Movies Like Cardboard Skies

If you liked Cardboard Skies (2026), a movie directed by Lainey Wagoner, 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
20th Century Women (2016)
★ 7.3/10
In 1979 Santa Barbara, California, Dorothea Fields is a determined single mother in her mid-50s who is raising her adolescent son, Jamie, at a moment brimming with cultural change and rebellion. Dorothea enlists the…
2
It's Complicated (2009)
★ 6.5/10
Ten years after their divorce, Jane and Jake Adler unite for their son's college graduation and unexpectedly end up sleeping together. But Jake is married, and Jane is embarking on a new romance with her architect…
3
Stepmom (1998)
★ 7.2/10
Jackie is a divorced mother of two. Isabel is the career minded girlfriend of Jackie’s ex-husband Luke, forced into the role of unwelcome stepmother to their children. But when Jackie discovers she is ill, both women…
4
Boyhood (2014)
★ 7.5/10
The film tells a story of a divorced couple trying to raise their young son. The story follows the boy for twelve years, from first grade at age 6 through 12th grade at age 17-18, and examines his relationship with his…
5
The Fabelmans (2022)
★ 7.5/10
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…
6
The Goldfinch (2019)
★ 7.1/10
A boy in New York is taken in by a wealthy family after his mother is killed in a bombing at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. In a rush of panic, he steals 'The Goldfinch', a painting that eventually draws him into a…
7
Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992)
★ 6.8/10
Instead of flying to Florida with his folks, Kevin ends up alone in New York, where he gets a hotel room with his dad's credit card—despite problems from a clerk and meddling bellboy. But when Kevin runs into his old…
8
Paperman (2012)
★ 8/10
An urban office worker finds that paper airplanes are instrumental in meeting a girl in ways he never expected.
9
Annie (2014)
★ 6.2/10
Annie is a young, happy foster kid who's also tough enough to make her way on the streets of New York in 2014. Originally left by her parents as a baby with the promise that they'd be back for her someday, it's been a…
10
Michael (2026)
★ 8.6/10
The story of Michael Jackson, one of the most influential artists the world has ever known, and his life beyond the music. His journey from the discovery of his extraordinary talent as the lead of the Jackson Five, to…
11
Sneakerella (2022)
★ 5.9/10
When El, an aspiring sneaker designer from Queens, meets Kira King, the fiercely independent daughter of legendary basketball star and sneaker tycoon Darius King, sparks fly as the two bond over their mutual affinity…
12
Better Man (2024)
★ 7.6/10
Follow Robbie Williams' journey from childhood, to being the youngest member of chart-topping boyband Take That, through to his unparalleled achievements as a record-breaking solo artist – all the while confronting the…
13
The Great Gilly Hopkins (2015)
★ 6.6/10
Young and feisty Gilly Hopkins devises a scheme to escape from her new foster home and reunite with her birth mother.
14
Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging (2008)
★ 6.5/10
Georgia Nicolson is fourteen, lives with nosey parents who don't understand her, an annoying three year old sister and has to wear a beret to school. She would, however, rather be blonde, have a smaller nose and a…
15
A Very Jonas Christmas Movie (2025)
★ 6.2/10
Kevin, Nick, and Joe Jonas face a series of escalating obstacles as they struggle to make it from London to New York in time to spend Christmas with their families.
16
Rebel Without a Cause (1955)
★ 7.5/10
After moving to a new town, troublemaking teen Jim Stark is supposed to have a clean slate, although being the new kid in town brings its own problems. While searching for some stability, Stark forms a bond with a…
17
Taking Woodstock (2009)
★ 6.2/10
The story of Elliot Tiber and his family, who inadvertently played a pivotal role in making the famed Woodstock Music and Arts Festival into the happening that it was. When Elliot hears that a neighboring town has…
18
Freaky Friday (2003)
★ 6.6/10
Mother and daughter bicker over everything -- what Anna wears, whom she likes and what she wants to do when she's older. In turn, Anna detests Tess's fiancé. When a magical fortune cookie switches their personalities…
19
Riding in Cars with Boys (2001)
★ 6.7/10
In 1965, a young woman with dreams of becoming a writer has a son at the age of 15 and struggles to make things work with the drug-addicted father.
20
Diary of a Wimpy Kid (2010)
★ 6.3/10
Greg Heffley is headed for big things, but first he has to survive the scariest, most humiliating experience of any kid’s life – middle school! That won’t be easy, considering he’s surrounded by hairy-freckled morons…