Movies Like Riding in Cars with Boys

If you liked Riding in Cars with Boys (2001), a drama and comedy movie directed by Penny Marshall, 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
Fatherhood (2021)
★ 7.5/10Also drama and comedy
A widowed new dad copes with doubts, fears, heartache and dirty diapers as he sets out to raise his daughter on his own. Inspired by a true story.
2
The Girl in the Book (2015)
★ 5.8/10Also drama
The story of a young writer's transformation when her past invades her present.
3
Moxie (2021)
★ 7.2/10Also comedy and drama
Inspired by her mom's rebellious past and a confident new friend, a shy 16-year-old publishes an anonymous zine calling out sexism at her school.
4
Losing Isaiah (1995)
★ 6.5/10Also drama
Khaila Richards, a crack-addicted single mother, accidentally leaves her baby in a dumpster while high and returns the next day in a panic to find he is missing. In reality, the baby has been adopted by a warm-hearted…
5
Goodrich (2024)
★ 6.4/10Also comedy and drama
Andy Goodrich's life is upended when his wife enters a rehab program, leaving him on his own with their young kids. Goodrich leans on his daughter from his first marriage, Grace, as he ultimately evolves into the…
6
Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood (2002)
★ 6/10Also comedy and drama
In a sleepy Louisiana parish, a group of lifelong friends stage a rather unorthodox intervention to help a young playwright unravel the truth about her complicated mother and let go of her painful past.
7
Young Adult (2011)
★ 5.8/10Also comedy and drama
A divorced writer from the Midwest returns to her hometown to reconnect with an old flame, who's now married with a family.
8
Lady Bird (2017)
★ 7.2/10Also drama and comedy
Lady Bird McPherson, a strong willed, deeply opinionated, artistic 17 year old comes of age in Sacramento. Her relationship with her mother and her upbringing are questioned and tested as she plans to head off to…
9
Double Mommy (2016)
★ 7.4/10Also drama
After taking a break for the summer before their senior year, Ryan and Jess rekindle their relationship, and find out that Jess is pregnant with twins. When Ryan's mother demands a paternity test, they find out that…
10
The Fabelmans (2022)
★ 7.5/10Also drama
Growing up in post-World War II era Arizona, young Sammy Fabelman aspires to become a filmmaker as he reaches adolescence, but soon discovers a shattering family secret and explores how the power of films can help him…
11
Short Term 12 (2013)
★ 7.7/10Also drama
Grace, a compassionate young supervisor at a foster care facility, helps at-risk teens. But when a new charge dredges up memories of her own troubled past, Grace's tough exterior begins eroding.
12
JOY (2024)
★ 6.9/10Also drama
A young nurse, a visionary scientist and an innovative surgeon face opposition from the church, state, media and medical establishment, in their pursuit of the world’s first ‘test tube baby’, Louise Joy Brown.
13
Good One (2024)
★ 6.6/10Also drama
On a weekend backpacking trip in the Catskills, 17-year-old Sam contends with the competing egos of her father and his oldest friend.
14
Priscilla (2023)
★ 6.7/10Also drama
When teenage Priscilla Beaulieu meets Elvis Presley at a party, the man who is already a meteoric rock-and-roll superstar becomes someone entirely unexpected in private moments: a thrilling crush, an ally in…
15
Call Jane (2022)
★ 6.5/10Also drama
A married woman with an unwanted pregnancy lives in a time in America where she can't get a legal abortion and works with a group of suburban women to find help.
16
Being Charlie (2016)
★ 6.2/10Also drama
Charlie is a troublesome 18-year-old who breaks out of a youth drug treatment clinic, but when he returns home to Los Angeles, he's given an intervention by his parents and forced to go to an adult rehab. There, he…
17
Before I Fall (2017)
★ 7/10Also drama
Samantha Kingston has everything. Then, everything changes. After one fateful night, she wakes up with no future at all. Trapped into reliving the same day over and over, she begins to question just how perfect her…
18
Hot Milk (2025)
★ 5.9/10Also drama
Rose and her daughter Sofia travel to the Spanish seaside town of Almería to consult with the shamanic Dr. Gomez, a physician who could possibly hold the cure to Rose’s mystery illness, which has left her bound to a…
19
Ghostlight (2024)
★ 7.2/10Also comedy and drama
When melancholic construction worker Dan finds himself drifting from his wife and daughter, he discovers community and purpose in a local theater's production of Romeo and Juliet. As the drama onstage starts to mirror…
20
Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret. (2023)
★ 7.1/10Also comedy and drama
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.