Movies like A Boy Needs a Friend (2015)
The best movies like A Boy Needs a Friend (2015) are The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012), A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints (2006) and The Art of Getting By (2011). If A Boy Needs a Friend hooked you, these 20 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
A Boy Needs a Friend
Quick picks
- Highest ratedLove, Simon (2018)8.0/10 from 6,377 votes
- NewestThe Friend (2025)Released 2025
The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012)
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 1991. High school freshman Charlie is a wallflower, always watching life from the sidelines, until two senior students, Sam and her stepbrother Patrick, become his mentors, helping him discover the joys of friendship, music and love.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisA Guide to Recognizing Your Saints (2006)
Dito Montiel, a successful author, receives a call from his long-suffering mother, asking him to return home and visit his ailing father. Dito recalls his childhood growing up in a violent neighborhood in Queens, N.Y., with friends Antonio, Giuseppe, Nerf and Mike.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Art of Getting By (2011)
George, a lonely and fatalistic teen who's made it all the way to his senior year without ever having done a real day of work, is befriended by Sally, a popular but complicated girl who recognizes in him a kindred spirit.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSome Kind of Wonderful (1987)
Keith Nelson, an artsy high school outcast, tries to land a date with popular girl Amanda Jones with some help from his tomboy best friend, Watts. However, Watts realizes she likes Keith as more than just a friend and tries to convince him to stop pursuing Amanda. Matters are further complicated when Keith's invitation draws the ire of Amanda's rich yet snobby ex-boyfriend, Hardy Jenns, who makes plans to get even.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Chocolate War (1988)
Jerry, a new student at an elite Catholic prep school, must face the hazing practices handed down by the Vigils, a group of powerful students. When teacher Brother Leon pushes the students to sell chocolates for a fundraiser, the head of the Vigils, Archie, gets Jerry to reject selling for 10 days. However, Jerry decides to keep up the refusal past the original time frame, which pits him against the Vigils and the school staff.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGiant Little Ones (2019)
Two popular teen boys, best friends since childhood, discover their lives, families, and girlfriends dramatically upended after an unexpected incident occurs on the night of a 17th birthday party.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Basketball Diaries (1995)
A high school basketball player’s life turns upside down after free-falling into the harrowing world of drug addiction.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisOld Boys (2018)
In the school-set re-working of Cyrano, an awkward but imaginative pupil helps the handsome but spectacularly dim school-hero pursue the fiery daughter of a visiting French teacher.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Million Pound Note (1954)
An impoverished American sailor is fortunate enough to be passing the house of two rich gentlemen who have conceived the crazy idea of distributing a note worth one million pounds. The sailor finds that whenever he tries to use the note to buy something, people treat him like a king and let him have whatever he likes for free. Ultimately, the money proves to be more troublesome than it is worth when it almost costs him his dignity and the woman he loves.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies 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
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Friend (2025)
New York City writer Iris finds her comfortable, solitary life thrown into disarray after her closest friend and mentor bequeaths her a Great Dane named Apollo. The huge dog immediately creates practical problems for Iris, from furniture destruction to eviction notices, as well as more existential ones. Yet as Iris finds herself unexpectedly bonding with Apollo, she begins to come to terms with her past, and her own creative inner life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNowhere (1997)
In Los Angeles, a colorful assortment of bohemians try to make sense of their intersecting lives. The moody Dark Smith, his bisexual girlfriend, her lesbian lover and their shy gay friend plan on attending the wildest party of the year. But they'll only make it if they can survive the drug trips, suicides, trysts, mutilations and alien abductions that occur as one surreal day unfolds.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLove, Simon (2018)
Everyone deserves a great love story, but for 17-year-old Simon Spier, it's a little more complicated. He hasn't told his family or friends that he's gay, and he doesn't know the identity of the anonymous classmate that he's fallen for online.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisAristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe (2023)
Two teenage Mexican-American loners in 1987 El Paso explore a new, unusual friendship and the difficult road to self-discovery.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Penguin Lessons (2025)
In 1976, as Argentina descends into violence and chaos, a world-weary English teacher regains his compassion for others thanks to an unlikely friendship with a penguin.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisExtremely Loud & Incredibly Close (2011)
A year after his father's death, Oskar, a troubled young boy, discovers a mysterious key he believes was left for him by his father and embarks on a scavenger hunt to find the matching lock.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBeautiful Boy (2018)
After he and his first wife separate, journalist David Sheff struggles to help their teenage son, who goes from experimenting with drugs to becoming devastatingly addicted to methamphetamine.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisPaper Man (2009)
A coming-of-middle-age comedy that chronicles the unlikely friendship between failed author Richard Dunne and a Long Island teen who teaches him a thing or two about growing up, all under the disapproving eye of his long-suffering wife and his imaginary Superhero friend.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHeathers (1989)
A girl who halfheartedly tries to be part of the "in crowd" of her school meets a rebel who teaches her a more devious way to play social politics: by killing the popular kids.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisPalo Alto (2014)
A lack of parental guidance encourages teens in an affluent California town to rebel with substance abuse and casual sex.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like A Boy Needs a Friend?
The closest matches to A Boy Needs a Friend are The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012), A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints (2006) and The Art of Getting By (2011). Below are 17 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after A Boy Needs a Friend?
Start with The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012), the closest match to A Boy Needs a Friend.
What is the highest-rated movie like A Boy Needs a Friend?
Love, Simon (2018), rated 8.0/10 by 6,377 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like A Boy Needs a Friend?
The Friend (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like A Boy Needs a Friend?
Yes: The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012), A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints (2006) and The Art of Getting By (2011).
How are movies similar to A Boy Needs a Friend chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside A Boy Needs a Friend, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.