Movies like Wild Child (2008)
The best movies like Wild Child (2008) are Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life (2016), Thunderstruck (2012) and How to Eat Fried Worms (2006). If Wild Child hooked you with its comedy and family, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedWork It (2020)7.5/10 from 1,235 votes
- NewestMean Girls (2024)Released 2024
Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life (2016)
A quiet teenage artist Rafe Katchadorian has a wild imagination and is sick of middle school and the rules that have been put before him. Rafe and his best friend Leo have come up with a plan: break every rule in the school hand book and as you expect trouble follows.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both family & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThunderstruck (2012)
After NBA star Kevin Durant switches talent with 16 year old Brian, the teenager becomes the star of his high school team, but Durant starts struggling and eventually learns an important lesson.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & family
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHow to Eat Fried Worms (2006)
During the first day of his new school year, a fifth grade boy squares off against a bully and winds up accepting a dare that could change the balance of power within the class.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & family
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSleepover (2004)
Desperate to improve their social status, four best friends enter into an all-night scavenger hunt against the popular clique in their school.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both family & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMax Keeble's Big Move (2001)
Max Keeble, the victim of his 7th grade class, plots revenge when he learns he's moving; it backfires when he doesn't move after all.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & family
SnoozefestMovies like thisSnoopy Presents: Lucy's School (2022)
The Peanuts gang is anxious about starting at a new school in the fall, inspiring Lucy to start her own school instead. She soon learns that teaching isn't as easy as it sounds and that change can be a good thing.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both family & comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCadet Kelly (2002)
Hyperactive teenager Kelly is enrolled into a military school when her new stepfather becomes the Commandant. At first she has problems fitting in and taking orders until she tries out for the drill team.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both family & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNativity! (2009)
Paul, charged with directing his school's Nativity play, falsely boasts that his ex-girlfriend plans to turn the production into a film.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & family
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMixtape (2021)
On the eve of Y2K, orphaned 12-year-old Beverly discovers a broken mixtape crafted by her teen parents. Raised by her grandmother – who struggles talking about her late daughter – Beverly sees the mixtape as a chance to finally learn more about her parents.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & family
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAn Extremely Goofy Movie (2000)
It's all extreme sports and a life of freedom as Max sets off for college -- but Goofy misses Max so much he loses his job and goes to finish college alongside Max and his friends. But as Goofy tries to get closer to Max, both must go to the extreme to learn how to live their own lives together.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both family & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Trouble with Angels (1966)
Mary and her friend, Rachel, are new students at St. Francis Academy, a boarding school run by the iron fist of Mother Superior. The immature teens grow bored and begin playing pranks on both the unsuspecting nuns and their unpleasant classmates, becoming a constant thorn in Mother Superior's side. However, as the years pass, Mary and Rachel slowly mature and begin to see the nuns in a different light.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOld Boys (2018)
In the school-set re-working of Cyrano, an awkward but imaginative pupil helps the handsome but spectacularly dim school-hero pursue the fiery daughter of a visiting French teacher.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMean Girls (2024)
New student Cady Heron is welcomed into the top of the social food chain by the elite group of popular girls called ‘The Plastics,’ ruled by the conniving queen bee Regina George and her minions Gretchen and Karen. However, when Cady makes the major misstep of falling for Regina’s ex-boyfriend Aaron Samuels, she finds herself prey in Regina’s crosshairs. As Cady sets to take down the group’s apex predator with the help of her outcast friends Janis and Damian, she must learn how to stay true to herself while navigating the most cutthroat jungle of all: high school.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
SnoozefestMovies like thisDrillbit Taylor (2008)
Dealing with a sociopathic school bully, three high school freshmen hire a low-budget bodyguard to protect them, not realizing he is just a homeless beggar and petty thief looking for some easy cash.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
SnoozefestMovies like thisNapoleon Dynamite (2004)
A listless and alienated teenager decides to help his new friend win the class presidency in their small western high school, while he must deal with his bizarre family life back home.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFired Up! (2009)
Popular high schoolers and best friends Shawn and Nick decide to ditch football camp for cheerleader camp. For the girls and for the glory.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSon of Rambow (2007)
Will is looking for an escape from his family when he encounters Lee, the school bully. Armed with a video camera and a copy of Rambo, Lee plans to make his own action-packed video epic.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisJessica Darling's It List (2016)
