Movies like Distortion (2009)
The best movies like Distortion (2009) are Hounddog (2008), The Young One (1960) and What Maisie Knew (2013). If Distortion hooked you with its drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Distortion
Quick picks
- Highest ratedWhat Maisie Knew (2013)7.1/10 from 465 votes
- NewestMouse (2026)Released 2026
Hounddog (2008)
A drama set in the American South, where a precocious, troubled girl finds a safe haven in the music and movement of Elvis Presley.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Young One (1960)
A jazz musician seeks refuge from a lynch mob on a remote island, where he meets a hostile game warden and the young object of his attentions.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies 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 thisRogue Agent (2022)
Conman Robert Freegard poses as an undercover MI5 agent and kidnaps countless victims amidst a high-stakes manhunt, until the woman who fell for him brings him to justice.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCall Me Crazy: A Five Film (2013)
A psychotherapist helps a law student cope with schizophrenia in one of five interconnected tales dealing with mental illness.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHomeless to Harvard: The Liz Murray Story (2003)
Based on a true story. Liz Murray is a young girl who is taken care of by her loving, but drug-addicted parents. Liz becomes homeless at 15 and after a tragedy comes upon her, she begins her work to finish high school.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisTeen Spirit (2019)
A shy teenager living on the Isle of Wight dreams of pop stardom. With the help of an unlikely mentor, she enters a singing competition that will test her integrity, talent, and ambition.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisImperial Dreams (2014)
A 21-year-old reformed gangster's devotion to his family and his future is put to the test when he is released from prison and returns to his old stomping grounds in Watts, Los Angeles.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Girl in the Book (2015)
The story of a young writer's transformation when her past invades her present.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisDear Zoe (2022)
Tess enlists her biological father – a lovable slacker from the wrong side of the tracks – and the charming juvenile delinquent next door to help her come to grips with the death of her little sister.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMy Dinner with Hervé (2018)
An unlikely friendship evolves over one wild night in LA between a struggling journalist and actor Hervé Villechaize, the world's most famous gun-toting dwarf, resulting in life-changing consequences for both.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPimp (2018)
An urban love story set on the hard streets of the Bronx. A struggling female pimp, named Wednesday, grows up learning the game from her dad. Once he's gone she's left to look out for her prostitute mother and girlfriend Nikki.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAll Day and a Night (2020)
While serving life in prison, a young man looks back at the people, the circumstances and the system that set him on the path toward his crime.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisI Never Promised You a Rose Garden (1977)
A disturbed and institutionalized 16-year-old girl struggles between fantasy and reality.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisEmbattled (2020)
The eldest son of a ruthlessly tough MMA champion must fight his way out of the abusive cycle his father has continued.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Trials of Cate McCall (2013)
In order to be reinstated to the bar and recover custody of her daughter, a hotshot lawyer, now in recovery and on probation, must take on the appeal of a woman wrongfully convicted of murder.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLucky Them (2013)
More interested in partying and flirting with young musicians than work, veteran rock journalist Ellie Klug has one last chance to prove her value to her magazine’s editor: a no-stone-unturned search to discover what really happened to long lost rock god, Matt Smith, who also happens to be her ex-boyfriend. Teaming up with an eccentric amateur documentary filmmaker, Ellie hits the road in search of answers.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPeople Like Us (2012)
After flying home to L.A. for the funeral of his estranged record-producer father, a struggling man discovers that the will stipulates that he must deliver $150,000 in cash to a 30-year-old alcoholic sister he never knew existed, and her troubled 12-year-old son.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Truth About Emanuel (2013)
A troubled young woman becomes obsessed with her mysterious new neighbor, who bears a striking resemblance to the girl's dead mother.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Giver (2014)
In a seemingly perfect community, without war, pain, suffering, differences or choice, a young boy is chosen to learn from an elderly man about the true pain and pleasure of the "real" world.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Kings of the World (2022)
Rá, Culebro, Sere, Winny and Nano. Five boys who live on the streets of Medellín. Five kings with no kingdom, no law, no family, set out on a journey in search of the promised land. A subversive tale told through a wild and endearing clan, somewhere between reality and delirium. A journey to nowhere, where everything happens.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisA Night in the Fields (2020)
In a working-class town, Anthony and Dylan, two inseparable 14-year-old teenagers decide to go on a walk for a retro house party in a nightclub called the Komplex. While one wants to join Océane, a young girl with whom he is in love, the other wants to escape from Joe, his brother's dealer, from whom he stole money and part of his stock.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Soft Side (2025)
Angry and brooding school drop-out, Hunter Hall, spends his nights driving and picking fights when an estranged family member suddenly causes him to question his lifestyle.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Deltopia (2023)
Every spring break, tens of thousands of college kids descend upon Isla Vista, California, for Deltopia - the ultimate street party with no rules and no boundaries. A group of recent high school grads join the party, looking to celebrate their newfound freedom. But nothing can prepare these friends for Deltopia's volatile mix of sex, drugs, and rebellion, as they unite for a life-changing adventure that brings exhilaration, heartbreak, and, ultimately, hope.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
One of the Boys (2022)
On a hot summer day in the countryside, Ines, a young teenager, gets involved in a friendly ball game between boys her age, and among them Malik, the one she has a crush on.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Mean Creek (2004)
Teenagers living in small-town Oregon take a boat trip for a birthday celebration. When they get an idea to play a mean trick on the town bully, it suddenly goes too far. Soon they're forced to deal with the unexpected consequences of their actions.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHello, Goodbye (2017)
Hazuki and Aoi are classmates but their relationship outside class is fraught, and outside school non-existent. But when both girls are drawn to helping an elderly woman, they're forced to interact, confronting their differences and similarities as well as their deepest secrets.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Chicken Club (2025)
Davie, Stevie and Johnny are three teenagers encountering the end of their time in high school, facing decisions that may change their life, as well as a mysterious group that seems to be following them wherever they go.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Mouse (2026)
When her closest friendship is suddenly disrupted the summer before senior year, a teenager struggles to find her footing and develops an unexpected, complicated bond with her best friend’s mother.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Forever Young (2022)
At the end of the 1980s, Stella, Victor, Adèle and Etienne are 20 years old. They take the entrance exam to the famous acting school created by Patrice Chéreau and Pierre Romans at the Théâtre des Amandiers in Nanterre. Launched at full speed into life, passion, and love, together they will experience the turning point of their lives, but also their first tragedy.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
Like Distortion and something else?
Blend two favourites and we’ll find the films in between.
Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Distortion?
The closest matches to Distortion are Hounddog (2008), The Young One (1960) and What Maisie Knew (2013). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Distortion?
Start with Hounddog (2008), the closest match to Distortion.
What is the highest-rated movie like Distortion?
What Maisie Knew (2013), rated 7.1/10 by 465 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Distortion?
Mouse (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
How are movies similar to Distortion chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Distortion, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.