Movies like Unexpected Ties (2024)
The best movies like Unexpected Ties (2024) are The Basketball Diaries (1995), Air (2023) and Glory Road (2006). If Unexpected Ties hooked you, these 20 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedGOAT (2026)8.0/10 from 1,158 votes
- NewestRoommates (2026)Released 2026
The Basketball Diaries (1995)
A high school basketball player’s life turns upside down after free-falling into the harrowing world of drug addiction.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAir (2023)
Discover the game-changing partnership between a then undiscovered Michael Jordan and Nike's fledgling basketball division which revolutionized the world of sports and culture with the Air Jordan brand.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisGlory Road (2006)
In 1966, Texas Western coach Don Haskins led the first all-black starting line-up for a college basketball team to the NCAA national championship.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBlue Chips (1994)
Pete Bell, a college basketball coach is under a lot of pressure. His team isn't winning and he cannot attract new players. The stars of the future are secretly being paid by boosters. This practice is forbidden in the college game, but Pete is desperate and has pressures from all around.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Art of Getting By (2011)
George, a lonely and fatalistic teen who's made it all the way to his senior year without ever having done a real day of work, is befriended by Sally, a popular but complicated girl who recognizes in him a kindred spirit.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Way Back (2020)
A former basketball all-star, who has lost his wife and family foundation in a struggle with addiction, attempts to regain his soul and salvation by becoming the coach of a disparate ethnically mixed high school basketball team at his alma mater.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSidelined: The QB and Me (2025)
Dallas, a burdened but headstrong dancer, is determined to get into the best dance school in the country—her late mother’s alma mater. However, that dream is suddenly derailed when the cheeky yet secretly grieving football star, Drayton, crashes into her life with a unique story of his own. Will the two of them be able to grow into their dreams together, or will their dreams be sidelined?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGOAT (2026)
A small goat with big dreams gets a once-in-a-lifetime shot to join the pros and play roarball, a high-intensity, co-ed, full-contact sport dominated by the fastest, fiercest animals in the world.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisHoosiers (1986)
Failed college coach Norman Dale gets a chance at redemption when he is hired to coach a high school basketball team in a tiny Indiana town. After a teacher persuades star player Jimmy Chitwood to quit and focus on his long-neglected studies, Dale struggles to develop a winning team in the face of community criticism for his temper and his unconventional choice of assistant coach: Shooter, a notorious alcoholic.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAmateur (2018)
14-year-old basketball phenom Terron Forte has to navigate the under-the-table world of amateur athletics when he is recruited to an elite NCAA prep school.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWinter Spring Summer or Fall (2024)
Remi and Barnes, two very different teenagers, meet by chance in the winter of their senior year, then spend four days together over the course of a year that will change their lives forever.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMr. Church (2016)
A unique friendship develops when a little girl and her dying mother inherit a cook - Mr. Church. What begins as an arrangement that should only last six months, instead spans fifteen years.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies 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
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLove & Basketball (2000)
Monica Wright and Quincy McCall grew up in the same neighborhood and have known each other since childhood. As they grow into adulthood, they fall in love, but they also share another all-consuming passion: basketball. As Quincy and Monica struggle to make their relationship work, they follow separate career paths though high school and college basketball and, they hope, into stardom in big-league professional ball.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies 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
Worth the HypeMovies like thisRise (2022)
After emigrating to Greece from Nigeria, Vera and Charles Antetokounmpo struggled to survive and provide for their five children, while living under the daily threat of deportation. Desperate to obtain Greek citizenship but undermined by a system that blocked them at every turn, the family's vision, determination and faith lifted them out of obscurity to launch the careers of three NBA champions.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBanana Split (2018)
After a messy breakup with her high school boyfriend, April strikes up an unexpected platonic friendship with his new girlfriend, Clara.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWoodlawn (2015)
Love and unity in a school torn by racism and hate in the 1970s. A gifted high school football player must learn to embrace his talent and his faith as he battles racial tensions on and off the field.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTeen Wolf (1985)
When a shy teenager's new-found powers help him score at basketball - and with the popular girls - he has some pretty hairy decisions to make.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRoommates (2026)
When shy college freshman Devon asks cool-girl Celeste to be her roommate, a blossoming friendship quickly spirals into a war of passive aggression.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Unexpected Ties?
The closest matches to Unexpected Ties are The Basketball Diaries (1995), Air (2023) and Glory Road (2006). Below are 17 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Unexpected Ties?
Start with The Basketball Diaries (1995), the closest match to Unexpected Ties.
What is the highest-rated movie like Unexpected Ties?
GOAT (2026), rated 8.0/10 by 1,158 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Unexpected Ties?
Roommates (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Unexpected Ties?
Yes: The Basketball Diaries (1995), Air (2023) and Glory Road (2006).
How are movies similar to Unexpected Ties chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Unexpected Ties, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.