feelsalike.comSign in
Bad Education poster

Movies that feel likeBad Education (2004)

When an old friend brings filmmaker Enrique Goded a semi-autobiographical script chronicling their adolescence, Enrique is forced to relive his youth spent at a Catholic boarding school. Weaving through past and present, the script follows a transvestite performer who reconnects with a grade school sweetheart. Spurred on by this chance encounter, the character reflects on her childhood sexual victimization and the trauma of closeting her sexual orientation.

If you loved Bad Education, the closest films we have are Talk to Her (2002), 21 (2008) and A Simple Plan (1998). All three share Bad Education's contemplative and gritty feel, which is what we rank on before quality.

Seen the big three already? The under-the-radar pick below is Pusher 3 (2005).

🍅 88% Rotten Tomatoes★ 7.4 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. Pedro Almodóvarcontemplativegrittywarm
8 of 12 streaming nowHBO Max · Amazon Prime Video · Hulu

Can't choose? Answer three questions and get one movie for tonight.

Not on subscription streaming right now. Rent or buy below.

See it on the Mood Map

If Bad Education hit the spot, these will too

Talk to Her poster
Talk to Her
2002 · dir. Pedro Almodóvar
🍅 91%★ 7.9drama · romance

Both are Pedro Almodóvar's work, and they rhyme

The difference: Leans harder into romance than Bad Education does

Two men share an odd friendship while they care for two women who are both in deep comas.

21 poster
21
2008 · dir. Robert Luketic
🍅 36%★ 6.8drama · crime

Common ground: friendship

The difference: The scrappier of the two with critics

Ben Campbell is a young, highly intelligent student at M.I.T. who strives to succeed. Wanting a scholarship to transfer to Harvard School of Medicine to become a doctor, Ben learns that he cannot afford the $300,000 tuition as he comes from a poor, working-class background. But one evening, Ben is introduced by his unorthodox math professor to a small but secretive club of five students, Jill, Choi, Kianna, and Fisher, who are being trained by Professor Rosa to count cards at blackjack.

A Simple Plan poster
A Simple Plan
1998 · dir. Sam Raimi
🍅 91%★ 7.5crime · drama · thrillerParamount+

The same preoccupation in both: friendship

The difference: Sits closer to thriller than Bad Education does

Captivated by the lure of sudden wealth, the quiet rural lives of two brothers erupt into conflicts of greed, paranoia and distrust when over $4 million in cash is discovered at the remote site of a downed small airplane. Their simple plan to retain the money while avoiding detection opens a Pandora's box when the fear of getting caught triggers panicked behavior and leads to virulent consequences.

Pleasure poster
Pleasure
2021 · dir. Ninja Thyberg
🍅 88%★ 6.3dramaRent or buy

The same mix in both: stillness, then grit

Bella Cherry arrives in Los Angeles with dreams of becoming an adult film star, but she soon learns that fame won't come easy as she harnesses her ambition and cunning to rise to the top of this mesmerizing and singular world.

Thelma & Louise poster
Thelma & Louise
1991 · dir. Ridley Scott
🍅 87%★ 7.6drama · crimePrime VideoHulu

Drama with a pulse of warmth, in both cases

Taking a break from their dreary lives, close friends Thelma and Louise embark on a short weekend trip that ends in unforeseen incriminating circumstances. As fugitives, both women rediscover the strength of their bond and their newfound resilience.

Trainspotting poster
Trainspotting
1996 · dir. Danny Boyle
🍅 93%★ 8.1drama · crime

One thread runs through both: drug abuse

Heroin addict Mark Renton stumbles through bad ideas and sobriety attempts with his unreliable friends --Sick Boy, Begbie, Spud and Tommy. He also has an underage girlfriend, Diane, along for the ride. After cleaning up and moving from Edinburgh to London, Mark finds he can't escape the life he left behind as Begbie and Sick Boy come knocking.

The Yards poster
The Yards
2000 · dir. James Gray
🍅 64%★ 6.4crime · drama · thrillerParamount+

Contemplative crime, and it commits to that

In the rail yards of Queens, contractors repair and rebuild the city's subway cars. These contracts are lucrative, so graft and corruption are rife. When Leo Handler gets out of prison, he finds his aunt married to Frank Olchin, one of the big contractors; he's battling with a minority-owned firm for contracts.

Spring Breakers poster
Spring Breakers
2013 · dir. Harmony Korine
🍅 67%★ 5.3drama · crimeMax

Gritty drama in both cases

After four college girls rob a restaurant to fund their spring break in Florida, they get entangled with a weird dude with his own criminal agenda.

Dogville poster
Dogville
2003 · dir. Lars von Trier
🍅 70%★ 8crime · drama · thriller

Both lean on warmth more than on crime

A woman on the run from the mob is reluctantly accepted in a small Colorado community in exchange for labor, but when a search visits the town, she learns that their support has a price.

Dead Presidents poster
Dead Presidents
1995 · dir. Albert Hughes
🍅 47%★ 6.9crime · drama · actionStarz

Both keep coming back to the same thing: drug abuse

On the streets they call cash dead presidents. And that's just what a Vietnam veteran is after when he returns home from the war only to find himself drawn into a life of crime. With the aid of his fellow vets he plans the ultimate heist -- a daring robbery of an armored car filled with unmarked U.S. currency!

Midnight Cowboy poster
Midnight Cowboy
1969 · dir. John Schlesinger
🍅 89%★ 7.8drama

Drama built on stillness, twice over

The difference: 35 years apart, and the 1960s show

Joe Buck is a wide-eyed hustler from Texas hoping to score big with wealthy New York City women; he finds a companion in Enrico "Ratso" Rizzo, an ailing swindler with a bum leg and a quixotic fantasy of escaping to Florida.

Pusher 3 poster
Pusher 3
2005 · dir. Nicolas Winding Refn
🍅 93%★ 7.3action · thriller · crime

Crime with a pulse of grit, in both cases

The difference: Takes it somewhere less contemplative than Bad Education does

Milo is aging, he is planning his daughter's 25th birthday, and his shipment of heroin turns out to be 10,000 pills of ecstasy. When Milo tries to sell the pills anyway, all Hell breaks loose and his only chance is to ask for help from his ex-henchman and old friend Radovan.

In the mood for more contemplative?

all contemplative movies →

The best-reviewed films that share Bad Education’s defining feeling.