Movies like Carbon Copy (1981)
The best movies like Carbon Copy (1981) are Martian Child (2007), Nothing in Common (1986) and Mrs. Doubtfire (1993). If Carbon Copy 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 ratedThe Kid (1921)8.1/10 from 2,485 votes
- NewestAtropia (2025)Released 2025
Martian Child (2007)
A recently-widowed science fiction writer considers whether to adopt a hyper-imaginative 6-year-old abandoned and socially-rejected boy who says he's really from Mars.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNothing in Common (1986)
A successful advertising executive finds his freewheeling life crashing to a halt when his parents end their longtime marriage.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & comedy
SnoozefestMovies like thisMrs. Doubtfire (1993)
Loving but irresponsible dad Daniel Hillard, estranged from his exasperated spouse, is crushed by a court order allowing only weekly visits with his kids. When Daniel learns his ex needs a housekeeper, he gets the job -- disguised as a British nanny. Soon he becomes not only his children's best pal but the kind of parent he should have been from the start.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisFatherhood (2021)
A widowed new dad copes with doubts, fears, heartache and dirty diapers as he sets out to raise his daughter on his own. Inspired by a true story.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Kid (1921)
A tramp cares for a boy after he's abandoned as a newborn by his mother. Later the mother has a change of heart and aches to be reunited with her son.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisKajillionaire (2020)
Two con artists have spent 26 years training their only daughter to swindle, scam and steal at every turn. During a desperate and hastily conceived heist, they charm a stranger into joining them, only to have their entire world turned upside down.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisIt Runs in the Family (2003)
This is the story of a dysfunctional New York family, and their attempts to reconcile
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLiar Liar (1997)
Forced by his son's birthday wish, fast-talking attorney and habitual liar Fletcher Reede must tell the truth for the next 24 hours.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDaddy's Home (2015)
The story of a mild-mannered radio executive who strives to become the best stepdad ever to his wife's two children, but complications ensue when their freewheeling, freeloading real father arrives, forcing stepdad to compete for the affection of the kids.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSt. Vincent (2014)
A young boy whose parents just divorced finds an unlikely friend and mentor in the misanthropic, bawdy, hedonistic, war veteran who lives next door.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisStatus Update (2018)
After being uprooted by his parents' separation and unable to fit into his new hometown, a teenager stumbles upon a magical app that causes his social media updates to come true.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDelivery Man (2013)
An affable underachiever finds out he's fathered 533 children through anonymous donations to a fertility clinic 20 years ago. Now he must decide whether or not to come forward when 142 of them file a lawsuit to reveal his identity.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Big Wedding (2013)
To the amusement of their adult children and friends, long-divorced couple Don and Ellie Griffin are forced to play the happy couple for the sake of their adopted son's wedding after his ultra conservative Catholic biological mother unexpectedly decides to fly halfway across the world to attend. With all of the wedding guests looking on, the Griffins are hilariously forced to confront their past, present and future - and hopefully avoid killing each other in the process.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
SnoozefestMovies like thisThunderstruck (2012)
After NBA star Kevin Durant switches talent with 16 year old Brian, the teenager becomes the star of his high school team, but Durant starts struggling and eventually learns an important lesson.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFalling (2020)
John Peterson lives with his partner Eric and their adopted daughter in Southern California. When he is visited by his aging father Willis from Los Angeles who is searching for a place to retire, their two very different worlds collide.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Better Life (2011)
An Indigenous Latino American gardener in East L.A. struggles to keep his son away from gangs and immigration agents while traveling across town to perform landscaping work for the city's wealthy landowners.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCamp Nowhere (1994)
Morris "Mud" Himmel has a problem. His parents desperately want to send him away to summer camp. He hates going to summer camp, and would do anything to get out of it. Talking to his friends, he realizes that they are all facing the same sentence: a boring summer camp. Together with his friends, he hatches a plan to trick all the parents into sending them to a camp of their own design.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Book of Henry (2017)
