Movies like Barely 18 (2002)
The best movies like Barely 18 (2002) are The Little Death (2014), Newness (2017) and The Overnight (2015). If Barely 18 hooked you, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedThe Dreamers (2003)7.2/10 from 3,209 votes
- NewestJasmine Is a Star (2022)Released 2022
The Little Death (2014)
A comedy film that looks into the loosely connected lives of people with strange sexual fantasies.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNewness (2017)
In contemporary Los Angeles, two millennials navigating a social media–driven hookup culture begin a relationship that pushes both emotional and physical boundaries.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Overnight (2015)
Alex, Emily, and their son, RJ, are new to Los Angeles. A chance meeting at the park introduces them to the mysterious Kurt, Charlotte, and Max. A family “playdate” becomes increasingly interesting as the night goes on.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisPretty Persuasion (2005)
A 15-year-old girl incites chaos among her friends and a media frenzy when she accuses her drama teacher of sexual harassment.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisPink Flamingos (1972)
Notorious Baltimore criminal and underground figure Divine goes up against Connie & Raymond Marble, a sleazy married couple who make a passionate attempt to humiliate her and seize her tabloid-given title as "The Filthiest Person Alive".
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNymphomaniac: Vol. I (2013)
A man named Seligman finds a fainted wounded woman in an alley and he brings her home. She tells him that her name is Joe and that she is nymphomaniac. Joe tells her life and sexual experiences with hundreds of men since she was a young teenager while Seligman tells about his hobbies, such as fly fishing, reading about Fibonacci numbers or listening to organ music.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHeavy Traffic (1973)
A white dropout struggles to become a cartoonist and filmmaker, drawing inspiration from the harsh, gritty world around him. Still sharing his rundown apartment with his middle-aged parents, an oafish slob of an Italian father and a ditzy nutcase of a Jewish mother, he's ridiculed and looked down upon by his friends, hypocrites who run with violent gangs and the Italian Mafia, and a shallow Black girl who makes her living downtown with the pimps and pushers. The cartoonist gets a chance to pitch a film idea to a movie mogul, but the story proves too outrageous: a far-future Earth, depleted by war and pollution, where a mutant antihero challenges and kills God.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBelow Her Mouth (2017)
An unexpected affair quickly escalates into a heart-stopping reality for two women whose passionate connection changes their lives forever.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAll About the Benjamins (2002)
Bounty hunter Bucum Jackson teams with the small-time con artist, Reggie Wright, that he is pursuing, in an attempt to locate a missing stash of diamonds and a lottery ticket worth millions of dollars. Bucum and Reggie find themselves in a race to the finish as they embark on an unlikely partnership that should -- when all is said and done -- prove beneficial to them both.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Clique (2008)
A young girl tries to fit in with a clique of popular middle school girls after moving into the guest house of one of their homes.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisShogun Assassin (1980)
A Shogun who grew paranoid as he became senile sent his ninjas to kill his samurai. They failed but did kill the samurai’s wife. The samurai swore to avenge the death of his wife and roams the countryside with his toddler son in search of vengeance.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCarnal Knowledge (1971)
Two lifelong friends navigate complex sexual encounters and emotional entanglements, wrestling with societal norms and personal desires.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOriginal Sin (2001)
A young man is plunged into a life of subterfuge, deceit and mistaken identity in pursuit of a femme fatale whose heart is never quite within his grasp.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Rules of Attraction (2002)
The incredibly spoiled and overprivileged students of Camden College are a backdrop for an unusual love triangle between a drug dealer, a virgin and a bisexual classmate.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSpun (2003)
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 he really wants to do is hook up with his ex-girlfriend, Amy.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPimp (2018)
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 girlfriend Nikki.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisIn the Soup (1992)
An aspiring young filmmaker gets involved with an eccentric gangster for the financing of his first film.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Dreamers (2003)
When Isabelle and Theo invite Matthew to stay with them, what begins as a casual friendship ripens into a sensual voyage of discovery and desire in which nothing is off limits and everything is possible.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisIntimacy (2001)
