Movies like Mad Bastards (2010)
The best movies like Mad Bastards (2010) are Last Ride (2009), The Etruscan Smile (2018) and Walkabout (1971). If Mad Bastards hooked you with its drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedMiracle on 34th Street (1947)7.4/10 from 885 votes
- NewestMy Father's Shadow (2025)Released 2025
Last Ride (2009)
A young boy travels across Australia with his father, who's wanted by the law.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Etruscan Smile (2018)
Rory MacNeil, a rugged old Scotsman, reluctantly leaves his beloved isolated Hebridean island and travels to San Francisco to seek medical treatment. Moving in with his estranged son, Rory sees his life transformed through a newly found bond with his baby grandson.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWalkabout (1971)
Under the pretense of having a picnic, a geologist takes his teenage daughter and 6-year-old son into the Australian outback and attempts to shoot them. When he fails, he turns the gun on himself, and the two city-bred children must contend with harsh wilderness alone. They are saved by a chance encounter with an Aboriginal boy who shows them how to survive, and in the process underscores the disharmony between nature and modern life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisIn My Father's Den (2004)
War journalist Paul Prior returns to his New Zealand hometown after his father’s death, rekindling strained relationships with his brother and memories of a troubled past. He befriends Celia, a curious and aspiring writer, who shares a fascination with his world. When Celia mysteriously disappears, Paul becomes the prime suspect, forcing him to confront buried secrets and uncover the dark truths of his family and community.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Rover (2014)
Ten years after a severe economic collapse in the western world, lawlessness reigns and life is cheap. Eric is a lone drifter, and his car is his only possession. When a gang steals it, Eric comes across the injured Rey, left behind by the car thieves. The pair form an unlikely and uneasy alliance.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Proposition (2005)
In 1880s Australia, a lawman offers renegade Charlie Burns a difficult choice. In order to save his younger brother from the gallows, Charlie must hunt down and kill his older brother, who is wanted for rape and murder. Venturing into one of the Outback's most inhospitable regions, Charlie faces a terrible moral dilemma that can end only in violence.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisNed Kelly (2003)
After getting threatened by Kelly's friends and family, Constable Fitzpatrick places the blame on Ned Kelly and exaggerates what happened. With the biggest ever award available, Kelly and his gang set into the wild, to remain hidden from everyone who seeks them. Even if it means having his family arrested, the members of the Kelly Gang stay hidden and plan a way to get their names cleared.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAn Unfinished Life (2005)
Stoic and heartbroken, Einar Gilkyson quietly lives in the rugged Wyoming ranchlands alongside his only trusted friend, Mitch Bradley. One day, the woman he blames for the death of his only son arrives at his door broke, desperate, and with a granddaughter he's never known. But even as buried anger and accusations resurface, the way is opened for unexpected connection, adventure, and forgiveness.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Deep End of the Ocean (1999)
A three-year-old boy disappears during his mother's high school reunion. Nine years later, by chance, he turns up in the town in which the family has just relocated.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Nightingale (2018)
In 1825, Clare, a 21-year-old Irish convict, chases a British soldier through the rugged Tasmanian wilderness, bent on revenge for a terrible act of violence he committed against her family. She enlists the services of an Aboriginal tracker who is also marked by trauma from his own violence-filled past.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBroken Lance (1954)
Tensions erupt within an Arizona cattle baron's household when his three sons vie for control of the ranch.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThis Boy's Life (1993)
When a son and mother move to Seattle in hopes for a better life, the mother meets a seemingly polite man. Things go south when the man turns out to be abusive, endangering their lives. As the mother struggles to maintain hope in an impossible situation, the son has plans to escape.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBreath (2017)
A pair of teenagers in Western Australia looking to escape the monotony of life in a small town take up surfing lessons from a guy named Sando.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMy Father's Shadow (2025)
Two young brothers explore Lagos with their estranged father during the 1993 Nigerian election crisis, witnessing both the city's magnitude and their father's daily struggles as political unrest threatens their journey home.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Beautiful Country (2004)
After reuniting with his mother in Ho Chi Minh City, a family tragedy causes Binh to flee from Viet Nam to America. Landing in New York, Binh begins a road trip to Texas, where his American father is said to live.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Man from Laramie (1955)
Will Lockhart arrives in Coronado, an isolated town in New Mexico, in search of someone who sells rifles to the Apache tribe, finding himself unwillingly drawn into the convoluted life of a local ranching family whose members seem to have a lot to hide.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisEmbattled (2020)
