Movies like You Can Play (2015)
The best movies like You Can Play (2015) are My Brother the Devil (2012), The Boys in the Band (2020) and Love! Valour! Compassion! (1997). If You Can Play hooked you with its drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedSafety (2020)7.5/10 from 211 votes
- NewestStill Life (2026)Released 2026
My Brother the Devil (2012)
Fourteen-year-old Mo is a lonely, sensitive boy whose hunger for the rant and banter of buddies makes him prone to tread dangerous territories. He idolizes his handsome older brother, Rashid, a charismatic, well-respected member of a local gang, whose drug dealing enables “Rash” to provide for his family. Aching to be seen as a tough guy himself, Mo takes a job that unlocks a fateful turn of events and forces the brothers to confront their inner demons. It turns out that hate is easy. It is love and understanding that take real courage.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Boys in the Band (2020)
At a birthday party in 1968 New York, a surprise guest and a drunken game leave seven gay friends reckoning with unspoken feelings and buried truths.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLove! Valour! Compassion! (1997)
A group of gay friends spend summer weekends together at a lakeside house in upstate New York. As the season progresses and secrets begin to surface, the complex relationships within the group are sometimes strained and sometimes strengthened.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBrian's Song (1971)
Based on the real-life relationship between teammates Brian Piccolo and Gale Sayers and the bond established when Piccolo discovers that he is dying.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAmerican Underdog (2021)
The true story of Kurt Warner, who went from a stockboy at a grocery store to a two-time NFL MVP, Super Bowl champion, and Hall of Fame quarterback.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSafety (2020)
The story of Ray-Ray McElrathbey, a freshman football player for Clemson University, who secretly raised his younger brother on campus after his home life became too unsteady.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisGreater (2016)
The incredible true story of the greatest walk-on in the history of college football.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisNaked as We Came (2013)
After an unexpected phone call, Laura and her brother Elliot rush to their family’s country estate to find their mother, Lilly, gravely ill and living with a handsome young stranger named Ted. Estranged for some time, their mother’s condition sets Laura and Elliot on a path to realizing where their own lives have gone wrong.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisAn Englishman in New York (2009)
Biographical drama based on the last 20 years of Crisp's life. The literary figure and gay iconoclast emigrated to New York in 1981 and lived there until his death. The film observes Crisp in both his public and private lives, from his seemingly cavalier response to the outbreak of AIDS to his tender relationship with his friend Patrick Angus and his own response to growing old.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Death & Life of John F. Donovan (2019)
A decade after the death of an American TV star, a young actor reminisces about the written correspondence he once shared with the former, as well as the impact those letters had on both their lives.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
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 · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisFlow (1996)
A filmmaker talks about his work and love life with an unseen friend behind the camera. We also watch four of his short films.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLife (2015)
In 1955, young photographer Dennis Stock develops a close bond with actor James Dean while shooting pictures of the rising Hollywood star.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like this23 Blast (2014)
When a high school football star is suddenly stricken with irreversible total blindness, he must decide whether to live a safe handicapped life or bravely return to the life he once knew and the sport he still loves.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWhen the Game Stands Tall (2014)
A young coach turns a losing high school football program around to go undefeated for 12 consecutive seasons.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWoodlawn (2015)
Love and unity in a school torn by racism and hate in the 1970s. A gifted high school football player must learn to embrace his talent and his faith as he battles racial tensions on and off the field.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisJust Charlie (2017)
Football star Charlie has the world at her feet. With a top club desperate to sign her, her future is seemingly mapped out. But the teenager sees only a nightmare. Raised as a boy, Charlie is torn between wanting to live up to her father's expectations and shedding this ill fitting skin.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisGridiron Gang (2006)
Under the leadership of their counselor, teenagers at a juvenile detention center gain self-esteem by playing football together. Based on a true story.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDare (2005)
Smart and lonely high school senior Ben secretly lusts after bad boy classmate Johnny. After play practice one night for the senior production of “A Streetcar Named Desire,” “light-boy” Ben gives Johnny, the play’s Stanley, a ride home to help him with his lines.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBoy Erased (2018)
Jared, the son of a Baptist pastor in a small American town, is outed to his parents at age 19. Jared is faced with an ultimatum: attend a gay conversion therapy program – or be permanently exiled and shunned by his family, friends, and faith.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisB.Selvi & Daughters (2020)
B. Selvi & Daughters is the story of Selvi, a 50-year old woman in Chennai, India who is trying to get her fledgling online saree store off the ground. Like any Good Indian Mother, Selvi gave up her career aspirations for family life, and left all major decisions to her husband. Now, a year after his death, Selvi has taken her hobby of selling sarees door-to-door to the next level via Whatsapp, and is struggling with the confidence to build it into a real business. When Kavitha - Selvi's fiercely independent, idealistic daughter comes home for Pongal - she discovers her mother's secret with pleasant surprise, and runs an ad for the sari business without consulting her. Now, with close to a hundred orders to fulfill overnight, Selvi is overwhelmed. Can she do this? Is she capable of handling a business on her own? She needs to take the plunge in order to find out.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Shabbat Dinner (2012)
Shabbat Dinner is boring as usual for William Shore. His mother has invited two crazy hippies and their son and is doing her best to show off, his father is drunk and berating their oddball guests, and he doesn't have much in common with their son Virgo. That is, until Virgo tells him that he has just come out as gay.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Caught Red Handed (2009)
An ambivalent meeting between two friends. Classmates Victor and Amanda meet at a cafe in Stockholm one afternoon before Christmas to study for an exam. Amanda wants to talk about what they read, but Victor steers the conversation into something completely different, and suddenly they both run the risk of losing their face.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Butterflies Do Not Drink Coffee (2009)
Pierre is a very shy man in his sixties, with no family or friends and who just retired. What will he do now?
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Still Life (2026)
After their son is stillborn at 24 weeks, Jess navigates an unexpected form of motherhood marked by silent milestones and uncomfortable social encounters, while Max struggles to hold their family together through grief.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Not Panic (2010)
They go sledging behind a car. They earn extra by fixing the roof of a neighbor's house. They are young and want to fulfill their dreams, but before them an uncertain future prevails. We are there as one of them, equally present, equally absent.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Grandmother's Eye (2010)
A constant motion from a distance all the way into an elderly ladies eye.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The Last Post (2011)
An old lady in a nursing home is visited by a mysterious man no one else seems to be able to see.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The Village (2010)
A doctor mysteriously discovers that he is required urgently at the village to offer his services. He arrives there after a long and difficult journey, only to discover that the village is empty.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
12:21:21 (2017)
A Psychologically ill person with schizophrenia who is undergoing constant medical treatments recalls his past reminiscences.He distinguishes the reality and illusion from a different perspective.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Like You Can Play and something else?
Blend two favourites and we’ll find the films in between.
Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like You Can Play?
The closest matches to You Can Play are My Brother the Devil (2012), The Boys in the Band (2020) and Love! Valour! Compassion! (1997). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after You Can Play?
Start with My Brother the Devil (2012), the closest match to You Can Play.
What is the highest-rated movie like You Can Play?
Safety (2020), rated 7.5/10 by 211 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like You Can Play?
Still Life (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like You Can Play?
Yes: My Brother the Devil (2012), The Boys in the Band (2020) and Love! Valour! Compassion! (1997).
How are movies similar to You Can Play chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside You Can Play, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.