Movies like The Dolls
The best movies like The Dolls are Bubble (2006), Belfast (2021) and The Good Neighbor (2022). If The Dolls hooked you with its drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedKabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham (2001)7.7/10 from 645 votes
- NewestFirebreak (2026)Released 2026
- In SpanishFirebreak (2026)Also in Spanish
Bubble (2006)
Set against the backdrop of a decaying Midwestern town, a murder becomes the focal point of three people who work in a doll factory.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBelfast (2021)
Buddy is a young boy on the cusp of adolescence, whose life is filled with familial love, childhood hijinks, and a blossoming romance. Yet, with his beloved hometown caught up in increasing turmoil, his family faces a momentous choice: hope the conflict will pass or leave everything they know behind for a new life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Good Neighbor (2022)
A nightmarish evening unfolds for neighbors David and Robert when they accidentally hit a woman on her bike and flee the scene. While David is increasingly plagued by feelings of guilt, Robert shows no remorse and becomes overbearing and possessive.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Glass Castle (2017)
A young girl is raised in a dysfunctional family constantly on the run from the FBI. Living in poverty, she comes of age guided by her drunkard, ingenious father who distracts her with magical stories to keep her mind off the family's dire state, and her selfish, nonconformist mother who has no intention of raising a family, along with her younger brother and sister, and her other older sister. Together, they fend for each other as they mature in an unorthodox journey that is their family life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisFirebreak (2026)
Little Lide disappears in the forest while her family packs up their home. As a fire breaks out, her mother must race to reach her before the flames do.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Dead (1987)
After a convivial holiday dinner party, things begin to unravel when a husband and wife address some prickly issues concerning their marriage.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWhat Maisie Knew (2013)
In New York City, six-year-old Maisie is caught in the middle of a bitter custody battle between her self-absorbed parents—an aging rock singer mother and a distracted art dealer father. As both quickly marry new partners to strengthen their legal standing, Maisie is shuttled back and forth in an endless game of emotional point-scoring. Yet amid the chaos and upheaval, Maisie begins to find true comfort and affection in her new step-parents.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLadybird Ladybird (1994)
Maggie has had four children, by four different fathers, removed by social services because of a previous violent relationship. When she meets Jorge, a gentle Latin American refugee, she gradually sees her chance for happiness, but her past still haunts her.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBastard 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 thisFamily Romance, LLC (2019)
Love is a business at Family Romance, a company that rents human stand-ins for any occasion. Founder Yuichi Ishii helps make his clients’ dreams come true. But when the mother of 12-year-old Mahiro hires Ishii to impersonate her missing father, the line between acting and reality threatens to blur.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Strange Love of Martha Ivers (1946)
Three childhood friends, Martha, Walter and Sam, share a terrible secret. Over time, the ambitious Martha and the pusillanimous Walter have married. She is a cold businesswoman; he is the district attorney: a perfect combination to dominate the corrupt city of Iverstown at will. But the unexpected return of Sam, after years of absence, deeply disturbs the life of the odd couple.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBoyhood (2014)
The film tells a story of a divorced couple trying to raise their young son. The story follows the boy for twelve years, from first grade at age 6 through 12th grade at age 17-18, and examines his relationship with his parents as he grows.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisTigertail (2020)
A man reflects on the lost love of his youth and his long-ago journey from Taiwan to America as he begins to reconnect with his estranged daughter.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFish Tank (2009)
Fifteen-year-old Mia is in a constant state of war with her family and the world around her. When she meets her party-girl mother’s charming new boyfriend Connor, she is amazed to find he returns her attention, and believes he might help her start to make sense of her life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAmerican Pastoral (2016)
Set in postwar America, a man watches his seemingly perfect life fall apart as his daughter's new political affiliation threatens to destroy their family.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSamantha: An American Girl Holiday (2004)
Kindhearted Samantha Parkington's world starts to change the day Nellie O'Malley walks into her life. Nellie, her father, and her two little sisters have moved in next door to be servants for the Ryland family. Though they come from completely different backgrounds, Samantha and Nellie become fast friends. The girls turn to each other in happiness and sorrow, adventure and danger.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies 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 · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisI'll Be Home for Christmas (2016)
Jackie Foster, a dynamic Assistant District Attorney and single mom, is looking forward to wrapping up her latest case and spending Christmas with Gracie, her adorable and precocious, eight-year old daughter. But when Jackie’s estranged dad, Jack , a gruff retired police officer, unexpectedly shows up at her door, they will be forced to confront old wounds.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGook (2017)