The eldest son of a ruthlessly tough MMA champion must fight his way out of the abusive cycle his father has continued.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBen Is Back (2018)
19-year-old Ben Burns unexpectedly returns home to his family's suburban home on Christmas Eve morning. Ben's mother, Holly, is relieved and welcoming but wary of her son staying clean. Over a turbulent 24 hours, new truths are revealed, and a mother's undying love for her son is tested as she does everything in her power to keep him safe.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTrue History of the Kelly Gang (2019)
Set against the badlands of Australia where the English rule with a bloody fist and the Irish endure, Ned Kelly discovers he comes from a line of Irish rebels — an uncompromising army of cross dressing bandits immortalised for terrorising their oppressors back in Ireland. Fuelled by the unfair arrest of his mother, Kelly recruits a wild bunch of warriors to plot one of the most audacious attacks of anarchy and rebellion the country has ever seen.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisDad (1989)
A busy executive learns during a meeting that his mother may be dying and rushes home to her side. He ends up being his father's caretaker and becomes closer to him than ever before. Estranged from his own son, the executive comes to realize what has been missing in his own life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Return (2003)
Two young brothers in contemporary Russia are reunited with a father they know only from an old photograph after his sudden return from a long absence. With their mother’s reluctant consent, they set out on a remote trip that quickly becomes an uneasy test of authority, trust, and masculinity. As the journey moves deeper into the wilderness, the fragile bonds between father and sons are pushed to their limits.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies 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 thisWajib (2017)
After years abroad in Italy, Shadi returns to his native Nazareth. But this is no spectacular homecoming. He's back somewhat begrudgingly to honour his "wajib" (or duty) to hand out invitations to his sister's wedding with his father. The simmering tension between the two — who are often stuck in a car, more often than not in traffic — builds, exposing the sometimes-comic chasms that exist between men who live in different worlds but share an unshakable bond.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies 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 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 drama
Danger Patrol (1937)
An explosives carrier at an oil field falls in love with a colleague's daughter.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both 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 drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMy Father's Glory (1990)
Raised by his science teacher father, Joseph Pagnol, and seamstress mother Augustine, young Marcel grows up during the turn of the century in awe of his rationalist dad. When the family takes a summer vacation in the countryside, Marcel becomes friends with Lili, who teaches him about rural life.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAce Eli and Rodger of the Skies (1973)
The story of Ace Eli Walford, a 1920s stunt flyer who barnstorms around the country, taking his eleven-year-old son Rodger with him as he goes from town to town. The place is rural Kansas, and the time is midsummer in the early nineteen-twenties, not long after World War I. Eli (Cliff Robertson), a barn storming pilot who has the emotional make-up of an 11-year-old, and Rodger (Eric Shea), his 11-year-old son who possesses the wisdom of the ancients, set off to see the world, which means flying all the way to San Willow. To Eli, San Willow seems to be as fabled as Xanadu and quite as remote. In essence, "Ace Eli and Rodger of the Skies" is about the adventures of Rodger and Eli getting from nowhere to nowhere. Eli, a killer with the ladies at first, always leaves them unsatisfied. He seems to have a sex problem. Rodger spends a lot of his time getting his dad out of scrapes. He also drinks, smokes and goes to sleep at night crying for his deceased mom.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Achaneyanenikkishtam (2001)
The story is about a poor lorry driver named Bhaskaran (Kalabhavani Mani), who tries to give his son Kunjunni (Ashwin Thampi), a good education by sending him to a very expensive school. The rest of the story revolves around the events Kunjunni goes through in his life.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Like Mad Bastards and something else?
Blend two favourites and we’ll find the films in between.
Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Mad Bastards?
The closest matches to Mad Bastards are Last Ride (2009), The Etruscan Smile (2018) and Walkabout (1971). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Mad Bastards?
Start with Last Ride (2009), the closest match to Mad Bastards.
What is the highest-rated movie like Mad Bastards?
Miracle on 34th Street (1947), rated 7.4/10 by 885 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Mad Bastards?
My Father's Shadow (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Mad Bastards?
Yes: Last Ride (2009), The Etruscan Smile (2018) and Walkabout (1971).
How are movies similar to Mad Bastards chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Mad Bastards, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.