Movies like Clean and Sober (1988)
The best movies like Clean and Sober (1988) are Permanent Midnight (1998), A Million Little Pieces (2019) and Beautiful Boy (2018). If Clean and Sober hooked you with its drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedBeautiful Boy (2018)7.6/10 from 3,010 votes
- NewestThe Problem Drinker (2026)Released 2026
Permanent Midnight (1998)
Juggling increasing career success and a growing heroin habit, a television comedy writer attempts to go down a path of improvement.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisA Million Little Pieces (2019)
A young drug-addled writer approaching the bottom of his descent submits to two months of agonizing detox at a treatment center in Minnesota.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBeautiful Boy (2018)
After he and his first wife separate, journalist David Sheff struggles to help their teenage son, who goes from experimenting with drugs to becoming devastatingly addicted to methamphetamine.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLight Sleeper (1992)
John LeTour is a recovering drug user who suffers insomnia and still deals to a high-end New York clientele, even though he’s trying to move on from the business. John’s professional midlife crisis becomes something more acute — and dangerous — when he re-encounters an old flame while a string of seemingly drug-related murders rocks the city.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe 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
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMoonlight (2016)
The tender, heartbreaking story of a young man’s struggle to find himself, told across three defining chapters in his life as he experiences the ecstasy, pain, and beauty of falling in love, while grappling with his own sexuality.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLess Than Zero (1987)
A college freshman returns to Los Angeles for Christmas at his ex-girlfriend's request, but discovers that his former best friend has an out-of-control drug habit.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAdulthood (2008)
After serving six years for killing his schoolmate, a young man learns that someone is out for revenge.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWhat Doesn't Kill You (2008)
Two childhood friends from South Boston turn to crime as a way to get by, ultimately causing a strain in their personal lives and their friendship.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWild Bill (2011)
Out on parole after 8 years inside Bill Hayward returns home to find his now 11 and 15 year old sons abandoned by their mother and fending for themselves. Unwilling to play Dad, an uncaring Bill is determined to move on.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Baker (2023)
A quiet, stoic man, lives a monk-like existence in self-imposed exile. When his estranged son is killed in a drug deal gone bad, he is left to look after a granddaughter he never knew existed, and he is forced back into a life he tried to put behind him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHillbilly Elegy (2020)
An urgent phone call pulls a Yale Law student back to his Ohio hometown, where he reflects on three generations of family history and his own future.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisStuart: A Life Backwards (2007)
Story about the remarkable friendship between a reclusive writer and illustrator and a chaotic homeless man, whom he gets to know during a campaign to release two charity workers from prison.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCalm with Horses (2020)
In darkest rural Ireland, ex-boxer Douglas 'Arm' Armstrong has become the feared enforcer for the drug-dealing Devers family, whilst also trying to be a good father to his autistic five-year-old son, Jack. Torn between these two families, Arm's loyalties are truly tested when he is asked to kill for the first time.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisVeronica Guerin (2003)
In this true story, Veronica Guerin is an investigative reporter for an Irish newspaper. As the drug trade begins to bleed into the mainstream, Guerin decides to take on and expose those responsible. Beginning at the bottom with addicts, Guerin then gets in touch with John Traynor, a paranoid informant. Not without some prodding, Traynor leads her to John Gilligan, the ruthless head of the operation, who does not take kindly to Guerin's nosing.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSnitch (2013)
Construction company owner John Matthews learns that his estranged son, Jason, has been arrested for drug trafficking. Facing an unjust prison sentence for a first time offender courtesy of mandatory minimum sentence laws, Jason has nothing to offer for leniency in good conscience. Desperately, John convinces the DEA and the opportunistic DA Joanne Keeghan to let him go undercover to help make arrests big enough to free his son in return. With the unwitting help of an ex-con employee, John enters the narcotics underworld where every move could be his last in an operation that will demand all his resources, wits and courage to survive.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHeaven Knows What (2015)
A young heroin addict roams the streets of New York to panhandle and get her next fix, while her unstable boyfriend drifts in and out of her life at random.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Infiltrator (2016)
A U.S Customs official uncovers a massive money laundering scheme involving Pablo Escobar.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisEcho Valley (2025)
Kate lives a secluded life—until her troubled daughter shows up, frightened and covered in someone else's blood. As Kate unravels the shocking truth, she learns just how far a mother will go to try to save her child.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisValley of the Dolls (1967)
Lured by their dreams of fame and fortune, three ambitious young women enter the world of show business and discover how easy it is to sink into a celebrity nightmare of ego, alcohol and pills — the beloved "dolls."
