Movies Like Pens and Pencils

If you liked Pens and Pencils (2022), a movie directed by Gia-Rayne Harris, here are 20 movies with a similar feel, based on TMDB's recommendations. Each one links to its cast, trailer and where it's streaming.

1
Fist Fight (2017)
★ 6/10
When one school teacher gets the other fired, he is challenged to an after-school fight.
2
Dirty Teacher (2013)
★ 5.9/10
When a high school senior discovers her teacher is seducing her boyfriend, events turn deadly after the teacher tries to cover it up.
3
The True Adventures of Wolfboy (2019)
★ 5.9/10
Follows a young boy who runs away from home in the search of his estranged mother.
4
Summer School (1987)
★ 6.4/10
A high-school gym teacher has big plans for the summer, but is forced to cancel them to teach a "bonehead" English class for misfit goof-off students. Fortunately, his unconventional brand of teaching fun field trips…
5
Nowhere to Be Found (2019)
★ 7.5/10
A mother's worst nightmare comes true when her teenage daughter goes missing.
6
The Substitute 2: School's Out (1998)
★ 6.5/10
When teacher Randall Thomasson is killed during a carjacking, an unexpected visitor shows up at his funeral - his estranged brother, Karl Thomasson. An ex-Green Beret turned mercenary, Karl signs on as a new substitute…
7
Cracks (2009)
★ 6.6/10
Jealousy flares after the headmistress of an elite boarding school for girls becomes obsessed with a new student.
8
The Pelican Brief (1993)
★ 6.6/10
A law student's theory about the recent deaths of two Supreme Court justices embroils her in a far-reaching web of murder, corruption, and greed.
9
Beast (2022)
★ 6.5/10
A recently widowed man and his two teenage daughters travel to a game reserve in South Africa. However, their journey of healing soon turns into a fight for survival when a bloodthirsty lion starts to stalk them.
10
Steve (2025)
★ 6.3/10
Over one intense day, the devoted head teacher of a last-chance reform school strives to keep his students in line while facing pressures of his own.
11
Bad Apples (2026)
★ 6.9/10
A struggling primary school teacher is forced to take drastic action because of a foul-mouthed, violent student, and uncovers how her community will turn a blind eye to the most outrageous events to preserve harmony…
12
Fortress (1985)
★ 6.9/10
After being kidnapped by four masked men, a teacher and her students rebel by plotting against the criminals.
13
The Invisible (2007)
★ 6.4/10
After an attack leaves him in limbo -- invisible to the living and also near death -- a teenager discovers the only person who might be able help him is his attacker.
14
The Haunting Hour: Don't Think About It (2007)
★ 6.9/10
Cassie, a 13 year old Gothic girl, is trying to fit in at her new school. To entertain herself, she plays a series of pranks on the popular kids and her younger brother, Max. When she goes to a Halloween store looking…
15
The Count of Monte-Cristo (1975)
★ 6.8/10
Young sailor Edmond Dantès is wrongfully imprisoned, escapes, finds treasure, and reinvents himself as the wealthy Count of Monte Cristo to exact revenge on those who betrayed him.
16
Dead Poets Society (1989)
★ 8.3/10
At an elite, old-fashioned boarding school in New England, a passionate English teacher inspires his students to rebel against convention and seize the potential of every day, courting the disdain of the stern…
17
Jude (1996)
★ 6.3/10
In late 19th-century England, Jude aspires to be an academic, but is hobbled by his blue-collar background. Instead, he works as a stonemason and is trapped in an unloving marriage to a farmer's daughter named…
18
Peggy Sue Got Married (1986)
★ 6.1/10
At her 25th high school reunion, Peggy Sue faints and awakens in 1960—back in her senior year, before her marriage and all her regrets. Given a second chance to relive her youth, she must decide whether to change the…
19
The Lost Bus (2025)
★ 7/10
A determined father risks everything to rescue a dedicated teacher and her students from a raging wildfire.
20
Stargirl (2020)
★ 7.4/10
An unassuming high schooler finds himself inexplicably drawn to the free-spirited new girl, whose unconventional ways change how they see themselves…and their world.