Movies Like Mommie Dearest
If you liked Mommie Dearest (1981), a drama movie directed by Frank Perry, 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

A Thousand and One (2023)
★ 6.6/10Also dramaStruggling but unapologetically living on her own terms, Inez is moving from shelter to shelter in mid-1990s New York City. With her 6-year-old son Terry in foster care and unable to leave him again, she kidnaps him so…
- 2

May December (2023)
★ 6.6/10Also dramaTwenty 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.
- 3

Gimme Shelter (2013)
★ 6.6/10Also dramaAfter running away from her abusive mother, a streetwise teen seeks refuge with her father, but he rejects her when he learns that she's pregnant.
- 4

Boy A (2008)
★ 7.1/10Also dramaFreed after a lengthy term in a juvenile detention center, convicted child killer Jack Burridge finds work as a deliveryman and begins dating co-worker Michelle. While out on the road one day, Jack notices a distressed…
- 5

The Chronology of Water (2025)
★ 6.7/10Also dramaPlagued by an abusive childhood, a woman finds escape in competitive swimming, sexual experimentation, toxic relationships, and addiction before ultimately finding her voice through writing.
- 6

Bird (2024)
★ 7.2/10Also drama12-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.
- 7

Blonde (2022)
★ 5.9/10Also dramaFrom her volatile childhood as Norma Jeane, through her rise to stardom and romantic entanglements, this reimagined fictional portrait of Hollywood legend Marilyn Monroe blurs the lines of fact and fiction to explore…
- 8

The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (1946)
★ 7.1/10Also dramaThree childhood friends, Martha, Walter and Sam, share a terrible secret. Over time, the ambitious Martha and the pusillanimous Walter have married. She is a cold businesswoman; he is the district attorney: a perfect…
- 9

Frances (1982)
★ 6.9/10Also dramaThe true story of Frances Farmer's meteoric rise to fame in Hollywood and the tragic turn her life took when she was blacklisted.
- 10

Cape Fear (1991)
★ 7.3/10Also dramaSam Bowden is a small-town corporate attorney. Max Cady is a tattooed, cigar-smoking, Bible-quoting, psychotic rapist. What do they have in common? 14 years ago, Sam was a public defender assigned to Max Cady's rape…
- 11

The Trials of Cate McCall (2013)
★ 6.4/10Also dramaIn order to be reinstated to the bar and recover custody of her daughter, a hotshot lawyer, now in recovery and on probation, must take on the appeal of a woman wrongfully convicted of murder.
- 12

Nocturnal Animals (2016)
★ 7.4/10Also dramaSusan Morrow receives a book manuscript from her ex-husband – a man she left 20 years earlier – asking for her opinion of his writing. As she reads, she is drawn into the fictional life of Tony Hastings, a mathematics…
- 13

Like Dandelion Dust (2009)
★ 7.1/10Also dramaRip Porter is sentenced to seven years in prison for beating his wife, Wendy. When he is released, he discovers that Wendy gave up their child, and the privileged Campbell family adopted him. The two families are soon…
- 14

The Color Purple (1985)
★ 7.7/10Also dramaAn epic tale spanning forty years in the life of Celie, an African-American woman living in the South who survives incredible abuse and bigotry. After Celie's abusive father marries her off to the equally debasing…
- 15

Maps to the Stars (2014)
★ 6.2/10Also dramaDriven by an intense need for fame and validation, members of a dysfunctional Hollywood family chase celebrity, one another, and the relentless ghosts of their pasts. Their fragile ecosystem is disrupted by the arrival…
- 16

Tuesday (2024)
★ 6.8/10Also dramaA mother and her teenage daughter must confront Death when it arrives in the form of an astonishing talking bird.
- 17

The Tale (2018)
★ 7.1/10Also dramaAn investigation into one woman’s memory as she‘s forced to re-examine her first sexual relationship and the stories we tell ourselves in order to survive.
- 18

Fish Tank (2009)
★ 6.9/10Also dramaFifteen-year-old Mia is in a constant state of war with her family and the world around her. When she meets her party-girl mother’s charming new boyfriend Connor, she is amazed to find he returns her attention, and…
- 19

Sleepwalking (2008)
★ 6.1/10Also dramaWhen her boyfriend is arrested for marijuana possession, Joleen Reedy and her 11-year-old daughter, Tara, take refuge with Joleen's aimless brother, James. Joleen soon runs off with a truck driver, and James is unable…
- 20

Sherrybaby (2006)
★ 6.1/10Also dramaAfter serving time in prison, former drug addict Sherry Swanson returns home to reclaim her young daughter from family members who have been raising the child. Sherry's family, especially her sister-in-law, doubt…