Movies like Up the Sandbox (1972)
The best movies like Up the Sandbox (1972) are Class (1983), Family Weekend (2013) and Real Women Have Curves (2002). If Up the Sandbox 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 ratedCode 3 (2025)7.1/10 from 375 votes
- NewestOn 'E' (2026)Released 2026
Class (1983)
Naive Midwestern prep student Jonathan bonds with his more worldly roommate, Skip, who takes the small-town boy under his wing. At Skip's urging, the inexperienced Jonathan is emboldened to seek out older women in the cocktail lounges of nearby Chicago, where he meets and beds the alluring Ellen, who unfortunately turns out to be Skip's mother. The division between the friends is further deepened when a cheating scandal engulfs the school.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFamily Weekend (2013)
A 16-year-old girl takes her parents hostage after they miss her big jump-roping competition.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisReal Women Have Curves (2002)
In East Los Angeles, an 18-year-old struggles between her ambitions of going to college and the desires of her domineering mother for her to get married, have children, and oversee the small, rundown family-owned textile factory.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLandline (2017)
A teenager living with her sister and parents in Manhattan during the 1990s discovers that her father is having an affair.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies 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 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 thisBreaking News in Yuba County (2021)
An overlooked pencil-pusher catches her husband in bed with another woman, the shock of which causes him to die of a heart attack. So she buries his body and takes advantage of the growing celebrity status that comes from having a missing husband. But she quickly finds herself in over her head, dodging cops and criminals, all while trying to keep the truth from her sister, a local news anchor who’s desperate for a story.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
SnoozefestMovies 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 thisPalindromes (2005)
Aviva is thirteen, awkward and sensitive. Her mother Joyce is warm and loving, as is her father, Steve, a regular guy who does have a fierce temper from time to time. The film revolves around her family, friends and neighbors.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
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 thisThe Pretty One (2014)
When her idolized twin sister Audrey dies in a car accident, Laurel decides to take her place. But, as she eases into the life she has always wanted, she must decide between continuing the lie or revealing herself.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBarney's Version (2010)
The picaresque and touching story of the politically incorrect, fully lived life of the impulsive, irascible and fearlessly blunt Barney Panofsky.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAlmost Friends (2017)
A man in his mid-20s, still living at home with his mother and stepfather, puts all his eggs in one basket: the girl who works at his local coffee shop. The problem is, she has a serious boyfriend. As they become closer, the line between friendship and intimacy is blurred, and the situation forces both to examine where they are in their lives.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & comedy
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 thisCa$h (2010)
A stroke of good luck turns lethal for Sam Phelan and his wife Leslie when they are faced with a life-changing decision that brings strange and sinister Pyke Kubic to their doorstep. As Pyke leads Sam and Leslie on a tumultuous adventure through the streets of Chicago, each are pulled deeper and deeper into a desperate spiral of deception and violence – all in the name of money.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Dream Team (1989)
Four mental patients on a field trip in New York City must save their caring chaperone, who ends up being taken to a hospital in a coma after accidentally witnessing a murder, before the killers can find him and finish the job.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNot Without Hope (2025)
A group of friends' fishing boat capsizes off the coast of Mexico and they're left alone stranded at sea and struggling for survival.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies 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 thisRicky Gervais: Mortality (2025)
Ricky Gervais tackles life, death and the state of the world in a brutally honest special that spares no topic, even his own mortality.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThey Cloned Tyrone (2023)
A series of eerie events thrusts an unlikely trio onto the trail of a nefarious government conspiracy lurking directly beneath their neighborhood.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBarrios altos (1987)
Veronica, recently divorced with a son, begins to organize her life and adapt to the new situation. Her problems are soon relegated to the back ground when Carlos, her masseuse, is murdered. Knowing himself in danger, Carlos left a final message on her answering machine: she had to retrieve a package hidden in a railway station toilet. From that moment, Veronica will not know peace.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy & drama
Angela (2025)
Cassandra has always defined her worth through her role as a mother, but when her newly-adult daughter, Florence, experiences a still birth they both must realize their own value as women, separate from motherhood.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Mardaani (2014)
A Mumbai police officer's search for a missing teenage girl leads her to the depraved world of child trafficking. What follows is a cat-and-mouse game between the officer and a ruthless mafia kingpin.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisKoman i lé la sours (1988)
In Réunion, a young woman from La Source, a suburb of Saint-Denis, walks around and goes from house to house to visit. Mother to one and navigating a frustrated love story with a plumber, the home she nurtures is a popular place for gathering the community.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Rosa's Wedding (2020)
Rosa is about to turn 45 and realises that she's always lived her life to serve everyone else. So she decides to leave it all behind, take charge of her life and fulfil her dream of starting her own business.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOn 'E' (2026)
A young mother struggles to keep her head above water as she navigates motherhood, her neurodivergent toddler, and the gritty Atlanta nightclub where she works. All on a quarter tank of gas.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Unwanted (2021)
A 15-year old Vika has to grow up. Only yesterday she was just a teenager and now she’s a mom. Catching sidelong scowls of adults, being mocked by peers, unbearable responsibility – it seems like the entire world is against her and Vika is all by herself. More truly, she has a child now, she’s not all alone.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Sind so kleine Hände (TBA)
While many GDR opposition activists emigrated to West Germany at the beginning of the 1980s, the well-known singer-songwriter Bettina Wegner held on to her homeland against all odds. Although she was sent to prison as a young mother, she remained convinced that it was worth fighting to make the GDR a better, freer society. However, life as an undesirable person in the state becomes a real ordeal for her and her family.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Young Mothers (2025)
Housed in a shelter for young mothers, Jessica, Perla, Julia, Ariane, and Naïma, all of whom have grown up in difficult circumstances, struggle to obtain a better life for themselves and their children.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Winter Lake (2020)
When Holly’s dark secret is accidentally uncovered by her new emotionally unstable neighbor Tom, they are pulled into a violent confrontation with her father, who will do anything to keep the secret hidden.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Up the Sandbox?
The closest matches to Up the Sandbox are Class (1983), Family Weekend (2013) and Real Women Have Curves (2002). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Up the Sandbox?
Start with Class (1983), the closest match to Up the Sandbox.
What is the highest-rated movie like Up the Sandbox?
Code 3 (2025), rated 7.1/10 by 375 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Up the Sandbox?
On 'E' (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Up the Sandbox?
Yes: Class (1983), Family Weekend (2013) and Real Women Have Curves (2002).
How are movies similar to Up the Sandbox chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Up the Sandbox, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.