Movies like Sad Vacation (2007)
The best movies like Sad Vacation (2007) are Lorelei (2020), Tigertail (2020) and Hardball (2001). If Sad Vacation hooked you with its drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedBad Genius (2017)7.9/10 from 894 votes
- NewestNot Without Hope (2025)Released 2025
- In JapaneseHarmonium (2016)Also in Japanese
Lorelei (2020)
A man is released from prison after 15 years. He reunites with his high school girlfriend, now a single mother of three. What follows is a lyrical take on love, regret and second chances.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTigertail (2020)
A man reflects on the lost love of his youth and his long-ago journey from Taiwan to America as he begins to reconnect with his estranged daughter.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHardball (2001)
An aimless young man who is scalping tickets, gambling and drinking, agrees to coach a Little League team from the Cabrini Green housing project in Chicago as a condition of getting a loan from a friend.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHarmonium (2016)
Toshio hires Yasaka to work in his workshop. But then this old acquaintance, who has just been released from prison, begins to meddle in Toshio's family life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
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 · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPassion (2008)
A young couple's announcement of their engagement to their friends is followed by a series of interactions and conflicts that forces everyone to reflect on their lives.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAll Together Now (2020)
An optimistic, talented teen clings to a huge secret: she's homeless and living on a school bus. When tragedy strikes, can she learn to accept a helping hand?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCharm City Kings (2020)
Mouse desperately wants to join The Midnight Clique, the infamous Baltimore dirt bike riders who rule the summertime streets. When Midnight’s leader, Blax, takes 14-year-old Mouse under his wing, Mouse soon finds himself torn between the straight-and-narrow and a road filled with fast money and violence.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisTrue Colors (1991)
Two law school friends find themselves at odds when one becomes a Justice Department lawyer and the other goes into politics.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Trials of Cate McCall (2013)
In order to be reinstated to the bar and recover custody of her daughter, a hotshot lawyer, now in recovery and on probation, must take on the appeal of a woman wrongfully convicted of murder.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisScarecrow (1973)
Two drifters bum around, visit earthy women and discuss opening a car wash in Pittsburgh.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCardboard Boxer (2016)
Gentle and broken, a homeless man fights others on video for money but soon finds comfort in an unlikely friend and the lost diary of a young girl.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHounddog (2008)
A drama set in the American South, where a precocious, troubled girl finds a safe haven in the music and movement of Elvis Presley.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFlicka (2006)
Katy McLaughlin desires to work on her family's mountainside horse ranch, although her father insists she finish boarding school. Katy finds a mustang in the hills near her ranch. The headstrong 16 year old then sets her mind to tame a mustang and prove to her father she can run the ranch. But when tragedy happens, it will take all the love and strength the family can muster to restore hope.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNot Without Hope (2025)
A group of friends' fishing boat capsizes off the coast of Mexico and they're left alone stranded at sea and struggling for survival.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Young One (1960)
A jazz musician seeks refuge from a lynch mob on a remote island, where he meets a hostile game warden and the young object of his attentions.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisEl Chicano (2019)
A pair of twin brothers from East L.A. choose to live their lives differently and end up on opposite sides of the law.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAbove the Rim (1994)
Story of a promising high school basketball star and his relationships with two brothers, one a drug dealer and the other a former basketball star fallen on hard times and now employed as a security guard.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Safety of Objects (2002)
In a suburban landscape, the lives of several families interlace with loss, despair and personal crisis. Esther Gold has lost focus on all but caring for her comatose son, Paul, and neglects her daughter and husband. Lawyer Jim Train is devoted to his career, not his family. Helen Christianson wants to find a new spark in life, while Annette Jennings tries to rebuild hers.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisImperial Dreams (2014)
A 21-year-old reformed gangster's devotion to his family and his future is put to the test when he is released from prison and returns to his old stomping grounds in Watts, Los Angeles.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOur Twisted Hero (1992)
Han Byung-tae, who teaches at a private after-school academy in Seoul, receives word that his old teacher has passed away and sets off to the rural village where he attended elementary school. In the train, he reminisces about the tough fights he used to get into back in the day.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
One Punch (2022)
Matteo is pressured into the family business when he fails his exams. Out for his 18th birthday, he struggles to choose between his family responsibilities and his adolescent friendships, culminating in an act of violence.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
alaska.de (2000)
A female teenager witnesses a murder in a desolate high density housing area on the outskirts of Berlin and is henceforth in danger.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Billu (2009)
When a famous Bollywood actor visits a small village for a film's shoot, a poor hairdresser's claim that they were once childhood friends soon makes him the centre of attention.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCaterina in the Big City (2003)
When her social-climbing father is relocated from a one-horse town to his native Rome, 12-year-old Caterina enrolls in his old school, finding herself adrift in an environment where eighth-graders form friendships based on social class and their parents' political affiliations.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAmizade Inesperada (2022)
Luiz is a high school student who, by neglecting his studies, gets a failing grade. To help him, the teacher gives Toni the mission to teach the student the unlearned material. However, Luiz has a history of school violence against Toni. Putting aside the past the two accept the challenge given by the teacher and end up living an unpretentious romance.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Bad Genius (2017)
Lynn, a brilliant student, after helping her friends to get the grades they need, develops the idea of starting a much bigger exam-cheating business.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisBreaking Pencils (2021)
Sep learns how to navigate high-school life.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Raindrops (1981)
The film is based on the novel of the same name by P. Kuusberg and tells about the fate of former classmates, high school students, during the Second World War and in the post-war period.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Igor (2020)
Igor has a secret that he doesn't want Nicole knew: he doesn't want to reveal that he is a victim of bullying, This implies a strong fight between them for his intentions about his secret.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Like Sad Vacation and something else?
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Sad Vacation?
The closest matches to Sad Vacation are Lorelei (2020), Tigertail (2020) and Hardball (2001). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Sad Vacation?
Start with Lorelei (2020), the closest match to Sad Vacation.
What is the highest-rated movie like Sad Vacation?
Bad Genius (2017), rated 7.9/10 by 894 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Sad Vacation?
Not Without Hope (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Japanese movies like Sad Vacation?
Yes: Harmonium (2016) and Passion (2008).
How are movies similar to Sad Vacation chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Sad Vacation, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.