Movies like The Love Summer of a Schlep (1990)
The best movies like The Love Summer of a Schlep (1990) are Jungleland (2020), Not Without Hope (2025) and Hands of Stone (2016). If The Love Summer of a Schlep hooked you with its drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedHands of Stone (2016)6.6/10 from 470 votes
- NewestAxis of Life (2026)Released 2026
Jungleland (2020)
Stanley manages his boxer brother Lion but when a devastating loss in the ring leaves the pair in debt, an opportunity to recoup the cash leads to a series of misadventures that threaten to break the bond between them.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
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 thisHands of Stone (2016)
The legendary Roberto Duran and his equally legendary trainer Ray Arcel change each other's lives.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisResurrecting the Champ (2007)
Up-and-coming sports reporter rescues a homeless man ("Champ") only to discover that he is, in fact, a boxing legend believed to have passed away. What begins as an opportunity to resurrect Champ's story and escape the shadow of his father's success becomes a personal journey as the ambitious reporter reexamines his own life and his relationship with his family.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHardball (2001)
An aimless young man who is scalping tickets, gambling and drinking, agrees to coach a Little League team from the Cabrini Green housing project in Chicago as a condition of getting a loan from a friend.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBobby Jones: Stroke of Genius (2004)
The story of golf icon and legend, Bobby Jones, who retired from competition at the tender age of 28.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisHurry Sundown (1967)
A ruthless Southern opportunist tries to buy his cousin's land, and when thwarted, brings several tragedies to the lives of his loved ones.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAll Day and a Night (2020)
While serving life in prison, a young man looks back at the people, the circumstances and the system that set him on the path toward his crime.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisEleanor the Great (2025)
94-year-old Eleanor Morgenstein tries to rebuild her life after the death of her best friend. As a result, she moves back to New York City after living in Florida for decades.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMy Dinner with Hervé (2018)
An unlikely friendship evolves over one wild night in LA between a struggling journalist and actor Hervé Villechaize, the world's most famous gun-toting dwarf, resulting in life-changing consequences for both.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Road Dance (2022)
A young girl lives in the Outer Hebrides in a small village in the years just before WWI. Isolated and hard by the shore, her life takes a dramatic change when a terrible tragedy befalls her.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Congress (2013)
An aging, out-of-work actress accepts one last job, though the consequences of her decision affect her in ways she didn't consider.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFast Girls (2012)
A street smart runner develops an intense rivalry with an equally ambitious wealthy young athlete.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisJourneyman (2018)
A boxer suffers a serious head injury during a fight, and must deal with the consequences.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisO.G. (2018)
Louis Menkins is five weeks away from being released after 26 years in prison. He is faced with the decision to put his own release at risk in order to protect a young man named Beecher from growing gang controversies.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisJawbone (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 thisGood Day, Ramon (2013)
After five failed attempts to go to the United States, 18-year-old Ramón decides to look for a friend’s aunt in Germany, but never finds her. With no papers or money, and without knowing the language, he barely survives living on the street until he meets Ruth, an old retired nurse who doesn’t speak Spanish. Beyond language barriers and prejudices, they discover that solidarity and humanity make life bearable.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisAdopt a Highway (2019)
Russ Millings has just been released from prison after serving 21 years for a 3rd strike conviction for possessing an ounce of marijuana. As he tries to adapt to a world he doesn’t recognize – including trying to learn how to use the internet – he finds an abandoned baby in a dumpster behind the fast food restaurant where he works as a dishwasher. Unsure of what to do, and caught between impulses of kindness and panic, Russ soon realizes this could be his chance at redemption.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Most Hated Woman in America (2017)
The true story of Madalyn Murray O'Hair -- iconoclast, opportunist, and outspoken atheist -- from her controversial rise to her untimely demise.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAmateur (2018)
14-year-old basketball phenom Terron Forte has to navigate the under-the-table world of amateur athletics when he is recruited to an elite NCAA prep school.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBulgarian Rhapsody (2014)
The story of two adolescents, Moni and Zhozho, who meet 17-year-old Zheni in 1943 and with whom both fell in love. The events that follow unfold while Bulgaria has to decide on the deportation of 11 343 Jewish citizens in Macedonia and Thrace.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The White Odyssey (1973)
During World War 2, four soldiers are trapped between a harsh winter and the enemy. They need food and shelter, but this comes at the expense of their position. With no where else to turn, they begin an odyssey through the mountains.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Crayfish (2010)
Two best friends get involved into the domination games of two mafia bosses in post-communist Bulgaria. Clutching like crayfish to the baits of everyday life, they determine their fates: without the other one knowing, they are manipulated to take seemingly harmless tasks. Parallel to the criminal line in the story, our attention is drawn toward the inner problems of the characters, toward the links that exist between everything and everyone. The two friends try fruitlessly to establish a dialogue. A dialogue about relationships, about death, about responsibilities, about the essence…
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Axis of Life (2026)
A pilgrimage in which a spiritual master must choose one of his disciples as his successor turns into an inner journey for each of the participants. Who am I? Where do I come from? What is left, when I am no longer here? A mystic tale about the path of the human soul through eternity.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Target of Opportunity (2005)
Jim Jacobs and Nick Carlton, childhood friends, are CIA operatives on a sting operation in Chechnya. The raid of a rebel militia group goes bad and the entire teams gets wiped out except for Jim and Nick, who manages to save them both. Five years later, they are out of the CIA game.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Eastern Plays (2009)
Two estranged brothers are brought together when they have opposite roles in a racist beating: while Georgi who's recently joined a neo-nazi group participates in the violence, Hristo witnesses and rescues a Turkish family. Only by reuniting will the two brothers be able to assess what they really want from life.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Captain Conan (1996)
The last days of World War I, Eastern front. Captain Conan, a lone wolf, a true warrior, leads a band of ruthless French fighters who love hand-to-hand combat; they are not fit for peacetime, they only feel really alive in the chaos of the battlefield.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDyakon Levski (2015)
The movie is about the great historical figure Vasil Levski. It follows three different plot lines: the relationship with his mother, Gina, the relationship with his loved one, Ana, and the plans for freeing Bulgaria from the Ottoman Empire. The movie starts in 1846 and follows Vasil Levski's whole life until his hanging in 1873.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The Hamlet Adventure (2008)
Eight thousand feet above sea level, in the sacred heart of Rila mountain, in sweltering heat, and rain, and fog, the only transport being mules, deprived of water, means and fuel, next to the sky, only to God’s eternal eye, a crazy medley cast of seventy plays Shakespeare's greatest tragedy, Hamlet!
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Jallaad (1995)
An unscruplous politician enlists the help of a supposedly illiterate and simple-minded man to win an election
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Love Summer of a Schlep?
The closest matches to The Love Summer of a Schlep are Jungleland (2020), Not Without Hope (2025) and Hands of Stone (2016). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Love Summer of a Schlep?
Start with Jungleland (2020), the closest match to The Love Summer of a Schlep.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Love Summer of a Schlep?
Hands of Stone (2016), rated 6.6/10 by 470 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Love Summer of a Schlep?
Axis of Life (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
How are movies similar to The Love Summer of a Schlep chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Love Summer of a Schlep, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.