Movies Like Holding onto Home

If you liked Holding onto Home (2025), a movie directed by Arash Sedighi, 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
Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life (2016)
★ 6.9/10
A quiet teenage artist Rafe Katchadorian has a wild imagination and is sick of middle school and the rules that have been put before him. Rafe and his best friend Leo have come up with a plan: break every rule in the…
2
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.
3
House Party (1990)
★ 6.4/10
Young Kid has been invited to a party at his friend Play's house. But after a fight at school, Kid's father grounds him. None the less, Kid sneaks out when his father falls asleep. But Kid doesn't know that three of…
4
Spontaneous (2020)
★ 6.7/10
When students in their high school begin inexplicably exploding (literally), seniors Mara and Dylan struggle to survive in a world where each moment may be their last.
5
She's All That (1999)
★ 6.4/10
High school hotshot Zach Siler is the envy of his peers. But his popularity declines sharply when his cheerleader girlfriend, Taylor, leaves him for sleazy reality-television star Brock Hudson. Desperate to revive his…
6
The Sweet East (2023)
★ 6.5/10
A picaresque journey through contemporary America, undertaken by a young woman granted access to the strange sects and cults that proliferate in this country by a series of gatekeepers eager to win her over.
7
Words on Bathroom Walls (2020)
★ 7.8/10
Diagnosed with a mental illness halfway through his senior year of high school, a witty, introspective teen struggles to keep it a secret while falling in love with a brilliant classmate who inspires him to open his…
8
The DUFF (2015)
★ 6.8/10
Bianca's universe turns upside down when she learns that her high school refers to her as a ‘DUFF' (Designated Ugly Fat Friend). Hoping to erase that label, she enlists the help of a charming jock and her favorite…
9
The Good Lie (2014)
★ 7.5/10
A young refugee of the Sudanese Civil War who wins a lottery for relocation to the United States with three other lost boys. Encountering the modern world for the first time, they develop an unlikely friendship with a…
10
God Grew Tired of Us (2006)
★ 7.3/10
Filmmaker Christopher Quinn observes the ordeal of three Sudanese refugees -- Jon Bul Dau, Daniel Abul Pach and Panther Bior -- as they try to come to terms with the horrors they experienced in their homeland, while…
11
Lucas (1986)
★ 6.7/10
A brilliant but socially inept 14-year-old experiences heartbreak for the first time when his two best friends – Cappie, an older-brother figure, and Maggie, the new girl with whom he is in love – fall for each other.
12
Freedom Writers (2007)
★ 7.9/10
A young teacher inspires her class of at-risk students to learn tolerance, apply themselves, and pursue education beyond high school.
13
Asylum (1972)
★ 6.1/10
A young psychiatrist applies for a job at a mental asylum and must pass a test by interviewing four patients. He must figure out which of the patients, is in fact, the doctor that he would be replacing if hired.
14
The Fallout (2021)
★ 7.5/10
In the wake of a school tragedy, Vada, Mia and Quinton form a unique and dynamic bond as they navigate the never linear, often confusing journey to heal in a world that feels forever changed.
15
The Hate U Give (2018)
★ 8.1/10
Raised in a poverty-stricken slum, a 16-year-old girl named Starr now attends a suburban prep school. After she witnesses a police officer shoot her unarmed best friend, she's torn between her two very different worlds…
16
Snoopy Presents: Lucy's School (2022)
★ 7.3/10
The Peanuts gang is anxious about starting at a new school in the fall, inspiring Lucy to start her own school instead. She soon learns that teaching isn't as easy as it sounds and that change can be a good thing.
17
The Spectacular Now (2013)
★ 6.7/10
Sutter, a popular party animal, unexpectedly meets the introverted Aimee after waking up on a stranger's lawn. As Sutter deals with the problems in his life and Aimee plans for her future beyond school, an unexpected…
18
The Girl in the Book (2015)
★ 5.8/10
The story of a young writer's transformation when her past invades her present.
19
Massacre at Central High (1976)
★ 5.9/10
Maimed by bullies at a California high school, a new student engineers acts of revenge.
20
Tigertail (2020)
★ 6.7/10
A man reflects on the lost love of his youth and his long-ago journey from Taiwan to America as he begins to reconnect with his estranged daughter.