Movies Like This Boy's Life

If you liked This Boy's Life (1993), a drama movie directed by Michael Caton-Jones, 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
Beautiful Boy (2018)
★ 7.6/10Also drama
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.
2
Nocturnal Animals (2016)
★ 7.4/10Also drama
Susan Morrow receives a book manuscript from her ex-husband – a man she left 20 years earlier – asking for her opinion of his writing. As she reads, she is drawn into the fictional life of Tony Hastings, a mathematics…
3
My Own Private Idaho (1991)
★ 7/10Also drama
Mike Waters is a hustler afflicted with narcolepsy. Scott Favor is the rebellious son of a mayor. Together, the two travel from Portland, Oregon to Idaho and finally to the coast of Italy in a quest to find Mike's…
4
Derailed (2005)
★ 6.4/10Also drama
When two married business executives having an affair are blackmailed by a violent criminal, they are forced to turn the tables on him to save their families.
5
Hillbilly Elegy (2020)
★ 6.7/10Also drama
An urgent phone call pulls a Yale Law student back to his Ohio hometown, where he reflects on three generations of family history and his own future.
6
The Power of the Dog (2021)
★ 6.7/10Also drama
A domineering but charismatic rancher wages a war of intimidation on his brother's new wife and her teen son, until long-hidden secrets come to light.
7
May December (2023)
★ 6.6/10Also drama
Twenty years after their notorious tabloid romance gripped the nation, a married couple buckles under the pressure when an actress arrives to do research for a film about their past.
8
The Whisper Man (2026)
★ 6.8/10Also drama
When his young son vanishes, a widower enlists help from his estranged father, a retired detective who put away the serial killer now linked to the case.
9
Boy A (2008)
★ 7.1/10Also drama
Freed after a lengthy term in a juvenile detention center, convicted child killer Jack Burridge finds work as a deliveryman and begins dating co-worker Michelle. While out on the road one day, Jack notices a distressed…
10
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…
11
The Ice Storm (1997)
★ 6.9/10Also drama
In the weekend after thanksgiving 1973 the Hood family is skidding out of control. Then an ice storm hits, the worst in a century.
12
Die My Love (2025)
★ 6.1/10Also drama
After inheriting a remote Montana house, Jackson moves there from New York with his partner Grace, and the couple soon welcome a child. As Jackson becomes increasingly absent and rural isolation sets in, Grace…
13
The Thing with Feathers (2025)
★ 6.5/10Also drama
Following the death of his wife, a young father's hold on reality crumbles, and a strange presence begins to stalk him from the shadowy recesses of the apartment he shares with his two young sons.
14
The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (1946)
★ 7.1/10Also drama
Three childhood friends, Martha, Walter and Sam, share a terrible secret. Over time, the ambitious Martha and the pusillanimous Walter have married. She is a cold businesswoman; he is the district attorney: a perfect…
15
The Tender Bar (2021)
★ 6.5/10Also drama
JR is a fatherless boy growing up in the glow of a bar where the bartender, his Uncle Charlie, is the sharpest and most colorful of an assortment of quirky and demonstrative father figures. As the boy’s determined…
16
American Pastoral (2016)
★ 6.2/10Also drama
Set in postwar America, a man watches his seemingly perfect life fall apart as his daughter's new political affiliation threatens to destroy their family.
17
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…
18
The Lost Bus (2025)
★ 7/10Also drama
A determined father risks everything to rescue a dedicated teacher and her students from a raging wildfire.
19
Disclosure (1994)
★ 6.2/10Also drama
A computer specialist is sued for sexual harassment by a former lover turned boss who initiated the act forcefully, which threatens both his career and his personal life.
20
Dolores Claiborne (1995)
★ 7.3/10Also drama
Dolores Claiborne was accused of killing her abusive husband twenty years ago, but the court's findings were inconclusive and she was allowed to walk free. Now she has been accused of killing her employer, Vera…