Movies like The Tender Bar (2021)
The best movies like The Tender Bar (2021) are 20th Century Women (2016), Holler (2021) and The Squid and the Whale (2005). If The Tender Bar hooked you with its drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedHow to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies (2024)8.1/10 from 462 votes
- NewestIf I Go Will They Miss Me (2026)Released 2026
20th Century Women (2016)
In 1979 Santa Barbara, California, Dorothea Fields is a determined single mother in her mid-50s who is raising her adolescent son, Jamie, at a moment brimming with cultural change and rebellion. Dorothea enlists the help of two younger women – Abbie, a free-spirited punk artist living as a boarder in the Fields' home and Julie, a savvy and provocative teenage neighbour – to help with Jamie's upbringing.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHoller (2021)
In a forgotten pocket of Southern Ohio where American manufacturing and opportunity are drying up, a determined young woman finds a ticket out when she is accepted to college. Alongside her older brother, Ruth Avery joins a dangerous scrap metal crew in order to pay her way. Together, they spend one brutal winter working the scrap yards during the day and stealing valuable metal from the once thriving factories by night. With her goal in sight, Ruth finds that the ultimate cost of an education for a girl like her may be more than she bargained for, and she soon finds herself torn between a promising future and the family she would leave behind.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Squid and the Whale (2005)
Based on the true childhood experiences of Noah Baumbach and his brother, The Squid and the Whale tells the touching story of two young boys dealing with their parents' divorce in Brooklyn in the 1980s.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Florida Project (2017)
The story of a precocious six year-old and her ragtag group of friends whose summer break is filled with childhood wonder, possibility and a sense of adventure while the adults around them struggle with hard times.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBoyhood (2014)
The film tells a story of a divorced couple trying to raise their young son. The story follows the boy for twelve years, from first grade at age 6 through 12th grade at age 17-18, and examines his relationship with his parents as he grows.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisRara (2016)
Since their parents split up, Sara and her younger sister live with their mother, whose new partner is a woman. Everyday life for the four of them is hardly any different than it is for other families. But not everyone sees it that way – Sara's father in particular has his doubts. As Sara’s 13th birthday approaches, she feels rather overwhelmed: her first crush, a body in the midst of changes and to top it off, conflicts over loyalty with her parents.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
We Grown Now (2024)
In 1992 Chicago, a story of two young legends in their own right begins. As wide-eyed and imaginative best friends Malik and Eric traverse the city, looking to escape the mundaneness of school and the hardships of growing up in public housing, their unbreakable bond is challenged when tragedy shakes their community just as they are learning to fly.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Good One (2024)
On a weekend backpacking trip in the Catskills, 17-year-old Sam contends with the competing egos of her father and his oldest friend.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisEighth Grade (2018)
Thirteen-year-old Kayla endures the tidal wave of contemporary suburban adolescence as she makes her way through the last week of middle school — the end of her thus far disastrous eighth grade year — before she begins high school.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Diary of a Teenage Girl (2015)
Minnie Goetze is a 15-year-old aspiring comic-book artist, coming of age in the haze of the 1970s in San Francisco. Insatiably curious about the world around her, Minnie is a pretty typical teenage girl. Oh, except that she’s sleeping with her mother’s boyfriend.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDriveways (2020)
Eight-year-old Cody is spending the summer in an unfamiliar setting with his mom Kathy. Though he can't relate to the neighbourhood kids, things take an unexpected turn when he develops an unusual friendship with the widowed old man from next door.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisChasing Wonders (2021)
A coming-of-age story set across the lush wine country of both Australia and Spain, a young man explores the nature of father-son relationships and the pathway toward understanding and forgiveness.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Hard Miles (2024)
A strong-willed social worker at a youth prison assembles a cycling team of teenage convicts and takes them on a transformative 1000-mile ride. Inspired by the life of Greg Townsend and the Ridgeview Academy Cycling Team. This is the story of how these troubled young men found another gear.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisIf I Go Will They Miss Me (2026)
In Watts, California, a 12-year-old boy attempts to connect with his distant father following his incarceration while sensing mysterious visions, from airplanes and Greek gods, that seem to follow him through his everyday world.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
The Glass Castle (2017)
