Movies like McFarland, USA (2015)
The best movies like McFarland, USA (2015) are A Sunday Horse (2016), A Second Chance: Rivals! (2019) and A Second Chance (2011). If McFarland, USA hooked you with its drama and family, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedOnce Upon a Time in the West (1968)8.3/10 from 5,133 votes
- NewestSkater Girl (2021)Released 2021
A Sunday Horse (2016)
After a near-fatal accident, on a horse the experts thought was nothing special, a determined rider from the wrong side of the tracks defies all the odds to pursue her dreams of winning a national jumping championship.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & family
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Second Chance: Rivals! (2019)
As Maddy takes on coaching a team of young twelve-year-old gymnasts, she faces up to intense city versus country rivalry, racism, cyberbullying and her own self-doubt but eventually takes the challenge head on.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & family
Worth the HypeMovies like thisA Second Chance (2011)
A young girl and her coach overcome adversity to make their way into the National Australian Gymnastics Squad.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & family
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCars 3 (2017)
Blindsided by a new generation of blazing-fast racers, the legendary Lightning McQueen finds himself pushed to the brink—and suddenly, the champion who once ruled the track is fighting just to stay in the race. With his career hanging in the balance, McQueen must turn to an ambitious young race technician with a plan of her own, draw strength from the legacy of the late Fabulous Hudson Hornet, and risk everything on one last shot at glory.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & family
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBlack Beauty (1994)
The fates of horses, and the people who own and command them, are revealed as Black Beauty narrates the circle of his life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both family & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGoal! (2005)
Like millions of kids around the world, Santiago harbors the dream of being a professional footballer... However, living in the Barrios section of Los Angeles, he thinks it is only that—a dream. Until one day an extraordinary turn of events has him trying out for Premiership club Newcastle United.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & family
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGoing for Gold (2018)
Seventeen year old, Emma joins a high school cheerleading team when she moves to Australia with her dad who is a former Air Force Officer.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & family
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSkater Girl (2021)
Prerna, a teenager growing up in rural India, comes of age when she’s introduced to the sport of skateboarding. As a result, she has to fight the odds to follow her dreams and compete in the national championship.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & family
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Girl Who Believes in Miracles (2021)
When Sara hears a preacher say faith can move mountains, she starts praying. Suddenly people in her town are mysteriously healed! But fame soon takes its toll – can Sara’s family save her before it’s too late?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both family & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisFlicka (2006)
Katy McLaughlin desires to work on her family's mountainside horse ranch, although her father insists she finish boarding school. Katy finds a mustang in the hills near her ranch. The headstrong 16 year old then sets her mind to tame a mustang and prove to her father she can run the ranch. But when tragedy happens, it will take all the love and strength the family can muster to restore hope.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both family & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Perfect Game (2009)
Based on a true story, a group of boys from Monterrey, Mexico who become the first non-U.S. team to win the Little League World Series.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & family
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWhere the Red Fern Grows (2003)
Set in the Ozark Mountains during the Great Depression, Billy Coleman works hard and saves his earnings for 2 years to achieve his dream of buying two coonhound pups. He develops a new trust in God as he faces overwhelming challenges in adventure and tragedy roaming the river bottoms of Cherokee country with "Old Dan" and "Little Ann."
