Movies like Brian Banks (2019)
The best movies like Brian Banks (2019) are 42 (2013), The Express (2008) and Draft Day (2014). If Brian Banks hooked you with its drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedDallas Buyers Club (2013)7.9/10 from 9,382 votes
- NewestThe Smashing Machine (2025)Released 2025
42 (2013)
In 1947, Jackie Robinson becomes the first Black man to play in Major League Baseball facing unabashed racism from the public, the press and other players.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Express (2008)
Follow the inspirational life of college football hero Ernie Davis, the first African-American to win the Heisman Trophy.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDraft Day (2014)
At the NFL Draft, general manager Sonny Weaver has the opportunity to rebuild his team when he trades for the number one pick. He must decide what he's willing to sacrifice on a life-changing day for a few hundred young men with NFL dreams.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Hurricane (1999)
The story of Rubin "Hurricane" Carter, a boxer wrongly imprisoned for murder, and the people who aided in his fight to prove his innocence.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Blind Side (2009)
The story of Michael Oher, a homeless and traumatized boy who became an All American football player and first round NFL draft pick with the help of a caring woman and her family.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMoneyball (2011)
The story of Oakland Athletics general manager Billy Beane's successful attempt to put together a baseball team on a budget, by employing computer-generated analysis to draft his players.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWoodlawn (2015)
Love and unity in a school torn by racism and hate in the 1970s. A gifted high school football player must learn to embrace his talent and his faith as he battles racial tensions on and off the field.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMy All American (2015)
Freddie Steinmark, an underdog on the gridiron, faces the toughest challenge of his life after leading his team to a championship season.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWhen the Game Stands Tall (2014)
A young coach turns a losing high school football program around to go undefeated for 12 consecutive seasons.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRemember the Titans (2000)
After leading his football team to 15 winning seasons, coach Bill Yoast is demoted and replaced by Herman Boone – tough, opinionated and as different from the beloved Yoast as he could be. The two men learn to overcome their differences and turn a group of hostile young men into champions.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisPride (2007)
Coach Jim Ellis shocks the community and changes lives when, aided by a local janitor, he sets out to form Philadelphia's first black swim team. But the odds are against them as they battle rigid rules, racism and more.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRadio (2003)
In the racially divided town of Anderson, South Carolina in 1976, football coach Harold Jones spots a mentally disabled African-American young man nicknamed Radio near his practice field and is inspired to befriend him. Soon, Radio is Jones' loyal assistant, and he becomes a student at T.L. Hanna High School. But things start to sour when Coach Jones begins taking guff from parents and fans who feel that his devotion to Radio is getting in the way of the team's quest for a championship.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMarshall (2017)
Thurgood Marshall, the first African-American Supreme Court Justice, battles through one of his career-defining cases.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAll Things Fall Apart (2011)
50 Cent stars as gifted college running back Deon in this touching drama. Deon's world turns upside down when an unexpected crisis jeopardizes his professional ambitions -- and causes him to look at himself and his life in a new way.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisNational Champions (2021)
A star quarterback ignites a players’ strike hours before the biggest game of the year in order to fight for fair compensation, equality, and respect for the athletes who put their bodies and health on the line for their schools.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDallas Buyers Club (2013)
Loosely based on the true-life tale of Ron Woodroof, a drug-taking, women-loving, homophobic man who in 1986 was diagnosed with HIV/AIDS and given thirty days to live.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like this12 Mighty Orphans (2021)
Haunted by his mysterious past, a devoted high school football coach leads a scrawny team of orphans to the state championship during the Great Depression and inspires a broken nation along the way.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWe Are Marshall (2006)
When a plane crash claims the lives of members of the Marshall University football team and some of its fans, the team's new coach and his surviving players try to keep the football program alive.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFriday Night Lights (2004)
A small, turbulent town in Texas obsesses over their high school football team to an unhealthy degree. When the star tailback, Boobie Miles, is seriously injured during the first game of the season, all hope is lost, and the town's dormant social problems begin to flare up. It is left to the inspiring abilities of new coach Gary Gaines to instill in the other team members -- and, by proxy, the town itself -- a sense of self-respect and honor.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSing Sing (2024)
Divine G, imprisoned at Sing Sing for a crime he didn't commit, finds purpose by acting in a theatre group alongside other incarcerated men in this story of resilience, humanity, and the transformative power of art.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Miracle Season (2018)
After the tragic death of star volleyball player Caroline "Line" Found, a team of dispirited high school girls must band together under the guidance of their tough-love coach in hopes of winning the state championship!
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisPhiladelphia (1993)
Two lawyers join forces to sue a prestigious law firm for AIDS discrimination. As their unlikely friendship develops, their courage overcomes the prejudice and corruption of their powerful adversaries.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisJust Mercy (2019)
The powerful true story of Harvard-educated lawyer Bryan Stevenson, who goes to Alabama to defend the disenfranchised and wrongly condemned — including Walter McMillian, a man sentenced to death despite evidence proving his innocence. Bryan fights tirelessly for Walter with the system stacked against them.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAmerican Wrestler: The Wizard (2017)
In 1980, a teenage boy escapes the unrest in Iran only to face more hostility in America, due to the hostage crisis. Determined to fit in, he joins the school's floundering wrestling team.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Smashing Machine (2025)
In the late 1990s, up-and-coming mixed martial artist Mark Kerr aspires to become the greatest fighter in the world. However, he must also battle his opioid dependence and a volatile relationship with his girlfriend Dawn.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Senior (2025)
At 59, Mike Flynt may be too old to be on a college football field, but not too old to feel the weight of unfinished business. After nearly four decades, he returns to his alma mater to take the hit that changed everything. Bruised, doubted, and nearly broken, he pushes for one more game, not for glory, but for the teammates he lost, the family he fractured, and the ending he still believes is possible.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Fruitvale Station (2013)
Oakland, California. Young Afro-American Oscar Grant crosses paths with family members, friends, enemies and strangers before facing his fate on the platform at Fruitvale Station, in the early morning hours of New Year's Day 2009.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBurden (2018)
Ku Klux Klansman Mike Burden opens the Redneck Shop and KKK museum in historic Laurens, SC. He subsequently falls in love with a single mother and, under her influence, quits the Klan and is taken in by an African American Reverend.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisUndefeated (2003)
Lex 'El Animal' Vargas is a promising Portorican boxer in Queens, but lacks ambition to aim for the big career. That changes after his brother Paulie is accidentally shot dead by a teenager in an amateur hold-up on their late dad's shop, which he now closes to turn professional boxer. His star rises fast, but success brings its own problems, as he he lacks experience to handle professionals and resist the abuse they and his ghetto past entourage make of his generous nature.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Monster (2021)
The story of Steve Harmon, a 17-year-old honor student whose world comes crashing down around him when he is charged with felony murder.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Brian Banks?
The closest matches to Brian Banks are 42 (2013), The Express (2008) and Draft Day (2014). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Brian Banks?
People who watched Brian Banks most often go on to 42 (2013), The Express (2008) and Draft Day (2014).
What is the highest-rated movie like Brian Banks?
Dallas Buyers Club (2013), rated 7.9/10 by 9,382 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Brian Banks?
The Smashing Machine (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Brian Banks?
Yes: 42 (2013), The Express (2008) and Draft Day (2014).
How are movies similar to Brian Banks chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Brian Banks, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.