Movies like The Free Way (2002)
The best movies like The Free Way (2002) are Riding Giants (2004), The Endless Summer (1966) and Breath (2017). If The Free Way hooked you, these 20 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedFalling Down (1993)7.4/10 from 4,348 votes
- NewestEvil Influencer: The Jodi Hildebrandt Story (2025)Released 2025
Riding Giants (2004)
Riding Giants is story about big wave surfers who have become heroes and legends in their sport. Directed by the skateboard guru Stacy Peralta.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Endless Summer (1966)
Documentary filmmaker Bruce Brown, himself a competition-level surfer, follows surfers Michael Hynson and Robert August on an around-the-world surfing adventure. With Brown's wry, sardonic narration and a twangy, guitar-driven instrumental soundtrack by The Sandals playing over the silent footage, Mike and Rob leave their California home to visit Hawaii, Australia, South Africa and other secluded surfing spots in a search for the surfer's holy grail that Brown dubs "The Perfect Wave.”
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
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
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLady and the Tramp (2019)
The love story between a pampered Cocker Spaniel named Lady and a streetwise mongrel named Tramp. Lady finds herself out on the street after her owners have a baby and is saved from a pack by Tramp, who tries to show her to live her life footloose and collar-free.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDavid Bowie: Five Years (2013)
Featuring a wealth of previously unseen archive, this film looks at how Bowie continually evolved: from Ziggy Stardust to the Soul Star of Young Americans, to the ‘Thin White Duke’. It explores his regeneration in Berlin with the critically acclaimed album Heroes, his triumph with Scary Monsters and his global success with Let’s Dance. With interviews with all his closest collaborators, David Bowie - Five Years presents a unique account of why Bowie has become an ‘icon of our times’.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisEvil Influencer: The Jodi Hildebrandt Story (2025)
Unravel the case of Utah therapist Jodi Hildebrandt, whose child abuse arrest with parenting YouTuber Ruby Franke exposed a twisted tale of manipulation.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRip Girls (2000)
A teen-age girl and her father come to an island on Hawaii, they find a closer relationship to each other and think about changing the island. During her adventures, Sydney finds friends, a new hobby with her fantastic photography, and the truth about her mother.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies 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
Worth the HypeMovies like thisScorpio Rising (1964)
A gang of bikers prepares for a race as sexual, sadistic, and occult images are cut together.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFuck (2006)
A documentary on the expletive's origin, why it offends some people so deeply, and what can be gained from its use.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisEscobar: Paradise Lost (2014)
For Pablo Escobar family is everything. When young surfer Nick falls for Escobar's niece, Maria, he finds his life on the line when he's pulled into the dangerous world of the family business.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOne Child Nation (2019)
Through interviews with both victims and instigators, Nanfu Wang, a first-time mother, breaks open decades of silence on a vast, unprecedented social experiment that shaped — and destroyed — countless lives in China.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBirth of the Dragon (2017)
Set against the backdrop of San Francisco’s Chinatown, this cross-cultural biopic chronicles Bruce Lee’s emergence as a martial-arts superstar after his legendary secret showdown with fellow martial artist Wong Jack Man.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisSurf's Up (2007)
With a documentary crew in tow, Cody Maverick—a young surfer from Antarctica—travels to the pacific for his first professional competition. Determined to earn respect and live up to his idol, Big Z, Cody pushes himself to the limit. But all that changes when an encounter with a laid-back local forces him to rethink his values.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSlums of Beverly Hills (1998)
In 1976, a teenage girl struggles to cope while living with her neurotic lower-middle-class family of nomads on the outskirts of Beverly Hills.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFalling Down (1993)
An ordinary man frustrated with the various flaws he sees in society begins to psychotically and violently lash out against them.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Outrun (2024)
Fresh out of rehab, Rona returns to the Orkney Islands—a place both wild and beautiful, right off the Scottish coast. Now 29 and after more than a decade of living life on the edge in London, where she both found and lost love, Rona attempts to come to terms with her troubled past. As she reconnects with the dramatic landscape where she grew up, memories of her traumatic childhood merge with more recent challenging events that have set her on the path to recovery.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTeen Beach Movie (2013)
Life's a beach for surfers Brady and McKenzie – until a rogue wave magically transports them inside the classic '60s beach party flick, "Wet Side Story," where a full-blown rivalry between bikers and surfers threatens to erupt. There, amidst a sea of surfing, singing and dancing, Brady and Mack accidentally change the storyline, and the film’s dreamy hero and heroine fall for them instead of for each other!
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like this20th 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: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisNancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase (2019)
Nancy Drew, a smart high schooler with a penchant for keen observation and deduction, stumbles upon the haunting of a local home. A bit of an outsider struggling to fit into her new surroundings, Nancy and her pals set out to solve the mystery, make new friends, and establish their place in the community
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Free Way?
The closest matches to The Free Way are Riding Giants (2004), The Endless Summer (1966) and Breath (2017). Below are 17 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Free Way?
Start with Riding Giants (2004), the closest match to The Free Way.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Free Way?
Falling Down (1993), rated 7.4/10 by 4,348 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Free Way?
Evil Influencer: The Jodi Hildebrandt Story (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like The Free Way?
Yes: Riding Giants (2004), The Endless Summer (1966) and Breath (2017).
How are movies similar to The Free Way chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Free Way, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.