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Movies like For a Text (2018)

The best movies like For a Text (2018) are Hounddog (2008), Magazine Dreams (2025) and The Girl in the Book (2015). If For a Text hooked you with its drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.

Quick picks

  1. Hounddog (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

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  2. Magazine Dreams (2025)

    Aspiring bodybuilder Killian Maddox struggles to find human connection in an exploration of celebrity and violence. Nothing deters him from his fiercely protected dream of superstardom, not even the doctors who warn him of the permanent damage he causes to himself with his quest.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  3. The Girl in the Book (2015)

    The story of a young writer's transformation when her past invades her present.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

  4. Bastard Out of Carolina (1996)

    A poor, struggling South Carolinian mother and daughter face painful choices with their resolve and pride. Bone, the eldest daughter, and Anney her tired mother, grow both closer and farther apart: Anney sees Glen as her last chance.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  5. The Cut (2025)

    A retired boxer intends to return to the ring for one last shot at the title, but first he must make the weight. Holed up in a room in Las Vegas with an unscrupulous trainer, he embarks on an intensive and illegal weight-cutting program.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

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  6. Embattled (2020)

    The eldest son of a ruthlessly tough MMA champion must fight his way out of the abusive cycle his father has continued.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

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  7. El 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

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  8. Eleanor the Great (2025)

    94-year-old Eleanor Morgenstein tries to rebuild her life after the death of her best friend. As a result, she moves back to New York City after living in Florida for decades.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

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  9. The 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

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  10. Starving in Suburbia (2014)

    A 17-year-old dancer joins a "thinspiration" website and devotes herself to the almost religious glorification of "thin", until she becomes completely possessed by the dark world of anorexia.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

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  11. I Believe in Unicorns (2015)

    Feeling awkward and isolated, an imaginative and strong-willed teenage girl runs away from home with an older punk rock drifter.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

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  12. The Poker House (2008)

    Agnes and her two sisters struggle through a day in a home overrun by gamblers, thieves, and johns.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

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  13. Anuja (2024)

    When a brilliant nine-year-old working in a sweatshop gets a chance to attend school, she must make a difficult choice for her and her sister's future.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  14. Holler (2021)

    In a forgotten pocket of Southern Ohio where American manufacturing and opportunity are drying up, a determined young woman finds a ticket out when she is accepted to college. Alongside her older brother, Ruth Avery joins a dangerous scrap metal crew in order to pay her way. Together, they spend one brutal winter working the scrap yards during the day and stealing valuable metal from the once thriving factories by night. With her goal in sight, Ruth finds that the ultimate cost of an education for a girl like her may be more than she bargained for, and she soon finds herself torn between a promising future and the family she would leave behind.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

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  15. The Short History of the Long Road (2019)

    Nola grew up living in a van with her father, Clint—two nomads against the world. When tragedy strikes, Nola must confront the reality of life on the road alone, learning to own her grief, her past, and her new destination.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  16. Hungry Hearts (2015)

    The relationship of a couple who meet by chance in New York City is put to the test when they encounter a life or death circumstance.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  17. Charm 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 this
  18. Iron Jawed Angels (2004)

    Defiant young activists take the women's suffrage movement by storm, putting their lives at risk to help American women win the right to vote.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  19. Helen (2009)

    On the outside, Helen has it all – a loving family and a successful career – but when her suppressed mental illness resurfaces, the world crumbles around her. Crippled by depression, Helen finds solace through her friendship with Mathilda, a kindred spirit struggling with bipolar disorder.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  20. Cardboard 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 this
  21. The Joke (2010)

    A bunch of friends are celebrating the birthday of one of them when they decide to play a joke on him. None of them could imagine the consequences that would befall them.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama

  22. Angst & Flesh (2019)

    Elena loves Abel, she is drowning on the anguish of being, her subconscious manifests her urges; during the funeral misfortune sets in. Laceration and calm, devotion and fear, angst and flesh.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama

  23. The Dog (2017)

    When Albin lands a much-wanted acting job, he doesn't hesitate to make it his top priority in life. But he's still not clear about what the job entails.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama

  24. Success (2018)

    Nils works with a comedy talk-show but doesn’t get the respect that he thinks he deserves. At a pitch meeting one of his ideas gets stolen by his colleague, Fabian. Everyone loves the idea, but no one except Nils realizes the fact that Fabian stole it.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama

  25. The Ambulance Man (2005)

    The Ambulance Man is a story about a paramedic who faces a difficult time at home, as he lives with an abusive partner.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama

  26. Amour Océan (2022)

    Jeanne, 17, enjoys the last days of summer before getting back to high school. One morning, with her little sister Camille, they decide to run away from the police station where they live with their father to see the ocean one last time. On the beach, Jeanne meets a young surfer. He’s handsome, she’s intrigued. Jeanne feels a strange desire invading her.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama

  27. Suppietij (1991)

    The extremities of a middle-class being ramble on, reflecting poetically on the wretchedness of moderation.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama

  28. De Civitate Rei (1993)

    Costante dies and leaves his wife Torella his computer discovery. Torella entrusts the disk to her husband’s friend Gervasio, a lazy man scorned by his family. Twenty years later, Torella tries to get back the disk but Gervasio, who has become rich thanks to the discovery, agrees to go to court over it and comes away the winner. He therefore summons divine misfortune: he loses his third son, suffocated by wealth; kills his wife in a blind rage; and is executed by his first-born son who, after a violent panic attack and reckoning with his conscience, chooses life.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama

  29. Fiorenzo (1995)

    A man is sick and he doesn’t show himself. Three people don’t go to visit him and they show themselves.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama

  30. Cat's Eye (2025)

    A woman visits a personal stretcher, only to have unexpected objects pulled out of her body. A near silent witness statement to the reopening of invisible wounds in an abstract pursuit of healing.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama

Like For a Text and something else?

Blend two favourites and we’ll find the films in between.

Frequently asked questions

What are the best movies like For a Text?

The closest matches to For a Text are Hounddog (2008), Magazine Dreams (2025) and The Girl in the Book (2015). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.

What should I watch after For a Text?

Start with Hounddog (2008), the closest match to For a Text.

What is the highest-rated movie like For a Text?

Charm City Kings (2020), rated 7.8/10 by 508 TMDB users.

What is the newest movie like For a Text?

The Cut (2025) is the most recent release on this list.

Are there English movies like For a Text?

Yes: Hounddog (2008), Magazine Dreams (2025) and The Girl in the Book (2015).

How are movies similar to For a Text chosen?

First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside For a Text, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.

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