Movies like The Hillsdale Adoption Scam (2023)
The best movies like The Hillsdale Adoption Scam (2023) are Luce (2019), The Truth About Emanuel (2013) and Magpie (2024). If The Hillsdale Adoption Scam hooked you with its drama and thriller, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedShort Term 12 (2013)7.7/10 from 1,475 votes
- NewestHunting Grounds (2025)Released 2025
Luce (2019)
A star athlete and top student, Luce's idealized image is challenged by one of his teachers when his unsettling views on political violence come to light, putting a strain on family bonds while igniting intense debates on race and identity.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Truth About Emanuel (2013)
A troubled young woman becomes obsessed with her mysterious new neighbor, who bears a striking resemblance to the girl's dead mother.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMagpie (2024)
A couple's lives are thrown into disarray when their daughter is cast opposite a controversial major star.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBad Girl (2016)
Bad girl Amy is given one last chance by her adoptive parents, who think her friendship with local girl Chloe is a step in the right direction. But when Amy discovers that Chloe harbors a dark secret, she finds herself fighting for her life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisuwantme2killhim? (2013)
Based on the Vanity Fair article of the same title, a story about a young boy drawn into a web of lies through an online chatroom.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisEncounter (2021)
A decorated Marine goes on a rescue mission to save his two young sons from an unhuman threat. As their journey takes them in increasingly dangerous directions, the boys will need to leave their childhoods behind.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRogue Agent (2022)
Conman Robert Freegard poses as an undercover MI5 agent and kidnaps countless victims amidst a high-stakes manhunt, until the woman who fell for him brings him to justice.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMommie Dearest (1981)
Renowned film star Joan Crawford's abuse towards Christina, her adopted daughter, intensifies as her professional and romantic relationships turn sour.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Thousand and One (2023)
Struggling but unapologetically living on her own terms, Inez is moving from shelter to shelter in mid-1990s New York City. With her 6-year-old son Terry in foster care and unable to leave him again, she kidnaps him so they can build their life together. As the years go by, their family grows and Terry becomes a smart yet quiet teenager, but the secret that has defined their lives threatens to destroy the home they have so improbably built.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPhilomena (2013)
A woman searches for her adult son, who was taken away from her decades ago when she was forced to live in a convent.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLosing Isaiah (1995)
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 social worker, Margaret Lewin, and her husband, Charles. Years later, Khaila has gone through rehab and holds a steady job. After learning that her child is still alive, she challenges Margaret for the custody.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHunting Grounds (2025)
Desperate to find refuge for her children, Chloe Marvino runs away from her Mafia tied husband, and finds shelter in a cabin with a recluse drifter named Jake. But as her husband's henchmen draw closer to her, it turns out that Jake is the biggest enemy of them all.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAny Day Now (2012)
In the late 1970s, when a mentally handicapped teenager is abandoned, a gay couple takes him in and becomes the family he's never had. But once the unconventional living arrangement is discovered by authorities, the men must fight the legal system to adopt the child.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLike Dandelion Dust (2009)
Rip Porter is sentenced to seven years in prison for beating his wife, Wendy. When he is released, he discovers that Wendy gave up their child, and the privileged Campbell family adopted him. The two families are soon in a legal battle for the child they both love.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWhat Maisie Knew (2013)
In 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 partners to strengthen their legal standing, Maisie is shuttled back and forth in an endless game of emotional point-scoring. Yet amid the chaos and upheaval, Maisie begins to find true comfort and affection in her new step-parents.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBreaking In (2018)
Shaun Russell takes her son and daughter on a weekend getaway to her late father's secluded, high-tech vacation home in the countryside. The family soon gets an unwelcome surprise when four men break into the house to find hidden money. After managing to escape, Shaun must now figure out a way to turn the tables on the desperate thieves and save her captive children.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAnne of Green Gables (2016)
Anne Shirley, an orphan, is fostered by farmer Matthew Cuthbert and his sister Marilla, who were expecting a boy to be sent them to help with their farm work. They accept Anne, who quickly endears herself to them and to the local villagers.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSecrets & Lies (1996)
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.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Congress (2013)
An aging, out-of-work actress accepts one last job, though the consequences of her decision affect her in ways she didn't consider.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisShort Term 12 (2013)
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.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisA Deadly Adoption (2015)
Things go awry when an author and his wife welcome a pregnant woman into their home, with plans to adopt her baby.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisSins in the Family (2023)
Zara lives an idyllic life with husband Max and their adopted daughter Rose in their historic Rhode Island home. But when school councilor Carly gets strangely close to her daughter and puts Zara on edge, she confesses she is Rose’s birth mum. With Rose in danger and Zara’s perfect life starting to crumble around her, will she find out the truth about Carly before it’s too late?
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller & drama
I Can I Will I Did (2017)
A bullied adolescent who has spent his life bouncing from foster home to foster home finds new hope with the help of a Tae Kwon Do master and his paraplegic granddaughter.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & drama
One Good Cop (1991)
When his partner is killed in the line of duty, Artie Lewis becomes the legal guardian of his three orphaned girls. But during his investigation of the case, Lewis finds his life – and that of his newfound family – on the line. That's when the guilty crime-lord comes face to face with one man's rage, one man's fury, one man's justice.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisPeyton Place: The Next Generation (1985)
Another attempt to bring the 1960s primetime serial back to network television
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Let Joy Reign Supreme (1975)
A look at 18th-century France, when the depravity of the authorities contributed to social oppression, and the uprisings flared up one after another.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWhat to Expect When You're Expecting (2012)
Challenges of impending parenthood turn the lives of five couples upside down. Two celebrities are unprepared for the surprise demands of pregnancy; hormones wreak havoc on a baby-crazy author, while her husband tries not to be outdone by his father, who's expecting twins with his young trophy wife; a photographer's husband isn't sure about his wife's adoption plans; a one-time hook-up results in a surprise pregnancy for rival food-truck owners.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisJoel (2018)
Unable to have kids of their own, Cecilia and Diego get a call from the adoption agency they registered to, some time ago. The sudden arrival of Joel, a 9 year old with a very hard backstory, will change the course of their lives.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Those Who Can't (2019)
Mrs. Perdue-Valentine is a principal at the once low performing MLK Community High School, and she is questioned for masterminding a National cheating scandal. In her absence the three teachers that arguably run the school need to find out how to get the Principal out of trouble, keep the students of the school excelling, and maintain sanity in their personal lives.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
See You on Venus (2023)
Mia and Kyle, two misfit American teens, travel to Spain in search of Mia's birth mother. As the pair road trip through the picturesque cities of Andalusia and fall in love, they discover that the most important question isn't who gave you life, but what you decide to do with it.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Hillsdale Adoption Scam?
The closest matches to The Hillsdale Adoption Scam are Luce (2019), The Truth About Emanuel (2013) and Magpie (2024). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Hillsdale Adoption Scam?
Start with Luce (2019), the closest match to The Hillsdale Adoption Scam.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Hillsdale Adoption Scam?
Short Term 12 (2013), rated 7.7/10 by 1,475 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Hillsdale Adoption Scam?
Hunting Grounds (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like The Hillsdale Adoption Scam?
Yes: Luce (2019), The Truth About Emanuel (2013) and Magpie (2024).
How are movies similar to The Hillsdale Adoption Scam chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Hillsdale Adoption Scam, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.