Susan, a single mother of two, works as a waitress in a small town. Her son, Henry, is an 11-year-old genius who not only manages the family finances but acts as emotional support for his mother and younger brother. When Henry discovers that the girl next door has a terrible secret, he implores Susan to take matters into her own hands.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSecrets & Lies (1996)
After her adoptive mother dies, Hortense, a successful black optometrist, seeks out her birth mother. She's shocked when her research leads her to Cynthia, a working class white woman.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Son (2022)
A successful lawyer, with a new wife and infant, agrees to care for his teenage son from a previous marriage after his ex-wife becomes concerned about the boy's wayward behavior.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAtropia (2025)
When an aspiring actress in a military role-playing facility falls in love with a soldier cast as an insurgent, their unsimulated emotions threaten to derail the performance.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy & drama
Freeway (1996)
Following the arrest of her mother, Ramona, young Vanessa Lutz decides to go in search of her estranged grandmother. On the way, she is given a ride by school counselor Bob Wolverton. During the journey, Lutz begins to realize that Bob is the notorious I-5 Killer and manages to escape by shooting him several times. Wounded but still very much alive, Bob pursues Lutz across the state in this modern retelling of Little Red Riding Hood.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMiracle on 34th Street (1947)
Kris Kringle, seemingly the embodiment of Santa Claus, is asked to portray the jolly old fellow at Macy's following his performance in the Thanksgiving Day parade. His portrayal is so complete that many begin to question if he truly is Santa Claus, while others question his sanity.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisIf the Father and the Son (1955)
After Clown Teddy lost his son, he lost his gift for laughter. He opened a joke shop and lives above the shop. His landlady has had a foster son since birth, and Teddy decides to raise the child, who always believed that Teddy was his father. When the mother suddenly appears five years later and wants her son, Teddy decides to run away with the child and goes back onstage with his son. Will the family catch up with them, or will the mother never get her son back?
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy & drama
Help! I'm a Fish (2000)
Three children are accidentally transformed into fish after consuming a potion made by an eccentric scientist. The kids end up in the sea, with one problem: they must find and drink the antidote within 48 hours, or forever remain as fish.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisStealing Rembrandt (2003)
Two bumbling scrap metal thieves - father and son - steal the wrong painting during a museum heist. The painting turns out to be the only original Rembrandt painting in Denmark, and all hell breaks loose. What do you do when you've got Interpol, the Danish police and the entire Danish underworld on your heels? And who was this Rembrandt guy anyway?
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
The Majestic (2001)
Set in 1951, a blacklisted Hollywood writer gets into a car accident, loses his memory and settles down in a small town where he is mistaken for a long-lost son.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Zodiac (2005)
An elusive serial killer known as the Zodiac terrorizes the San Francisco Bay in the late 1960s, while detectives aim to stop him before he claims more victims. Based on a true story.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like this1941 (1979)
In the days after the attack on Pearl Harbor, panic grips California, where a military officer leads a mob chasing a Japanese sub.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
SnoozefestMovies like thisOn Golden Pond (1981)
For Norman and Ethel Thayer, this summer on golden pond is filled with conflict and resolution. When their daughter Chelsea arrives, the family is forced to renew the bonds of love and overcome the generational friction that has existed for years.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Carbon Copy?
The closest matches to Carbon Copy are Martian Child (2007), Nothing in Common (1986) and Mrs. Doubtfire (1993). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Carbon Copy?
Start with Martian Child (2007), the closest match to Carbon Copy.
What is the highest-rated movie like Carbon Copy?
The Kid (1921), rated 8.1/10 by 2,485 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Carbon Copy?
Atropia (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Carbon Copy?
Yes: Martian Child (2007), Nothing in Common (1986) and Mrs. Doubtfire (1993).
How are movies similar to Carbon Copy chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Carbon Copy, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.