Movies Like Joy

If you liked Joy (2015), a movie directed by Solomon Onita Jr., 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
The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind (2019)
★ 7.9/10
Against all the odds, a thirteen year old boy in Malawi invents an unconventional way to save his family and village from famine.
2
Light of My Life (2019)
★ 6.5/10
Years after a pandemic wipes out most of the female population, a father struggles to shield his daughter from a dangerous and predatory world.
3
Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret. (2023)
★ 7.1/10
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.
4
Tuesday (2024)
★ 6.8/10
A mother and her teenage daughter must confront Death when it arrives in the form of an astonishing talking bird.
5
The Hill (2023)
★ 7.7/10
The story of Rickey Hill, who overcomes his physical disability and repairs his relationship with his father in a quest to become a major league baseball (MLB) player.
6
Gracie (2007)
★ 6.2/10
A teenager faces an uphill battle when she fights to give women the opportunity to play competitive soccer.
7
Author! Author! (1982)
★ 6/10
A broadway playwright is burning the candle at both ends. He is dealing with pressure from a production nearing premiere, a wife who is leaving him, and 5 children 4 of which belong to her.
8
Grandma (2015)
★ 6.4/10
Self-described misanthrope Elle Reid has her protective bubble burst when her 18-year-old granddaughter, Sage, shows up needing help. The two of them go on a day-long journey that causes Elle to come to terms with her…
9
Higher Ground (2011)
★ 5.9/10
Inspired by screenwriter Carolyn S. Briggs' memoir This Dark World, a tight-knit spiritual community is thrown off-kilter when one of their own begins to question her faith, love, and trust - in human relationships as…
10
Holy Lands (2019)
★ 6.1/10
When lapsed Jew and former cardiologist Harry suddenly decides to spend his retirement as a pig farmer in Nazareth, Israel, the move deeply shocks his family and his new neighbours. Back in New York, Harry’s ex-wife…
11
Fireproof (2008)
★ 7.7/10
A heroic fire captain values dedication and service to others above all else, but the most important partnership in his life, his marriage, is about to go up in smoke.
12
My Zoe (2019)
★ 6.5/10
Isabelle, a geneticist recovering from a toxic marriage, is raising her only daughter, Zoe, with her contentious ex-husband. Zoe means everything to her mother and so when tragedy strikes the fractured family, Isabelle…
13
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.
14
Guess Who (2005)
★ 6.1/10
When a young African-American woman brings her fiancé home to meet her parents, she's neglected to mention one tiny detail – he's white.
15
Towelhead (2008)
★ 6.2/10
A young Arab-American girl struggles with her sexual obsession, a bigoted Army reservist, and her strict father during the Gulf War.
16
Rumble Through the Dark (2023)
★ 6.3/10
In the dark landscape of the Mississippi Delta, a former bare-knuckle fighter must win one last fight to pay off his debts to the local mob boss and save his childhood home—the stakes nothing less than life or death.
17
Skin (2009)
★ 6.4/10
Based on the true story of a black girl who was born to two white Afrikaner parents in South Africa during the apartheid era.
18
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…
19
War Room (2015)
★ 7.9/10
The family-friendly movie explores the transformational role prayer plays in the lives of the Jordan family. Tony and Elizabeth Jordan, a middle-class couple who seemingly have it all – great jobs, a beautiful…
20
Carrie (2002)
★ 6.1/10
An awkward, telekinetic teenage girl's lonely life is dominated by relentless bullying at school and an oppressive religious fanatic mother at home. When her tormentors pull a humiliating prank at the senior prom, she…