Movies like The Happy Life of Debbie (2012)
The best movies like The Happy Life of Debbie (2012) are Broken (2012), Where the Red Fern Grows (1974) and Goodbye June (2025). If The Happy Life of Debbie hooked you with its drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
The Happy Life of Debbie
Quick picks
- Highest ratedBoyhood (2014)7.5/10 from 5,711 votes
- NewestDaadi Ki Shaadi (2026)Released 2026
- In ChineseBlack Dog (2024)Also in Chinese
Broken (2012)
Three suburban English families' lives intertwine with tragic consequences.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWhere the Red Fern Grows (1974)
Billy Coleman works hard and saves his earnings for two years to achieve his dream of buying two red-bone coonhound pups. He develops a new trust in life as he faces overwhelming challenges in adventure and tragedy roaming the river bottoms of Cherokee country with his dogs, Old Dan and Little Ann.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGoodbye June (2025)
Four siblings' lives change drastically when their ailing mother takes a turn for the worse over the holiday season.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDie My Love (2025)
After inheriting a remote Montana house, Jackson moves there from New York with his partner Grace, and the couple soon welcome a child. As Jackson becomes increasingly absent and rural isolation sets in, Grace struggles with loneliness, creative frustration, and unresolved emotional wounds. What begins as an attempt at renewal gradually turns into an intense psychological descent, placing strain on their relationship and exposing the fragile balance between love, identity, and motherhood.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBlack Dog (2024)
Released from jail, Lang returns to his hometown in Northwest China. As part of a dog patrol tasked with clearing stray dogs before the 2008 Olympics, he bonds with a black stray. The two lonely souls embark on a new journey together.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisEffie Gray (2014)
A look at the mysterious relationship between Victorian art critic John Ruskin and his teenage bride Effie Gray.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies 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 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 · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies 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 thisHellion (2014)
When motocross and heavy metal obsessed, 13-year-old Jacob's delinquent behavior forces CPS to place his little brother Wes with his aunt, Jacob and his emotionally absent father must finally take responsibility for their actions and each other in order to bring Wes home.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisSeptember (1987)
After a suicide attempt, Lane has moved into her country house to recuperate. Her best friend, Stephanie, has come to join her for the summer. Lane's mother, Diane, has recently arrived with her husband Lloyd, Lane's stepfather. Lane is close to two neighbors: Peter, and Howard. Howard is in love with Lane, Lane is in love with Peter, and Peter is in love with Stephanie.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisI Smile Back (2015)
Laney is an attractive, intelligent suburban wife and devoted mother of two adorable children. She has the perfect husband who plays basketball with the kids in the driveway, a pristine house, and a shiny SUV for carting the children to their next activity. However, just beneath the façade lie depression and disillusionment that send her careening into a secret world of reckless compulsion. Only very real danger will force her to face the painful root of her destructiveness and its crumbling effect on those she loves.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLittle Lord Fauntleroy (1980)
Young Cedric Errol and his widowed mother live in genteel poverty in 1880s Brooklyn after the death of his father. Cedric's grandfather, the Earl of Dorincourt, has long ago disowned his son for marrying an American. But after the death of the Earl's remaining son, he decides to accept Cedric as his heir.
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 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
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHoney Boy (2019)
The story of a child star attempting to mend his relationship with his law-breaking, alcohol-abusing father over the course of a decade, loosely based on Shia LaBeouf’s life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies 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
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 drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Pumpkin Eater (1964)
Jo, the mother of seven children, divorces her second husband in order to marry Jake, a successful but promiscuous screenwriter. Though they are physically and emotionally compatible, they are slowly torn apart.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThirteen (2003)
When 13-year-old Tracy befriends Evie, the most popular girl in school, her life is turned upside down as Evie introduces her to a world of sex, drugs, and money. But it isn’t long before Tracy’s new lifestyle begins to take a heavy toll on her and her family.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Candy for Bobby (2024)
A father who is uncomfortable with the state of his family as he is craving perfection from them.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Take Me Drunk I'm Home (2025)
It's 5 o'clock here. As a town descends deeper into their cups, one man tries desperately to ascend his stairs to bed.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Intermittent (2020)
This short film tells the story of a former university professor diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's. The protagonist wakes up at dawn and begins the morning routine he used to follow during his time as a professor. Later, his wife and son discover him and try to bring him back to present time. In that early morning, the past and the present coexist. Revisiting these wounds, leads the Rivera Dávila family to accept the past, assume the present and heal those diseases that do not concern memory, but the heart.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
School Patch (2024)
A grieving young man races to hold her fractured family together—an absent father, a dependent brother, and a resentful sister—all while refusing to let her own future fall apart.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Dinner at Eight (1933)
An ambitious New York socialite plans an extravagant dinner party as her businessman husband, Oliver, contends with financial woes, causing a lot of tension between the couple. Meanwhile, their high-society friends and associates, including the gruff Dan Packard and his sultry spouse, Kitty, contend with their own entanglements, leading to revelations at the much-anticipated dinner.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDaadi Ki Shaadi (2026)
A grandmother’s mishap with a social media post causes consternation amongst her children and threatens the prospect of her granddaughter’s wedding.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Future Shock (2021)
An android is accused of a murder that he has not committed ... A couple lock themselves in a basement to protect themselves from the apocalypse... Impacts of a future seen from today.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The Saint of Southall (2020)
On a holy day in Southall, a young woman inadvertently appears as a vision of a goddess, compelling a grandmother to try to heal her disabled grandson.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Kasidre Kailasa (1971)
Kasidre Kailasa is a 1971 Indian Kannada-language film directed and produced by K. Janakiram. The film stars Rajkumar, Udaykumar, Vanisri and Pandari Bai. The film has musical score by Satyam.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Mater Mortis (2021)
Mater Mortis is a short narrative film that asks what the limits of family bonds are under the weight of illness. Rajan must care for his mother, now afflicted with a condition that makes her the living dead. Relations between Rajan and his father fray as tensions rise to a head in this meditation on family, disease, and the right to life or death.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Happy Life of Debbie?
The closest matches to The Happy Life of Debbie are Broken (2012), Where the Red Fern Grows (1974) and Goodbye June (2025). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Happy Life of Debbie?
Start with Broken (2012), the closest match to The Happy Life of Debbie.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Happy Life of Debbie?
Boyhood (2014), rated 7.5/10 by 5,711 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Happy Life of Debbie?
Daadi Ki Shaadi (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Chinese movies like The Happy Life of Debbie?
Yes: Black Dog (2024).
How are movies similar to The Happy Life of Debbie chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Happy Life of Debbie, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.