Movies Like Happiness Is a Four-Letter Word
If you liked Happiness Is a Four-Letter Word (2016), a drama movie directed by Thabang Moleya, 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

Skin (2009)
★ 6.4/10Also dramaBased on the true story of a black girl who was born to two white Afrikaner parents in South Africa during the apartheid era.
- 2

The Nest (2020)
★ 6.1/10Also dramaRory is an ambitious entrepreneur who brings his American wife and kids to his native country, England, to explore new business opportunities. After abandoning the sanctuary of their safe American suburban…
- 3

Brotherly Love (2015)
★ 7/10Also dramaWest Philadelphia basketball star Sergio Taylor deals with the pressures of fame while his brother and sister have their own issues with ambition.
- 4

The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds (1972)
★ 7.3/10Also dramaMiddle-aged widow Beatrice Hunsdorfer and her daughters Ruth and Matilda are struggling to survive in a society they barely understand. Beatrice dreams of opening an elegant tea room but does not have the wherewithal…
- 5

What Maisie Knew (2013)
★ 7.1/10Also dramaIn New York City, six-year-old Maisie is caught in the middle of a bitter custody battle between her self-absorbed parents—an aging rock singer mother and a distracted art dealer father. As both quickly marry new…
- 6

The Kindness of Strangers (2019)
★ 6.4/10Also dramaClara and her two sons escape from her abusive husband with little more than their car and plan to start over in New York. After the car towed away, the family meets Alice, who gets them into an emergency shelter…
- 7

The Color of Friendship (2000)
★ 6.7/10Also dramaMahree Bok lives on a farm in South Africa. Her father is a policeman who cannot hide his joy when activist Steve Biko is caught by the South African authorities. Piper Dellums is the daughter of a US congressman from…
- 8

Bastard Out of Carolina (1996)
★ 7.1/10Also dramaA poor, struggling South Carolinian mother and daughter face painful choices with their resolve and pride. Bone, the eldest daughter, and Anney her tired mother, grow both closer and farther apart: Anney sees Glen as…
- 9

Poor Cow (1967)
★ 6.4/10Also dramaJoy lives a life filled with bad choices. At a young age, she marries and has a child–with an abusive thief who quickly ends up incarcerated. Left alone, she takes up with the guy's mate, another thief, who seems to…
- 10

El Chicano (2019)
★ 6.6/10Also dramaA pair of twin brothers from East L.A. choose to live their lives differently and end up on opposite sides of the law.
- 11

Hardball (2001)
★ 6.5/10Also dramaAn aimless young man who is scalping tickets, gambling and drinking, agrees to coach a Little League team from the Cabrini Green housing project in Chicago as a condition of getting a loan from a friend.
- 12

The Sound of Silence (2019)
★ 5.9/10Also dramaA successful "house tuner" in New York City, who calibrates the sound in people's homes in order to adjust their moods, meets a client with a problem he can't solve.
- 13

Gracie (2007)
★ 6.2/10Also dramaA teenager faces an uphill battle when she fights to give women the opportunity to play competitive soccer.
- 14

Kisses (2008)
★ 7.1/10Also dramaTwo kids, Dylan and Kylie, run away from home on Christmas Day and spend a night of magic and terror on the streets of inner-city Dublin.
- 15

Disgrace (2008)
★ 6.2/10Also dramaDisgrace is the story of a South African professor of English who loses everything: his reputation, his job, his peace of mind, his good looks, his dreams of artistic success, and finally even his ability to protect…
- 16

Eleanor the Great (2025)
★ 6.8/10Also drama94-year-old Eleanor Morgenstein tries to rebuild her life after the death of her best friend. As a result, she moves back to New York City after living in Florida for decades.
- 17

Won't Back Down (2012)
★ 6.2/10Also dramaJamie Fitzpatrick and Nona Alberts are two women from opposites sides of the social and economic track, but they have one thing in common: a mission to fix their community's broken school and ensure a bright future for…
- 18

Salomé (2013)
★ 6.1/10Also dramaAfter the lewd and frenetic Dance of the Seven Veils, and with the solemn pledge from the very lips of Herod himself that she could have whatever her heart desires up to half his kingdom, wanton and proud young Salomé…
- 19

Before I Fall (2017)
★ 7/10Also dramaSamantha Kingston has everything. Then, everything changes. After one fateful night, she wakes up with no future at all. Trapped into reliving the same day over and over, she begins to question just how perfect her…
- 20

Inside I'm Dancing (2004)
★ 7.4/10Also dramaMichael is a 24-year-old who has cerebral palsy and long-term resident of the Carrigmore Residential Home for the Disabled, run by the formidable Eileen. His life is transformed when the maverick Rory O'Shea moves in.