Jessica Darling – a smart, witty, opinionated girl heading into 7th grade – was never too concerned about where she'd fit in the middle school hierarchy. But before her first day of school, her older sister — the super popular Bethany, now in college—decides to help out by giving her the “It List”—a cheat sheet on how to navigate the middle school maze and rise to the top of the popularity chain. The instructions appear simple enough to follow, but, like life, nothing is as easy as it seems.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both family
SnoozefestMovies like thisWork It (2020)
A brilliant but clumsy high school senior vows to get into her late father's alma mater by transforming herself and a misfit squad into dance champions.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisEasy A (2010)
Olive, an average high school student, sees her below-the-radar existence turn around overnight once she decides to use the school's gossip grapevine to advance her social standing. Now her classmates are turning against her and the school board is becoming concerned, including her favorite teacher and the distracted guidance counselor. With the support of her hilariously idiosyncratic parents and a little help from a long-time crush, Olive attempts to take on her notorious new identity and crush the rumor mill once and for all.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Cinderella Story (2004)
Routinely exploited by her wicked stepmother, the downtrodden Samantha Montgomery is excited about the prospect of meeting her Internet beau at the school's Halloween dance.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy & family
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCigarette (2005)
A young man learns a valuable lesson when he succumbs to peer pressure and attempts to smoke his first and last cigarette.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both family & comedy
Blurt! (2018)
When nice-guy Jeremy Martin puts on mysterious virtual reality glasses at the mall, he suddenly loses his “inside voice” and starts spouting every thought he has out loud. Making matters worse, Jeremy is running for student council president against his classmate Milly, who is full of great ideas to improve the school. Desperate to get back to normal, Jeremy and his sister Victoria must figure out how to convince his brain that he can speak up for himself.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both family & comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBig Fat Liar (2002)
After one of his class papers is stolen and turned into a movie, a young student and his best friend exact a hilarious, slapstick revenge on the Hollywood hot shot who has taken credit!
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both family & comedy
SnoozefestMovies like thisHigh School Musical 3: Senior Year (2008)
As seniors in high school, Troy and Gabriella struggle with the idea of being separated from one another as college approaches. Along with the rest of the Wildcats, they stage a spring musical to address their experiences, hopes and fears about their future.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy & family
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisProblem Child (1990)
Ben Healy and his social climbing wife Flo adopt fun-loving seven year old Junior. But they soon discover he's a little monster as he turns a camping trip, a birthday party and even a baseball game into comic nightmares.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Next Karate Kid (1994)
Mr. Miyagi decides to take Julie, a troubled teenager, under his wing after he learns that she blames herself for her parents' demise and struggles to adjust with her grandmother and fellow pupils.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both family
SnoozefestMovies like thisGirl's Life, Boy's World (2003)
At seventeen, girls are all about looking good, dressing right and making out with the cutest boys. Or they're like Luka, who's an ace in boxing and couldn't care less about her looks or her appeal to boys. When she breaks a schoolmate's nose, her parents send her off to boarding school to acquire some ladylike manners. There she's mistaken for Frankie, a boy who hasn't shown up, and takes on his identity. With her boxing skills, she instantly wins over her three roommates Chico, Toby and Jo, and strikes up a particularly close friendship with Chico. Her uncompromising honesty and loyalty to her new friends, however, soon get her into trouble with the headmistress and her nephew, the school bully.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
Never Been Kissed (1999)
Josie Geller, a baby-faced junior copywriter at the Chicago Sun-Times, must pose as a student at her former high school to research contemporary teenage culture. With the help of her brother, Rob, Josie infiltrates the inner circle of the most popular clique on campus. But she hits a major snag in her investigation -- not to mention her own failed love life -- when she falls for her dreamy English teacher, Sam Coulson.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Flying Classroom (1973)
A boy who was once a perpetual outcast finds friends in a new boarding school, united with his new peers gets involved in a heated rivalry with a group of students from a neighboring school.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
Like Wild Child and something else?
Blend two favourites and we’ll find the films in between.
Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Wild Child?
The closest matches to Wild Child are Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life (2016), Thunderstruck (2012) and How to Eat Fried Worms (2006). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Wild Child?
Start with Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life (2016), the closest match to Wild Child.
What is the highest-rated movie like Wild Child?
Work It (2020), rated 7.5/10 by 1,235 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Wild Child?
Mean Girls (2024) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Wild Child?
Yes: Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life (2016), Thunderstruck (2012) and How to Eat Fried Worms (2006).
How are movies similar to Wild Child chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Wild Child, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.