Movies like Bustin' Loose (1981)
The best movies like Bustin' Loose (1981) are Gary (2026), Treasure (2024) and Somewhere in Queens (2023). If Bustin' Loose hooked you with its comedy and drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedBlindspotting (2018)7.3/10 from 756 votes
- NewestDriver's Ed (2026)Released 2026
Gary (2026)
Two friends go on a work trip and encounter unexpected challenges and local personalities as they navigate their assignment. Their efforts to adapt to unfamiliar surroundings highlight moments of humor, small-town culture and the unpredictable nature of work travel. Their experience offers new perspectives on their friendship.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTreasure (2024)
A music journalist accompanies her father, a charmingly stubborn Holocaust survivor, on a journey to his homeland. While she's eager to make sense of her family's past, her dad has an agenda of his own.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSomewhere in Queens (2023)
Leo and Angela Russo live a simple life in Queens, surrounded by their overbearing Italian-American family. When their son finds success on his high school basketball team, Leo tears the family apart trying to make it happen.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTyler Perry's Madea's Family Reunion - The Play (2002)
The fireworks begin when Madea’s family gathers for her granddaughter’s wedding. As usual, Madea rules the roost, as she and her neighbor, the wacky Mr. Brown, deliver nonstop laughs. Live, love, rejoice...it’s Madea’s Family Reunion!
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOn Becoming a Guinea Fowl (2024)
On an empty road in the middle of the night, Shula stumbles across the body of her uncle. As funeral proceedings begin around them, she and her cousins bring to light the buried secrets of their middle-class Zambian family.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisA Futile and Stupid Gesture (2018)
In a life full of triumph and failure, "National Lampoon" co-founder Doug Kenney built a comedy empire, molding pop culture in the 1970s.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGrandma (2015)
Self-described misanthrope Elle Reid has her protective bubble burst when her 18-year-old granddaughter, Sage, shows up needing help. The two of them go on a day-long journey that causes Elle to come to terms with her past and Sage to confront her future.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLife During Wartime (2010)
Friends, family, and lovers struggle to find love, forgiveness, and meaning in an almost war-torn world riddled with comedy and pathos.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisCQ (2001)
A young filmmaker in 1960s Paris juggles directing a cheesy sci-fi debacle, directing his own personal art film, coping with his crumbling relationship with his girlfriend, and a new-found infatuation with the sci-fi film's starlet.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisBlindspotting (2018)
Collin must make it through his final three days of probation for a chance at a new beginning. He and his troublemaking childhood best friend, Miles, work as movers, and when Collin witnesses a police shooting, the two men’s friendship is tested as they grapple with identity and their changed realities in the rapidly-gentrifying neighborhood they grew up in.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like this10 Years (2012)
A group of friends reunite ten years after their high-school graduation.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisAbout Alex (2014)
When a group of old college friends reunite over a long weekend after one of them attempts suicide, old crushes and resentments shine light on their life decisions, and ultimately push friendships and relationships to the brink.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisKrush Groove (1985)
Russell Walker is a young, successful manager of rap performers, handling acts for the Krush Groove label, including Run-DMC and The Fat Boys. When Run-D.M.C. has a hit record and Russell needs more money to press more copies, he borrows it from a street hustler and soon regrets his decision.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCode 3 (2025)
A burned-out paramedic tries to survive his last 24 hours on the job while training a new recruit.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisFist Fight (2017)
When one school teacher gets the other fired, he is challenged to an after-school fight.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisEenie Meanie (2025)
A former teenage getaway driver gets dragged back into her unsavory past when a former employer offers her a chance to save the life of her chronically unreliable ex-boyfriend.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOnly the Strong (1993)
Former Green Beret Louis Stevens returns to his hometown of Miami after completing military service in Brazil, only to learn that his old high school has become a haven for gangs and drug dealers. After Stevens uses his capoeira skills to kick several drug dealers off of the school property, Kerrigan, one of Stevens' old teachers, sees the impact that Stevens has on the students. Kerrigan gives him the task of teaching Capoeira to a handful of the worst at-risk students at the school.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisScarecrow (1973)
Two drifters bum around, visit earthy women and discuss opening a car wash in Pittsburgh.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisTag (2018)
For one month every year, five highly competitive friends hit the ground running in a no-holds-barred game of tag they’ve been playing since the first grade. This year, the game coincides with the wedding of their only undefeated player, which should finally make him an easy target. But he knows they’re coming...and he’s ready.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDriver's Ed (2026)
A group of teens hit the road in a stolen driver's ed car, racing against time to help a lovesick high school senior track down his college-freshman girlfriend and win her back.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDawn Wind in My Poncho (2017)
Three friends who will soon graduate from high school decide to take one last trip together.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy & drama
Acceptance (2009)
A comedic, sometimes poignant look at the absurdity of today's college-applications process for parents and teens. Joan Cusack stars as a stressed-out mom who is trying to get her teen daughter into college.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
Up the Down Staircase (1967)
Sylvia, a novice schoolteacher, is hired to teach English in a high school, but she’s met with an apathetic faculty, a delinquent student body and an administration that drowns its staff in paperwork. The following days go from bad to worse as Sylvia struggles to reach her most troubled students.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Gantung: Musketeer Code (2025)
Four best friends accused of being the cause of the death of a female student who hanged herself in the school auditorium.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Stolen Spring (1993)
At their 25th high-school anniversary some bourgeois citizens remember their time in school as a happy one. In reality it was quite the contrary. The school was a madhouse in which the teachers, especially Blomme, tormented the students. As a result one of them became a murderer.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Rachel, Rachel (1968)
Rachel is a 35-year-old school teacher who has no man in her life and lives with her mother. When a man from the big city returns and asks her out, she begins to have to make decisions about her life and where she wants it to go.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Birch Wood (1970)
A man suffering from tuberculosis returns from abroad to stay at his brother's farm, hoping to make amends, while also beginning a love affair with a farm girl.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Chlorine (2015)
Seventeen-year-old Jenny dreams of becoming a synchronized swimmer. Family events turn her life upside down and she is forced move to a remote area to look after her ill father and younger brother. It won't be long before Jenny starts pursuing her dreams again.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Guardians of Night: The Demon Hunting Academy (2016)
Demons and humans share a planet near Earth. The humans occupy the planet by day and the demons occupy it at night. They live in harmony until some of the demons scheme against the humans. The Guardians rid the planet of the troublesome demonic creatures to preserve the peace.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
This City Is a Battlefield (2025)
In war-torn Jakarta 1946, a haunted violinist ordered to bomb a colonial theatre sees his plan unravel when a charismatic rebel falls for his wife—jeopardising Indonesia’s freedom and their lives.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Bustin' Loose?
The closest matches to Bustin' Loose are Gary (2026), Treasure (2024) and Somewhere in Queens (2023). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Bustin' Loose?
Start with Gary (2026), the closest match to Bustin' Loose.
What is the highest-rated movie like Bustin' Loose?
Blindspotting (2018), rated 7.3/10 by 756 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Bustin' Loose?
Driver's Ed (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Bustin' Loose?
Yes: Gary (2026), Treasure (2024) and Somewhere in Queens (2023).
How are movies similar to Bustin' Loose chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Bustin' Loose, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.