Eli and Daniel, two Korean American brothers who own a struggling women's shoe store, have an unlikely friendship with 11-year-old Kamilla. On the first day of the 1992 L.A. riots, the trio must defend their store—and contemplate the meaning of family, their personal dreams and the future.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNeds (2010)
NEDs (Non Educated Delinquents) is the story of a young man’s journey from prize-winning schoolboy to knife-carrying teenager. Struggling against the low expectations of those around him, John McGill changes from victim to avenger, scholar to NED, altar boy to glue sniffer. When he attempts to change back again, his new reality and recent past make conformity near impossible and violent self determination near inevitable.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSugar Orange (2004)
Lukas is Sugar, Clemens is Orange. Together, they are two ten-year-old boys who are inseparable. More than just playmates, they share a unique bond which seems predestined to last a lifetime. Until, that is, powerful emotions come to the fore and a misunderstanding leads to a rift which tears both them and their world apart. Twenty years later, Lukas is still terrified of being abandoned. He survives by forming loose relationships which don't threaten him. Then one day he meets Lena who turns his feelings upside down and awakens his inner child, the one still searching for unconditional friendship. While there is never a guarantee of security, there is a bond of trust, and through Lena, Lukas again makes contact with Clemens. After years of silence, they are finally able to exorcise their ghosts in an explosion of emotion.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Happiness (1998)
The lives of several individuals intertwine as they go about their lives in their own unique ways, engaging in acts which society as a whole might find disturbing in a desperate search for human connection.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisKabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham (2001)
Years after his father disowns his adopted brother for marrying a woman of lower social standing, a young man goes on a mission to reunite his family.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisGan Canny (TBA)
A darkly comic, working class, North Eastern family comedy/drama. Siblings Tyler and Paige don't agree with the way their estranged mam has arranged their Nana’s funeral, and impulsively take matters into their own hands. What follows is a clumsy grand theft hearse as the siblings decide to take Nana on one last road trip before saying their final goodbyes. What could possibly go wrong? Gan Canny is a dead funny tale of grief, grudges and Geordie culture. It's heartfelt, it's hilarious, and it's deeply disrespectful in the most joyful of ways. What's not to love?
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The Flower of Evil (2003)
Three generations of a wealthy Bordeaux family are caught in the crossfire when Anne decides to run for mayor, thanks to a political pamphlet that revives an old murder scandal.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBloom (2021)
Can 3 young girls grow closely through the bittersweet journey of womanhood?
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Married Life (2008)
A very gentle middle-aged man is married, but when he falls in love with another woman, he decides that to divorce his wife would humiliate her too much – so instead he decides to kill her.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Royal Tenenbaums (2001)
Royal Tenenbaum and his wife Etheline had three children and then they separated. All three children are extraordinary --- all geniuses. Virtually all memory of the brilliance of the young Tenenbaums was subsequently erased by two decades of betrayal, failure, and disaster. Most of this was generally considered to be their father's fault. "The Royal Tenenbaums" is the story of the family's sudden, unexpected reunion one recent winter.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHoward (1957)
Howard Mitchell is a responsible young man who will soon be graduating from high school. He works at Resnick's Pharmacy to be able to earn enough money to put himself through college. But in part because of the life lessons he learns from Mr. Resnick through Mr. Resnick's somewhat cynical observations of the customers that come into the pharmacy, Howard is intrigued by an offer from George, his best friend, to tour Canada following their graduation instead of going directly into a post-secondary institution. This trip would not be a vacation, but rather an opportunity to see what life has to offer by meeting people from different parts of the country, while they work odd jobs along the way. This idea goes against the sensibilities of Howard's parents and Howard's girlfriend, Mary, who see this trip as just another impetuously stupid idea by flaky George. Howard has to try and reconcile all these competing forces in his life. —Huggo
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Young People of Ireland (2024)
A playful exploration of underground responses to social mores in 1970s Ireland, told through a day in the life of two young women.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Dolls?
The closest matches to The Dolls are Bubble (2006), Belfast (2021) and The Good Neighbor (2022). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Dolls?
Start with Bubble (2006), the closest match to The Dolls.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Dolls?
Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham (2001), rated 7.7/10 by 645 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Dolls?
Firebreak (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Spanish movies like The Dolls?
Yes: Firebreak (2026).
How are movies similar to The Dolls chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Dolls, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.