Movies like I Wasn’t Made to Play the Son (2011)
The best movies like I Wasn’t Made to Play the Son (2011) are Eraserhead (1977), It's Such a Beautiful Day (2012) and South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut (1999). If I Wasn’t Made to Play the Son hooked you, these 20 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedMemoir of a Snail (2024)8.1/10 from 861 votes
- NewestThe Plague (2025)Released 2025
Eraserhead (1977)
First-time father Henry Spencer tries to survive his industrial environment, his angry girlfriend, and the unbearable screams of his newly born mutant child.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisIt's Such a Beautiful Day (2012)
Bill struggles to put together his shattered psyche.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisSouth Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut (1999)
The third graders of South Park sneak into an R-rated film by ultra-vulgar Canadian television personalities Terrance and Phillip, and emerge with expanded vocabularies that leave their parents and teachers scandalized. When outraged Americans try to censor the film, the controversy spirals into a call to wage war on Canada and Terrance and Phillip end up on death row, with the kids their only hope of rescue.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCowboys (2020)
Troy and his young transgender son Joe are on the run from his conservative mother in the Montana wilderness, with a detective in hot pursuit.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisForbidden Zone (1982)
A mysterious door in the basement of the Hercules house leads to the Sixth Dimension by way of a gigantic set of intestine. When lovely exchange student Frenchy slips through the door, the diminuitive King Fausto falls in love with her. The jealous Queen Doris takes Frenchy prisoner, and it is up to the Hercules family and friend Squeezit Henderson to rescue her.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisK-12 (2019)
Cry Baby, a strong and sensitive girl, is sent off to a disturbing sleepaway school that’s hidden underneath a grandiose façade. Luckily, she has a sweet and unapologetic best friend who sticks up for her when she gets bullied by the other students whose brains are under control by the Principal and his wicked staff. With the help of the magical friends they meet along the way, as well as an Angelic Spirit Guide, they are able to gain the strength they need to fight off the school’s belligerent patriarchal conditioning.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisPossum (2018)
A disgraced children's puppeteer returns to his childhood home and is forced to confront his wicked stepfather and the secrets that have tortured him his entire life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDaniel Isn't Real (2019)
A troubled college freshman resurrects his imaginary friend to help him cope with a violent trauma.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Jazz Singer (1980)
A young Jewish man is torn between tradition and individuality when his old-fashioned family objects to his career as a jazz singer.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisMunchausen (2013)
A mother, unable to confront the heartbreak of her son leaving for college, delays his departure by making him sick. Unfortunately, she goes too far.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHamlet (1996)
Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, returns home to find his father murdered and his mother now marrying the murderer... his uncle. Meanwhile, war is brewing.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDon't Hug Me I'm Scared (2012)
A disturbing puppet short exploring the concept of creativity.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisPeeping Tom (1960)
Loner Mark Lewis works at a film studio during the day and, at night, takes racy photographs of women. Also he's making a documentary on fear, which involves recording the reactions of victims as he murders them. He befriends Helen, the daughter of the family living in the apartment below his, and he tells her vaguely about the movie he is making.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Plague (2025)
A socially awkward tween endures the ruthless hierarchy at a water polo camp, his anxiety spiraling into psychological turmoil over the summer.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Taste of Honey (1961)
While out to avoid spending time with her narcissistic and promiscuous mother, sixteen-year-old Jo has a brief affair that leaves her pregnant and abandoned. When her mother remarries, Jo's only support becomes her friend Geoffrey, a homosexual.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Music Never Stopped (2011)
Henry struggles to bond with his estranged son, Gabriel, who suffers from a brain tumor that prevents him from forming new memories. With Gabriel unable to shed the beliefs and interests that caused their physical and emotional distance, Henry must learn to embrace his son's choices and try to connect with him through music.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like this20th Century Women (2016)
In 1979 Santa Barbara, California, Dorothea Fields is a determined single mother in her mid-50s who is raising her adolescent son, Jamie, at a moment brimming with cultural change and rebellion. Dorothea enlists the help of two younger women – Abbie, a free-spirited punk artist living as a boarder in the Fields' home and Julie, a savvy and provocative teenage neighbour – to help with Jamie's upbringing.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisEli (2019)
A boy named Eli with a rare autoimmune disorder is confined to a special experimental clinic for his treatment. He soon begins experiencing supernatural forces, turning the supposedly safe facility into a haunted prison for him and his fellow patients.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMemoir of a Snail (2024)
Forcibly separated from her twin brother when they are orphaned, a melancholic misfit learns how to find confidence within herself amid the clutter of misfortunes and everyday life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisLittle Murders (1971)
A young nihilistic New Yorker copes with pervasive urban violence, obscene phone calls, rusty water pipes, electrical blackouts, paranoia, and ethnic-racial conflict during a typical summer of the 1970s.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like I Wasn’t Made to Play the Son?
The closest matches to I Wasn’t Made to Play the Son are Eraserhead (1977), It's Such a Beautiful Day (2012) and South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut (1999). Below are 17 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after I Wasn’t Made to Play the Son?
Start with Eraserhead (1977), the closest match to I Wasn’t Made to Play the Son.
What is the highest-rated movie like I Wasn’t Made to Play the Son?
Memoir of a Snail (2024), rated 8.1/10 by 861 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like I Wasn’t Made to Play the Son?
The Plague (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
How are movies similar to I Wasn’t Made to Play the Son chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside I Wasn’t Made to Play the Son, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.