Movies Like Play within a Play

If you liked Play within a Play (2013), a movie directed by Yasmijn Karhof, 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
Ghostlight (2024)
★ 7.2/10
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…
2
Madeline's Madeline (2018)
★ 5.9/10
Madeline has become an integral part of a prestigious physical theater troupe. When the workshop's ambitious director pushes the teenager to weave her rich interior world and troubled history with her mother into their…
3
Here (2024)
★ 6.5/10
An odyssey through time and memory, centered on a place in New Jersey where—from wilderness, and then, later, from a home—love, loss, struggle, hope and legacy play out between couples and families over generations.
4
Unthinkable (2010)
★ 6.8/10
The government gets wind of a plot to destroy America involving a trio of nuclear weapons for which the whereabouts are unknown. It's up to a seasoned interrogator and an FBI agent to find out exactly where the nukes…
5
If Anything Happens I Love You (2020)
★ 7.7/10
Grieving parents journey through an emotional void as they mourn the loss of a child after a tragic school shooting.
6
Rushmore (1998)
★ 7.4/10
When a beautiful first-grade teacher arrives at a prep school, she soon attracts the attention of an ambitious teenager named Max, who quickly falls in love with her. Max turns to the father of two of his schoolmates…
7
May December (2023)
★ 6.6/10
Twenty years after their notorious tabloid romance gripped the nation, a married couple buckles under the pressure when an actress arrives to do research for a film about their past.
8
Una (2017)
★ 6/10
When a young woman unexpectedly arrives at an older man's workplace, looking for answers, the secrets of the past threaten to unravel his new life.
9
Me and You and Everyone We Know (2005)
★ 7/10
Single dad Richard meets Christine, a starving artist who moonlights as a cabbie. They awkwardly attempt to start a romance, but Richard’s divorce has left him emotionally damaged. Meanwhile, Richard’s sons—one a…
10
The Sixth Sense (1999)
★ 8/10
Following an unexpected tragedy, child psychologist Malcolm Crowe meets a nine year old boy named Cole Sear, who is hiding a dark secret.
11
Bird (2024)
★ 7.2/10
12-year-old Bailey lives with her single dad Bug and brother Hunter in a squat in North Kent. Bug doesn’t have much time for his kids, and Bailey, who is approaching puberty, seeks attention and adventure elsewhere.
12
Normal (2003)
★ 6.7/10
A Midwestern husband and father announces his plan to have a sex change operation.
13
Thunder Road (2018)
★ 6.8/10
A police officer faces a personal meltdown following a divorce and the death of his mother.
14
From Straight A's to XXX (2017)
★ 5.9/10
When a change of circumstances leaves Miriam unable to pay her college tuition, she makes a surprising decision: to start performing in adult films, using the pseudonym Belle Knox. Miriam lies to her family and her…
15
Gracie (2007)
★ 6.2/10
A teenager faces an uphill battle when she fights to give women the opportunity to play competitive soccer.
16
The Party (2017)
★ 6.3/10
Various individuals think they’re coming together for a party in a private home, but a series of revelations results in a huge crisis that throws their belief systems – and their values – into total disarray.
17
Othello (1951)
★ 7.4/10
Manipulated by his jealous ensign Iago, the Moorish general Othello is driven to believe that his new wife Desdemona is unfaithful, setting in motion a chain of deception, jealousy, and violence that leads to tragedy.
18
A Family Man (2016)
★ 6.7/10
Dane Jensen is a driven, Chicago-based headhunter, working at a cut-throat job placement firm. When his boss pits Dane against Lynn Vogel, Dane's equally driven but polar-opposite rival at the firm, in a battle for…
19
Kinds of Kindness (2024)
★ 6.5/10
A triptych fable following a man without choice who tries to take control of his own life; a policeman who is alarmed that his wife who was missing-at-sea has returned and seems a different person; and a woman…
20
Knox Goes Away (2024)
★ 6.9/10
A contract killer, after being diagnosed with a fast-moving form of dementia, is presented with the opportunity to redeem himself by saving the life of his estranged adult son. But to do so, he must race against the…