A young girl is raised in a dysfunctional family constantly on the run from the FBI. Living in poverty, she comes of age guided by her drunkard, ingenious father who distracts her with magical stories to keep her mind off the family's dire state, and her selfish, nonconformist mother who has no intention of raising a family, along with her younger brother and sister, and her other older sister. Together, they fend for each other as they mature in an unorthodox journey that is their family life.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisManas (2025)
Thirteen-year-old Marcielle lives on Marajó Island in the heart of the Amazon rainforest. To break a terrible cycle that imprisons the women around her in an isolated region, she must do the impossible to liberate herself and her younger sister from a dark abyss of silence held by her own family.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisAftersun (2022)
Sophie reflects on the shared joy and private melancholy of a holiday she took with her father twenty years earlier. Memories fill the gaps between camcorder footages as she tries to reconcile the father she knew with the troubled man she didn't.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisFathers and Daughters (2015)
A Pulitzer-winning writer grapples with being a widower and father after a mental breakdown, while, 27 years later, his grown daughter struggles to forge connections of her own.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBoogie (2021)
Alfred “Boogie” Chin is a basketball phenom living in Queens, New York, who dreams of one day playing in the NBA. While his parents pressure him to focus on earning a scholarship to an elite college, Boogie must find a way to navigate a new girlfriend, high school, on-court rivals and the burden of expectation.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisShort Term 12 (2013)
Grace, a compassionate young supervisor at a foster care facility, helps at-risk teens. But when a new charge dredges up memories of her own troubled past, Grace's tough exterior begins eroding.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHow to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies (2024)
M, a university dropout low on money and luck, volunteers to take care of his terminally ill grandmother, in the hope of pocketing an inheritance.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisReverse the Curse (2024)
Follows Ted, an aimless thirtysomething who moves in with his father Marty when he develops a fatal illness. Marty’s health suffers every time the Boston Red Sox lose, so to keep him happy and alive, Ted enlists Marty’s grief counselor Mariana and friends to fake a Red Sox winning streak.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Bob Trevino Likes It (2025)
Lily Trevino unexpectedly befriends an online stranger who shares her self-centered father’s name. This new Bob Trevino’s support could transform her life.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisC'mon C'mon (2021)
Johnny and his young nephew forge a tenuous but transformational relationship when they embark on a cross-country trip to see life away from Los Angeles.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHillbilly Elegy (2020)
An urgent phone call pulls a Yale Law student back to his Ohio hometown, where he reflects on three generations of family history and his own future.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisInfinitely Polar Bear (2014)
A manic-depressive mess of a father tries to win back his wife by attempting to take full responsibility of their two young, spirited daughters, who don't make the overwhelming task any easier.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLady Bird (2017)
Lady Bird McPherson, a strong willed, deeply opinionated, artistic 17 year old comes of age in Sacramento. Her relationship with her mother and her upbringing are questioned and tested as she plans to head off to college.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisNorth Hollywood (2021)
A kid must decide between choosing the future his father wants and following his dream of becoming a pro skater.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisMoonlight (2016)
The tender, heartbreaking story of a young man’s struggle to find himself, told across three defining chapters in his life as he experiences the ecstasy, pain, and beauty of falling in love, while grappling with his own sexuality.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Cat and the Moon (2019)
Nick comes to New York to temporarily live with a jazz musician friend of his late father's named Cal while his mom is in rehab. During his time in the city, he befriends a group of kids who show him what New York has to offer.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Tender Bar?
The closest matches to The Tender Bar are 20th Century Women (2016), Holler (2021) and The Squid and the Whale (2005). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Tender Bar?
People who watched The Tender Bar most often go on to 20th Century Women (2016), Holler (2021) and The Squid and the Whale (2005).
What is the highest-rated movie like The Tender Bar?
How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies (2024), rated 8.1/10 by 462 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Tender Bar?
If I Go Will They Miss Me (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like The Tender Bar?
Yes: 20th Century Women (2016), Holler (2021) and The Squid and the Whale (2005).
How are movies similar to The Tender Bar chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Tender Bar, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.