas and electric company PG&E. Smelling a rat, Brockovich takes on the case herself, listening to all their stories of death and disease. After all this build-up, her big win against the company is just that much more satisfying. Justice can sweet!

Growing up on a cotton plantation, Cecil had a harrowing childhood, witnessing both the rape of his mother and his father’s murder. After escaping, he starts a new life as a butler and lands a job at the White House, but even then his struggles are far from over. In a racially divided country, his sons also face discrimination, and the fallout leaves Cecil and his oldest son Louis on bad terms, while his youngest is killed in Vietnam. In all this gloom, the film’s denouement is a light in the dark, as we see Cecil reconcile with his remaining son, and live to meet the country’s first African American President. Cue the waterworks!

How do you begin a normal life after being held captive for seven years? Five-year old Jack has grown up inside a small shed, the son of abductee Joy, who’s repeatedly raped by Jack’s biological father. It doesn’t get much darker than that. After escaping, both struggle to adjust to the outside world, which Jack had thought only existed on TV. It’s a depressing tale told with all too much realism, but in film’s final moments, as Joy recovers from a suicide attempt, Jack gives her strength, and together, they visit Room one last time - saying goodbye and leaving audiences weeping.

Figuring out your place in the world can be tough, especially for people like Will Hunting. After an abusive childhood, Will lives in a rundown neighbourhood, with a dead-end job and no hope for the future. His natural genius is wasted as he finds himself mired in his dark past. It’s only thanks to the efforts of therapist Sean Maguire that we get our happy ending. It arrives when best friend Chuckie arrives to pick him up for another day of work - and smiles when he realizes that Will has finally set himself free.

This coming-of-age war drama follows Jim, a British boy whose privileged life in Shanghai is upturned when the Japanese take over the international settlement. Separated from his parents, he’s forced to live in fear and squalor as a prisoner of war. In the internment camp, he becomes a seasoned survivor, but even the elation of his eventual liberation is cut short when his Japanese friend is killed by a well-meaning US soldier. It’s enough turmoil and heartbreak for any movie, and it’s only in the last scenes that we’re given something happy to hang onto - with Jim’s reunion with his lost parents hitting us right in the feels.

Some movies don’t just have happy endings - they earn them. This biographical drama follows Chris Gardner as he fights the odds to make a better life for himself and his family. Struggling to make ends meet at a salesman, then accepting an unpaid internship at a stock brokerage firm, he’s eventually left homeless, living on the streets with his son. But through hard work and innovative strategies in his internship, he’s finally rewarded - landing a lucrative job as a broker in an emotional scene that gets us every time.

This brutal depiction of slavery hits even harder when you realize just how accurate it is. After being abducted by slavers in New York state, violinist Solomon is plunged into a life of horror working on a cotton plantation in the south. Day after day, he witnesses other slaves whipped, raped, and murdered. It’s only after several attempts, and a savage betrayal, that he manages to get word out to his loved ones. The ending sees him return to his family in the north and, just to up the emotional impact even more, hold for the first time his baby grandson.

Before we get to our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions:

“About Schmidt” (2002)

“Up” (2009)

“Forrest Gump” (1994)

“The Truman Show” (1998)

“Life is Beautiful” (1997)

If you’re after the ultimate redemption story, look no further than this Stephen King adaptation. Banker Andy Dufresne is hit with double tragedies: the murder of his wife, and two consecutive life sentences in Shawshank State Penitentiary, where he’s routinely bullied and raped. Think he escapes and proves his innocence? Well, you’re wrong . . . This isn’t “The Fugitive”. Instead, he remains in prison for 19 years . . . until it’s revealed he’s slowly chipped away at his cell wall and escaped. Through patience and determination, Dufresne leaves years of suffering behind - and audiences a blubbering mess.