Movies Like Boys on the Outside

If you liked Boys on the Outside (1990), a drama movie directed by Marco Risi, 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
Loro 1 (2018)
★ 6.8/10Also drama
"Loro", in two parts, is a period movie that chronicles, as a fiction story, events likely happened in Italy (or even made up) between 2006 and 2010. "Loro" wants to suggest in portraits and glimps, through a composite…
2
Don't Be Bad (2015)
★ 7.8/10Also drama
A story set in the 90s and in the outskirts of Rome to Ostia. A world where money, luxury cars, night clubs, cocaine and synthetic drugs are easy to run. A world in which Vittorio and Cesare, in their early twenties…
3
Shoeshine (1946)
★ 7.8/10Also drama
Two shoeshine boys in postwar Rome, Italy save up to buy a horse, but their involvement as dupes in a burglary lands them in juvenile prison; the experience take a devastating toll on their friendship.
4
Mammal (2016)
★ 6.3/10Also drama
After Margaret, a divorcée living in Dublin, loses her teenage son, she develops an unorthodox relationship with Joe, a homeless youth. Their tentative trust is threatened by his involvement with a violent gang and the…
5
Pimp (2018)
★ 6.2/10Also drama
An urban love story set on the hard streets of the Bronx. A struggling female pimp, named Wednesday, grows up learning the game from her dad. Once he's gone she's left to look out for her prostitute mother and…
6
Trafficked (2017)
★ 6.6/10Also drama
In this story inspired by real characters, three girls from America, Nigeria and India are trafficked through an elaborate global network and enslaved in a Texas brothel, and must together attempt a daring escape to…
7
Ken Park (2003)
★ 6/10Also drama
Teen skater Ken Park (nicknamed Krap Nek; his name spelled and pronounced backward) kills himself at a Visalia skate park; his death bookends the lives of four other young people who knew him: Shawn, the most…
8
The Unknown Woman (2006)
★ 7.2/10Also drama
A Ukrainian woman named Irena calculatedly insinuates herself into the lives of a young, affluent Italian family. Stopping at nothing to become the couple's trusted maid and the beloved nanny to their fragile young…
9
Mysterious Skin (2005)
★ 7.7/10Also drama
A teenage hustler and a young man obsessed with alien abductions cross paths, together discovering a horrible, liberating truth.
10
The Professor (1986)
★ 7.1/10Also drama
Young Franco is imprisoned for murder and rises to become the feared and powerful 'Professor', taking control of Naples' underworld from behind bars.
11
Loro (2018)
★ 6.7/10Also drama
Internationally released Director's Cut of "Loro 1" and "Loro 2", which were released separately as two movies in Italy. The film talks about the group of businessmen and politicians – the Loro (Them) from the title…
12
Requiem for a Dream (2000)
★ 8/10Also drama
The drug-induced utopias of four Coney Island residents are shattered when their addictions run deep.
13
Xiu Xiu: The Sent-Down Girl (1998)
★ 7.2/10Also drama
Young teen girl Xiu Xiu is sent away to a remote corner of the Sichuan steppes for manual labor in 1975 (sending young people to there was a part of Cultural Revolution in China). A year later, she agrees to go to even…
14
Crimes of Passion (1984)
★ 6.3/10Also drama
Fashion designer Joanna Crane leads a double life. By night she is China Blue, a prostitute who's attracted the attention of a sexually frustrated private detective, and a psychopathic priest in possession of a…
15
Hungry Hearts (2015)
★ 6.5/10Also drama
The relationship of a couple who meet by chance in New York City is put to the test when they encounter a life or death circumstance.
16
Cleveland Abduction (2015)
★ 7.3/10Also drama
A single mother becomes Ariel Castro's first kidnapping victim, and finds herself trapped in his home with two other women for 11 years.
17
The Chronology of Water (2025)
★ 6.7/10Also drama
Plagued by an abusive childhood, a woman finds escape in competitive swimming, sexual experimentation, toxic relationships, and addiction before ultimately finding her voice through writing.
18
Shame (2011)
★ 6.9/10Also drama
Brandon, a thirty-something man living in New York, eludes intimacy with women but feeds his deepest desires with a compulsive addiction to sex. When his younger sister temporarily moves into his apartment, stirring up…
19
Menace II Society (1993)
★ 7.5/10Also drama
A young street hustler attempts to escape the rigors and temptations of the ghetto in a quest for a better life.
20
Wasteman (2026)
★ 7.3/10Also drama
Taylor's hopes for a fresh start post-parole are jeopardised by cellmate Dee's arrival. As Dee takes Taylor under his wing, a vicious attack tests their bond, forcing Taylor to choose between protecting Dee and his own…