Movies Like The Ballad of Vicki and Jake

If you liked The Ballad of Vicki and Jake (2005), a movie directed by Ian Thomas Ash, 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
Doing Life (2026)
★ 7.9/10
A single mother and an incarcerated man forge an unlikely bond through heartfelt letters, unlocking a door to redemption, hope and love against all odds.
2
Urchin (2025)
★ 6.8/10
Mike, a rough sleeper in London, is trapped in a cycle of self-destruction as he attempts to turn his life around. Along the way, he encounters unexpected chances for a fresh start.
3
Mammal (2016)
★ 6.3/10
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…
4
Beautiful Boy (2018)
★ 7.6/10
After he and his first wife separate, journalist David Sheff struggles to help their teenage son, who goes from experimenting with drugs to becoming devastatingly addicted to methamphetamine.
5
Stuart: A Life Backwards (2007)
★ 7.4/10
Story about the remarkable friendship between a reclusive writer and illustrator and a chaotic homeless man, whom he gets to know during a campaign to release two charity workers from prison.
6
Heaven Knows What (2015)
★ 6.4/10
A young heroin addict roams the streets of New York to panhandle and get her next fix, while her unstable boyfriend drifts in and out of her life at random.
7
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.
8
Poor Cow (1967)
★ 6.4/10
Joy 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…
9
Home Again (2017)
★ 6.1/10
Life for a single mom in Los Angeles takes an unexpected turn when she allows three young guys to move in with her.
10
My Fault: London (2025)
★ 7.4/10
18-year-old Noah moves from America to London, with her mother who's recently fallen in love with William, a wealthy British businessman. Noah meets William’s son, bad-boy Nick, and soon discovers there is an…
11
Tallulah (2016)
★ 6.7/10
Desperate to be rid of her toddler, a dissatisfied Beverly Hills housewife hires a stranger to babysit and ends up getting much more than she bargained for.
12
Rocks (2020)
★ 6.6/10
15-year-old Rocks fears that she and her little brother Emmanuel will be taken into care and forced apart if anyone finds out that their mother has left them. Against all odds, and with the help of her loyal friends…
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
A Taste of Honey (1961)
★ 7.1/10
While out to avoid spending time with her narcissistic and promiscuous mother, sixteen-year-old Jo has a brief affair that leaves her pregnant and abandoned. When her mother remarries, Jo's only support becomes her…
15
Labor Day (2013)
★ 7.1/10
Two strangers are drawn together under incredible circumstances. What starts as an unforeseen encounter over a long holiday weekend soon becomes a second chance love story.
16
Postcards from the Edge (1990)
★ 6.6/10
A substance-addicted actress tries to look on the bright side even as she's forced to move back in with her mother to avoid unemployment.
17
Losing Isaiah (1995)
★ 6.5/10
Khaila Richards, a crack-addicted single mother, accidentally leaves her baby in a dumpster while high and returns the next day in a panic to find he is missing. In reality, the baby has been adopted by a warm-hearted…
18
Short Term 12 (2013)
★ 7.7/10
Grace, a compassionate young supervisor at a foster care facility, helps at-risk teens. But when a new charge dredges up memories of her own troubled past, Grace's tough exterior begins eroding.
19
Secrets & Lies (1996)
★ 7.6/10
After her adoptive mother dies, Hortense, a successful black optometrist, seeks out her birth mother. She's shocked when her research leads her to Cynthia, a working class white woman.
20
Love & Sex (2000)
★ 6.2/10
When her rather explicit copy is rejected, magazine journalist Kate is asked by her editor to come up with an article on loving relationships instead, and to do so by the end of the day. This gets Kate thinking back…