Failed musician Jay abandoned his family and now earns a living as head bartender in a trendy London pub. Every Wednesday afternoon, a woman comes to his house for graphic, almost wordless, sex. One day, Jay follows her and learns about her. This eventually disrupts their relationship.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisShortbus (2006)
In post-9/11 New York City, an eclectic group of citizens find their lives entangled, personally, romantically, and sexually, at Shortbus, an underground Brooklyn salon infamous for its blend of art, music, politics, and carnality.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like this13 Going on 30 (2004)
After total humiliation at her thirteenth birthday party, Jenna Rink wants to just hide until she's thirty. Thanks to some magic wishing dust, Jenna's prayer has been answered. With a knockout body, a fabulous wardrobe, an athlete boyfriend, a dream job, and superstar friends, this can't be a better life. But soon Jenna realizes that adult life isn’t as easy as she hoped for.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGet Over It (2001)
When Berke Landers, a popular high school basketball star, gets dumped by his life-long girlfriend, Allison, he soon begins to lose it. But with the help of his best friend Felix's sister Kelly, he follows his ex into the school's spring musical. Thus ensues a love triangle loosely based upon Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream", where Berke is only to find himself getting over Allison and beginning to fall for Kelly.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
SnoozefestMovies like thisFriday the 13th Part 2 (1981)
Five years after the horrible bloodbath at Camp Crystal Lake, new counselors roam the area, not sensing the ominous lurking presence that proves that the grisly legend is real.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Girl (TBA)
Revisit one of Hollywood’s most notorious scandals through the eyes of the person most misrepresented by it. In 1977 California, 13-year-old Samantha is navigating adolescence and dreams of becoming an actress when she is drawn into the orbit of celebrated filmmaker Roman Polanski. What follows alters her life forever. As the case erupts across headlines, Samantha and her mother are thrust into a relentless media storm — she’s hounded by paparazzi and stripped of privacy at the moment where she most needs protection. Together, mother and daughter must fight to reclaim Samantha’s voice and preserve what remains of her childhood.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Jasmine Is a Star (2022)
A determined 16-year-old with albinism makes it her mission to become a professional model in her hometown of Minneapolis, while attempting to go unnoticed in every other aspect of her teenage life.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Normal Adolescent Behavior (2007)
High school student Wendy has an odd relationship with her five friends: They're openly sexual with each other, swapping partners every week. But this is all thrown into turmoil when she meets Sean, a new student in school who has a crush on her. Wendy wants to be with Sean, but doesn't want to disappoint her friends, whom she has known since grade school. When she does decide to leave them, her best friend, Billie, threatens revenge.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Ratamata (1970)
A portrait of the diverse opinions of Chicagoans as they reflect on the general state of affairs in America, the war in Vietnam, social and racial conflict, freedom and personal liberty, happiness, and social justice. Ratamata was made by future Tom Palazzolo collaborator Kreines when he was 16 years old, and was an award winner at the Young Chicago Filmmakers Festival.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
River's Edge (1986)
A group of high-school friends must come to terms with the fact that one of them, Samson, killed another, Jamie. Faced with the brutality of death, each must decide whether to turn their friend in to the police, or to help him escape the consequences of his dreadful deed.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNarcotics: A Challenge to Youth (1956)
An educational film sponsored and distributed by the Los Angeles-based Narcotic Educational Foundation of America and directed by Gilbert Lasky with financial assistance of the Woman’s Relief Corps targets teachers as well as junior and senior high school students in the war on drugs. Narcotics are classified and effects of opiates, stimulants, and barbiturates are summarized and dramatized
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Shem (2004)
Daniel, an arrogant, restless young Londoner is bored with his meaningless life. He seeks sympathy from his old Jewish grandmother, who sends him on a mission to Europe to find the grave of her father who disappeared during World War II.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Barely 18?
The closest matches to Barely 18 are The Little Death (2014), Newness (2017) and The Overnight (2015). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Barely 18?
Start with The Little Death (2014), the closest match to Barely 18.
What is the highest-rated movie like Barely 18?
The Dreamers (2003), rated 7.2/10 by 3,209 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Barely 18?
Jasmine Is a Star (2022) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Barely 18?
Yes: The Little Death (2014), Newness (2017) and The Overnight (2015).
How are movies similar to Barely 18 chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Barely 18, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.