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Song of the Sheep (2024)
A shepherd discovers his wine is gone and one of his sheep, Hervé, can suddenly talk.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Long Day's Journey Into Night (1962)
An Irish miser, his morphine addicted wife, their debauched older son, and a gravely ill younger son. A quiet Connecticut vacation home on one foggy day in August 1912 becomes the backdrop for domestic decline.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThree on a Match (1932)
Although Vivian Revere is seemingly the most successful of a trio of reunited schoolmates, she throws it away by descending into a life of debauchery and drugs.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMudville (2026)
Ray Patterson, a 47 year old unemployed dad, spends his days hitting baseballs at the community park in a desperate attempt to make it back onto the Atlanta Apaches, a major league baseball team he was signed to when he was younger. His struggles with drinking, which got him booted from the team in his early 20s, are still a daily problem. Ray is plagued with dreams of what he believes are Native American ghosts and supernatural forces that are attempting to bury him and his dreams in the dirt. When a metaphysical event threatens Ray's existence, his family watches hopelessly, while his wife, Holly, finds comfort in suburban witchery and the cosmic answers that the Tarot provides.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Der Lotterieschwede (1958)
Bornholm island in 1880, where quarry worker Johan Jönsson lives a miserable life with his wife and children. He hopes to escape his poverty by winning a lottery ticket. But it doesn't bring him any luck. Instead of spending his little money on a doctor to have his sick child treated, he extends the lottery ticket. The child dies and Johan, plagued by remorse, turns to alcohol. After he has gambled away everything, the lottery ticket brings someone else the main prize. Johan commits suicide, but his son Per has realized that gambling is not the way to change the miserable existence of the workers.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Please Call It Murder (1975)
The wife of an executive finds her husband shot to death and destroys his suicide note in order to claim his insurance.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The Problem Drinker (2026)
When Kyle, a curmudgeonly writer, finally gets the good news that his debut memoir is getting published, he goes to his favorite bar to complain about it. Once there, however, he must face more stiff drinks - and problems - than he bargained for.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Junkhead (2025)
After yet another relapse, Don spirals through a night of drugs, alcohol, and inner torment. Haunted by Jamie , a manifestation of his darker self, Don is forced to confront the parts of him he’s been trying to drown. As the boundary between reality and hallucination blurs, he faces the question: can he silence the voice in his head before it consumes him?
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The Servant (1963)
An indolent aristocrat gets more than he bargained for when he hires a competent but silently devious manservant.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSeduction of the Innocent (1961)
Jeanette, a pretty high school student, is looking for “kicks”. She starts hanging out with a wild crowd, and begins popping bennies, uppers and other pills. Soon she graduates from barbiturates to marijuana…
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Clean and Sober?
The closest matches to Clean and Sober are Permanent Midnight (1998), A Million Little Pieces (2019) and Beautiful Boy (2018). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Clean and Sober?
Start with Permanent Midnight (1998), the closest match to Clean and Sober.
What is the highest-rated movie like Clean and Sober?
Beautiful Boy (2018), rated 7.6/10 by 3,010 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Clean and Sober?
The Problem Drinker (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Clean and Sober?
Yes: Permanent Midnight (1998), A Million Little Pieces (2019) and Beautiful Boy (2018).
How are movies similar to Clean and Sober chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Clean and Sober, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.