Movies like Next to Me (2015)
The best movies like Next to Me (2015) are World's Greatest Dad (2009), Storytelling (2001) and In the Soup (1992). If Next to Me hooked you with its drama and comedy, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedThe Holdovers (2023)7.6/10 from 2,777 votes
- NewestBad Apples (2026)Released 2026
World's Greatest Dad (2009)
In the wake of a freak accident, Lance suffers the worst tragedy and the greatest opportunity of his life. He is suddenly faced with the possibility of fame, fortune and popularity, if he can only live with the knowledge of how he got there.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisStorytelling (2001)
College and high school serve as the backdrop for two stories about dysfunction and personal turmoil.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisIn the Soup (1992)
An aspiring young filmmaker gets involved with an eccentric gangster for the financing of his first film.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisElection (1999)
A high school teacher meets his match in an over-achieving student politician.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMen, Women & Children (2014)
Follows the story of a group of high school teenagers and their parents as they attempt to navigate the many ways the internet has changed their relationships, their communication, their self-image, and their love lives.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisJuniper (2021)
When a self-destructive teenager is suspended from school and asked to look after his feisty alcoholic grandmother as a punishment, the crazy time they spend together turns his life around.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDirty Girl (2010)
Accompanied by her closeted gay buddy, a promiscuous teenager sets out to find her long-absent father.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies 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 thisOne Eight Seven (1997)
When a Brooklyn high school student writes the police code for homicide, 187, inside a textbook owned by teacher Trevor Garfield, Garfield feels threatened. The principal dismisses the incident, but the same student stabs Trevor soon after. Fifteen months later, a physically and emotionally scarred Trevor relocates to California and takes up substitute teaching. To his dismay, his new school is as full of dangerously undisciplined students as his old one—including four Latin Americans and a European American claiming membership in tagging gang K.O.S. (Kappin' Off Suckers)—driving him over the edge.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDirty Teacher (2013)
When a high school senior discovers her teacher is seducing her boyfriend, events turn deadly after the teacher tries to cover it up.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisTeacher (2019)
A high school English teacher goes to disturbing lengths to protect his favorite students from bullies, and challenge the power of a wealthy patron within the community.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisClass of 1984 (1982)
Andy is a new teacher at an inner city high school that is unlike any he has seen before. There are metal detectors at the front door and the place is basically run by a tough kid named Peter Stegman. Soon, Andy and Stegman become enemies and Stegman will stop at nothing to protect his turf and drug dealing business.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisChild's Play (1972)
At an exclusive boys' school, a new gym teacher is drawn into a feud between two older instructors, and he discovers that everything at the school is not quite as staid, tranquil and harmless as it seems.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPretty Maids All in a Row (1971)
At Oceanfront High School, female students are being targeted by an unknown serial killer. Meanwhile, a married teacher hides his flings with nubile students, and an awkward male is frustrated by the plethora of uninhibited freewheeling young girls.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
SnoozefestMovies like thisDrillbit Taylor (2008)
Dealing with a sociopathic school bully, three high school freshmen hire a low-budget bodyguard to protect them, not realizing he is just a homeless beggar and petty thief looking for some easy cash.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
SnoozefestMovies like thisBrave the Dark (2025)
When Mr. Deen discovers one of his students has been living out of his car and thrown into jail, he decides to bail him out. Determined to curb Nate’s self-destructive behavior, Deen quickly discovers a host of dark secrets slowly tearing Nate apart. What began as a good deed becomes a desperate fight to save Nate from his own demons. As Nate spirals deeper into despair, Deen must decide how far he’s willing to go to save a kid on the brink of losing everything—even himself.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBlame (2018)
A drama teacher's taboo relationship with an unstable student strikes a nerve in her jealous classmate, sparking a vengeful chain of events within their suburban high school that draws parallels to "The Crucible".
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBad Apples (2026)
A struggling primary school teacher is forced to take drastic action because of a foul-mouthed, violent student, and uncovers how her community will turn a blind eye to the most outrageous events to preserve harmony and their sense of safety.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Principal (1987)
Burglary. Drugs. Assault. Rape. The students at Brandel High are more than new Principal Rick Latimer bargained for. Gangs fight to control the school using knives - even guns - when they have to. When Latimer and the head of security try to clean up the school and stop the narcotics trade, they run up against a teenage mafia. A violent confrontation on the campus leads to a deadly showdown with the drug dealer's gang, and one last chance for Latimer to save his career... and his life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCheaters (2000)
In the fall of 1994, a teacher at Chicago's run-down Steinmetz High conspires with the school's academic decathlon team to cheat on an academic competition.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Holdovers (2023)
A curmudgeonly instructor at a New England prep school is forced to remain on campus during Christmas break to babysit the handful of students with nowhere to go. Eventually, he forms an unlikely bond with one of them — a damaged, brainy troublemaker — and with the school’s head cook, who has just lost a son in Vietnam.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisStick It (2006)
Haley is a naturally gifted athlete but, with her social behavior, the teen seems intent on squandering her abilities. After a final brush with the law, a judge sentences her to an elite gymnastics academy run by a legendary, hard-nosed coach. Once there, Haley's rebellious attitude wins her both friends and enemies.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Battle of Shaker Heights (2003)
A quirky teen with a penchant for war reenactments, Kelly Ernswiler obsesses over military tactics with his buddy Bart. The school bully is one of Kelly's regular headaches, and he also has to deal with a frustrating situation at home, where his father is a recovering drug addict. Kelly's life gets even more complicated when he falls for Tabby, Bart's pretty and soon-to-be-wed older sister.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisFriends (1971)
Paul, a rich English boy, and Michelle, an orphaned French girl, run away from home to a remote beach. Living on their own, their friendship grows into love.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Spin (2003)
It’s the time of sexual awakening and everything is in a state of flux. A game of spin-the-bottle sets off a chain reaction and, afterwards, nothing is quite same again. An adrenaline-charged tale about what it’s like to be a teenager.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Just Like Arcadia (2015)
A melancholy, dreamy voyage back to cruel adolescence, which condemns us to live without the possibility of return.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Mannequin (1987)
Jonathan Switcher, an unemployed artist, finds a job as an assistant window dresser for a department store. When Jonathan happens upon a beautiful mannequin he previously designed, she springs to life and introduces herself as Emmy, an Egyptian under an ancient spell. Despite interference from the store's devious manager, Jonathan and his mannequin fall in love while creating eye-catching window displays to keep the struggling store in business.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisReno 911!: Miami (2007)
A rag-tag team of Reno cops are called in to save the day after a terrorist attack disrupts a national police convention in Miami Beach during spring break. Based on the Comedy Central series.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
SnoozefestMovies like thisFace à la mer (2014)
Yacine, a young painter, lives in fear of assuming his difference and facing the world and his overly imposing sister, but the circumstances and insistence of Karim, his long-time lover, will lead him to confess his true nature.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
May We Chat (2014)
Three troubled young girls will do anything to escape their stifling lives - even if it means turning to drugs and prostitution. Set in the generation of smartphones and web 2.0, the technology may have made communication easier than ever, but cautionary tales of misunderstood youths remain as relevant as they were two decades ago.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Like Next to Me and something else?
Blend two favourites and we’ll find the films in between.
Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Next to Me?
The closest matches to Next to Me are World's Greatest Dad (2009), Storytelling (2001) and In the Soup (1992). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Next to Me?
Start with World's Greatest Dad (2009), the closest match to Next to Me.
What is the highest-rated movie like Next to Me?
The Holdovers (2023), rated 7.6/10 by 2,777 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Next to Me?
Bad Apples (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
How are movies similar to Next to Me chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Next to Me, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.