Movies Like Diary of a Bad Lad

If you liked Diary of a Bad Lad (2010), a drama and comedy movie directed by Michael Booth, 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
In the Soup (1992)
★ 6.8/10Also comedy and drama
An aspiring young filmmaker gets involved with an eccentric gangster for the financing of his first film.
2
Family Weekend (2013)
★ 6.3/10Also comedy and drama
A 16-year-old girl takes her parents hostage after they miss her big jump-roping competition.
3
Somewhere in Queens (2023)
★ 6.3/10Also comedy and drama
Leo and Angela Russo live a simple life in Queens, surrounded by their overbearing Italian-American family. When their son finds success on his high school basketball team, Leo tears the family apart trying to make it…
4
Mexicali (2026)
★ 7.7/10Also drama
A former special forces contractor is forced out of retirement as an avocado farmer in Mexico when local gangsters try to force him and his family off their farm.
5
Bill Burr: Drop Dead Years (2025)
★ 7.2/10Also comedy
In what might be his most personal and introspective hour yet, Bill offers hilarious takes on everything from male sadness to dating advice.
6
Ricky Gervais: Mortality (2025)
★ 7/10Also comedy
Ricky Gervais tackles life, death and the state of the world in a brutally honest special that spares no topic, even his own mortality.
7
Who Is Cletis Tout? (2001)
★ 5.9/10Also comedy
With a hitman’s gun aimed at him, Finch tells the story of how he broke out of jail, fell in love, and took the identity of a man wanted by the Mafia.
8
Cotton Comes to Harlem (1970)
★ 6.2/10Also comedy
Harlem's African-American population is being ripped off by the Rev. Deke O'Malley, who dishonestly claims that small donations will secure parcels of land in Africa. When New York City police officers Gravedigger…
9
Band Aid (2017)
★ 6.3/10Also comedy and drama
A couple who can't stop fighting embark on a last-ditch effort to save their marriage: turning their fights into songs and starting a band.
10
Ill Manors (2012)
★ 6.3/10Also drama
Ensemble film revolving around characters living in Forest Gate, London. Over the course of a few days, six inter-linking stories explore issues of drug use, prostitution and urban poverty.
11
Lockdown (2000)
★ 6.1/10Also drama
Avery (Jones) returns to college as a competitive swimmer after getting his life back on track. But his life takes another unexpected turn when he and his two friends (Bonds, Casseus) are wrongly accused of murder and…
12
Hard to Die (1990)
★ 6/10Also comedy
While doing the inventory for a lingerie outlet in a high rise office building, five attractive women are terrorized by a series of bizarre killings. They suspect that the strange janitor, who witnessed another series…
13
Balls Up (2026)
★ 5.8/10Also comedy
Two marketing executives go "balls out" and pitch a bold full‑coverage condom sponsorship with the World Cup. After their drunken celebration in Brazil sparks a global scandal, they must outrun furious fans, criminals…
14
Convict (2014)
★ 6.5/10Also drama
Set in the dark and old Parramatta prison built by the original convicts our lead character Ray a war veteran finds himself serving 18 months for manslaughter after defending his fiance. He soon realizes that the…
15
King Cobra (2016)
★ 5.8/10Also drama
It’s 2006, YouTube is in its infancy, and internet porn is still behind a paywall. Taking the stage name Brent Corrigan, a fresh-faced, wannabe adult video performer is molded into a star by Stephen, a closeted gay…
16
Accident Man (2018)
★ 6.3/10Also comedy
Mike Fallon, the Accident Man, is a stone cold killer. When a loved one is murdered by his own crew, Fallon is forced to avenge the one person who actually meant something to him.
17
Kinds of Kindness (2024)
★ 6.5/10Also comedy and drama
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…
18
Spun (2003)
★ 6.6/10Also drama and comedy
Over the course of three days, Ross, a college dropout addicted to crystal-meth, encounters a variety of oddball folks – including a stripper named Nikki and her boyfriend, the local meth producer, The Cook – but all…
19
Jawbone (2017)
★ 6.1/10Also drama
A former youth boxing champion, Jimmy McCabe is a man in search of hope but looking in all the wrong places. When he hits rock bottom he turns to his childhood boxing club and the only family he has left: gym owner…
20
The Born Losers (1967)
★ 6.4/10Also drama
A biker gang incites a reign of terror in a California coastal town that culminates in four teenage girls being raped. Vietnam veteran Billy Jack has had enough, however, and takes on the depraved bikers…