Skip to content

Movies like Mr. Happy (2015)

The best movies like Mr. Happy (2015) are Hungry Hearts (2015), To Write Love on Her Arms (2015) and Requiem for a Dream (2000). If Mr. Happy hooked you with its drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.

Quick picks

  1. Hungry Hearts (2015)

    The relationship of a couple who meet by chance in New York City is put to the test when they encounter a life or death circumstance.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  2. To Write Love on Her Arms (2015)

    The story follows 19-year-old Renee who has always loved fairy tales: the idea of a princess, a hero and a happily ever after. But Renee’s life is that of a darker tale: she’s a young woman battling addiction, depression and self-injury. In a creative blend of artistic fantasy balanced with harsh reality, the movie follows Renee on her courageous journey towards recovery.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  3. Requiem for a Dream (2000)

    The drug-induced utopias of four Coney Island residents are shattered when their addictions run deep.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

    Absolute CinemaMovies like this
  4. Jawbone (2017)

    A former youth boxing champion, Jimmy McCabe is a man in search of hope but looking in all the wrong places. When he hits rock bottom he turns to his childhood boxing club and the only family he has left: gym owner Bill corner man Eddie and promoter Joe. Back in training, years after anyone thought he was a contender, he risks his life, as he tries to stand tall and regain his place in the world.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  5. Lockdown (2000)

    Avery (Jones) returns to college as a competitive swimmer after getting his life back on track. But his life takes another unexpected turn when he and his two friends (Bonds, Casseus) are wrongly accused of murder and end up in prison.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  6. Pimp (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 this
  7. Mexicali (2026)

    A former special forces contractor is forced out of retirement as an avocado farmer in Mexico when local gangsters try to force him and his family off their farm.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  8. Bronson (2009)

    A young man who was sentenced to 7 years in prison for robbing a post office ends up spending 30 years in solitary confinement. During this time, his own personality is supplanted by his alter ego, Charles Bronson.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  9. Mammal (2016)

    After Margaret, a divorcée living in Dublin, loses her teenage son, she develops an unorthodox relationship with Joe, a homeless youth. Their tentative trust is threatened by his involvement with a violent gang and the escalation of her ex-husband's grieving rage.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  10. Blood and Bone (2009)

    In Los Angeles, an ex-con takes the underground fighting world by storm in his quest to fulfill a promise to a dead friend.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  11. I 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 this
  12. Unthinkable (2010)

    The government gets wind of a plot to destroy America involving a trio of nuclear weapons for which the whereabouts are unknown. It's up to a seasoned interrogator and an FBI agent to find out exactly where the nukes are.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  13. Rise of the Footsoldier 3 (2017)

    In the late 1980s, Pat Tate journeys from peddling pills in Marbella to his time in prison, where he solidifies his power before his release to reclaim his turf.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  14. Farming (2018)

    Based on the writer/director's childhood, FARMING tells the story of a young Nigerian boy, 'farmed out' by his parents to a white British family in the hope of a better future. Instead, he becomes the feared leader of a white skinhead gang.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  15. Xiu Xiu: The Sent-Down Girl (1998)

    Young teen girl Xiu Xiu is sent away to a remote corner of the Sichuan steppes for manual labor in 1975 (sending young people to there was a part of Cultural Revolution in China). A year later, she agrees to go to even more remote spot with a Tibetan saddle tramp Lao Jin to learn horse herding.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  16. Shame (2011)

    Brandon, a thirty-something man living in New York, eludes intimacy with women but feeds his deepest desires with a compulsive addiction to sex. When his younger sister temporarily moves into his apartment, stirring up bitter memories of their shared painful past, Brandon's life, like his fragile mind, gets out of control.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  17. No Retreat, No Surrender 3: Blood Brothers (1990)

    Two feuding brothers of differing political views, one a policeman, the other a martial artist, join forces to avenge the death of their father, a retired agent who was brutally murdered by the mafia.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  18. Partisan (2015)

    On the edge of a crumbling city, 11-year-old Alexander lives in a sequestered commune alongside other children, their mothers, and charismatic leader, Gregori. Gregori teaches the children how to raise livestock, grow vegetables, work as a community - and how to kill. With the birth of a new baby brother weighing on his mind, Alexander begins to question Gregori’s overpowering influence on the children and their training to become assassins. Threatened by his increasing unwillingness to fall in line, Gregori’s behavior turns erratic and adversarial toward the child he once considered a son. With the two set dangerously at odds and the commune’s way of life disintegrating, the residents fear a violent resolution is at hand.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  19. Clubbed (2008)

    An underworld drama set in the early 1980s, about a lonely factory worker whose life is transformed when he becomes a nightclub doorman.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  20. Suburbia (1984)

    When household tensions and a sense of worthlessness overcome Evan, he finds escape when he clings with the orphans of a throw-away society. The runaways hold on to each other like a family until a tragedy tears them apart.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  21. Not Panic (2010)

    They go sledging behind a car. They earn extra by fixing the roof of a neighbor's house. They are young and want to fulfill their dreams, but before them an uncertain future prevails. We are there as one of them, equally present, equally absent.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama

  22. Grandmother's Eye (2010)

    A constant motion from a distance all the way into an elderly ladies eye.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama

  23. The Last Post (2011)

    An old lady in a nursing home is visited by a mysterious man no one else seems to be able to see.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama

  24. Amsterdam to Anatolia (2019)

    Elissa's life takes a turn when she meets a mysterious man in her English class and she has to quickly decide between her family and him- and going from family-life to a life on the run is a wild choice to everyone but her.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama

  25. Rasta (2019)

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama

  26. Safe Word (2023)

    Cesar, an emotionally stunted masochist, must confront his self-loathing after his dissatisfied-yet-caring Dom, Bear, reinterprets the rules of their game. They arrive at a paradigm-shifting result neither one of them expects.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama

  27. F Is for Friendship (2017)

    Emily decides to air the skeletons in her closet and brave the scrutiny of a catty dinner party to win back her name.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama

  28. Oasis (2014)

    After her husband dies, Nieves inherits his job as the super of a decaying apartment complex in New York City. But the job becomes more difficult than she anticipated when she discovers a disturbing secret in one of the units.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama

  29. Carne (1991)

    After a dreadful incident coupled with an ungovernable paroxysm of violence, a butcher will fall into a downward spiral that will burn to the ground whatever dignity still remained in him.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  30. Sycorax (2021)

    Who is Sycorax? The first character in Shakespeare's "Tempest" to set foot on the island. The problem is that she has no voice. She is barely mentioned by Prospero as a crooked, old, wicked witch who vilely locked Ariel, the spirit of the air, in a tree. But why would she do that? Here, we wouldn't believe Prospero so much.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama

Like Mr. Happy and something else?

Blend two favourites and we’ll find the films in between.

Frequently asked questions

What are the best movies like Mr. Happy?

The closest matches to Mr. Happy are Hungry Hearts (2015), To Write Love on Her Arms (2015) and Requiem for a Dream (2000). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.

What should I watch after Mr. Happy?

Start with Hungry Hearts (2015), the closest match to Mr. Happy.

What is the highest-rated movie like Mr. Happy?

Requiem for a Dream (2000), rated 8.0/10 by 11,478 TMDB users.

What is the newest movie like Mr. Happy?

Mexicali (2026) is the most recent release on this list.

Are there English movies like Mr. Happy?

Yes: Hungry Hearts (2015), To Write Love on Her Arms (2015) and Requiem for a Dream (2000).

How are movies similar to Mr. Happy chosen?

First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Mr. Happy, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.

↑ ↓ to move · Enter to open · Full search page