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & family
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAny Given Sunday (1999)
A star quarterback gets knocked out of the game and an unknown third stringer is called in to replace him. The unknown gives a stunning performance and forces the aging coach to reevaluate his game plans and life. A new co-owner/president adds to the pressure of winning. The new owner must prove herself in a male dominated world.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOvercomer (2019)
After reluctantly agreeing to coach cross-country, high school basketball Coach John Harrison helps the least likely runner attempt the impossible in the biggest race of the year.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWhen the Game Stands Tall (2014)
A young coach turns a losing high school football program around to go undefeated for 12 consecutive seasons.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPride (2007)
Coach Jim Ellis shocks the community and changes lives when, aided by a local janitor, he sets out to form Philadelphia's first black swim team. But the odds are against them as they battle rigid rules, racism and more.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Pagemaster (1994)
Rich knows a lot about accidents. So much so, he is scared to do anything that might endanger him, like riding his bike, or climbing into his treehouse. While in an old library, he is mystically transported into the unknown world of books, and he has to try and get home again.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both family
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Color of Rain (2014)
After cancer claims Matt Kell's life on Christmas Day 2005, his widow, Gina and two young boys are left to cope with the pain of his loss while their close church community gathers around them for support.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWon't Back Down (2012)
Jamie Fitzpatrick and Nona Alberts are two women from opposites sides of the social and economic track, but they have one thing in common: a mission to fix their community's broken school and ensure a bright future for their children. The two women refuse to let any obstacles stand in their way as they battle a bureaucracy that's hopelessly mired in traditional thinking, and they seek to re-energize a faculty that has lost its passion for teaching.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
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 thisOnce Upon a Time in the West (1968)
As the railroad builders advance unstoppably through the Arizona desert on their way to the sea, Jill arrives in the small town of Flagstone with the intention of starting a new life.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisMonsoon Wedding (2001)
A stressed father, a bride-to-be with a secret, a smitten event planner, and relatives from around the world create much ado about the preparations for an arranged marriage in India.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCléo from 5 to 7 (1962)
Agnès Varda eloquently captures Paris in the sixties with this real-time portrait of a singer set adrift in the city as she awaits test results of a biopsy. A chronicle of the minutes of one woman’s life, Cléo from 5 to 7 is a spirited mix of vivid vérité and melodrama, featuring a score by Michel Legrand and cameos by Jean-Luc Godard and Anna Karina.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBend It Like Beckham (2002)
Jess Bhamra, the daughter of a strict Indian couple in London, is not permitted to play organized soccer, even though she is 18. When Jess is playing for fun one day, her impressive skills are seen by Jules Paxton, who then convinces Jess to play for her semi-pro team. Jess uses elaborate excuses to hide her matches from her family while also dealing with her romantic feelings for her coach, Joe.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like this36 Fillette (1988)
A 14-year-old pursues romance with a man while vacationing with her family in Switzerland.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisBalcony (2013)
Jeton, a 10-year-old boy is sitting on the edge of a balcony on the 4th floor. Neighbours and passers-by, terrified by this situation, call the police and firefighters for help. But the situation quickly becomes unmanageable.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Or (My Treasure) (2004)
Or shoulders a lot: she's 17 or 18, a student, works evenings at a restaurant, recycles cans and bottles for cash, and tries to keep her mother Ruthie from returning to streetwalking in Tel Aviv. Ruthie calls Or "my treasure," but Ruthie is a burden. She's just out of hospital, weak, and Or has found her a job as a house cleaner. The call of the quick money on the street is tough for Ruthie to ignore. Or's emotions roil further when the mother of the youth she's in love with comes to the flat to warn her off. With love fading and Ruthie perhaps beyond help, Or's choices narrow.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Away from Her (2007)
Fiona and Grant have been married for nearly 50 years. They have to face the fact that Fiona’s absent-mindedness is a symptom of Alzheimer’s disease. She must go to a specialized nursing home, where she slowly forgets Grant and turns her affection to Aubrey, another patient in the home.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisTwin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (1992)
In the questionable town of Deer Meadow, Washington, FBI Agent Desmond inexplicably disappears while hunting for the man who murdered a teen girl. The killer is never apprehended, and, after experiencing dark visions and supernatural encounters, Agent Dale Cooper chillingly predicts that the culprit will claim another life. Meanwhile, in the more cozy town of Twin Peaks, hedonistic beauty Laura Palmer hangs with lowlifes and seems destined for a grisly fate.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Last Mistress (2007)
Secrets, rumors and betrayals surround the upcoming marriage between a young dissolute man and virtuous woman of the French aristocracy.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like McFarland, USA?
The closest matches to McFarland, USA are A Sunday Horse (2016), A Second Chance: Rivals! (2019) and A Second Chance (2011). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after McFarland, USA?
Start with A Sunday Horse (2016), the closest match to McFarland, USA.
What is the highest-rated movie like McFarland, USA?
Once Upon a Time in the West (1968), rated 8.3/10 by 5,133 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like McFarland, USA?
Skater Girl (2021) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like McFarland, USA?
Yes: A Sunday Horse (2016), A Second Chance: Rivals! (2019) and A Second Chance (2011).
How are movies similar to McFarland, USA chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside McFarland, USA, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.