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Best Movies Like Breaking Away

If you were moved by Breaking Away, can dive deeper into questions the purpose and weight of our choices all while offering targets the intellect with complex, multi-layered ideas. Carefully balances character depth with narrative flow makes this a compelling continuation of these themes.

Mood Breakdown
Runtime Cluster

Standard feature-length experiences.

Viewer Fit

Best for fans of who appreciate concise storytelling.

Top Picks

Benjamin
6.1

Benjamin

2019

Benjamin, a rising star filmmaker, is on the brink of premiering his difficult second film No Self at the London Film Festival when Billie, his hard drinking publicist, introduces him to a mesmeric French musician called Noah.

Alex Strangelove
6.6

Alex Strangelove

2018

Alex Truelove is on a quest to lose his virginity, an event eagerly awaited by his patient girlfriend and cheered on with welcome advice by his rowdy friends. But Alex, a super gregarious dude, is oddly unmotivated. A magical house party throws Alex into the presence of Elliot, a hunky college guy, who pegs Alex as gay and flirts hard. Alex is taken aback but after a series of setbacks on the girlfriend front he takes the plunge and learns some interesting new facts about himself.

The First Time
7.0

The First Time

2012

A spark of attraction smolders, then ignites, between two teens from different high schools who meet by chance at a party.

I Kissed a Girl
5.8

I Kissed a Girl

2015

Jérémie, 34, wakes up in an apartment he doesn't know, next to a woman he doesn't know. She is Adna, a stunning Swedish woman who is as funny as she is sweet. Is this the beginning of a fairy tale? Not quite, since Jérémie is about to get married—to Antoine.

Tall Girl
6.3

Tall Girl

2019

Jodi, the tallest girl in her high school, has always felt uncomfortable in her own skin. But after years of slouching, being made fun of, and avoiding attention at all costs, Jodi finally decides to find the confidence to stand tall.

Totally F***ed Up
6.7

Totally F***ed Up

1994

Gay, alienated Los Angeles teens have a hard time as their parents kick them out of their homes, they don’t have money, their lovers cheat, and they are harassed by gay-bashers.

Matthias & Maxime
7.1

Matthias & Maxime

2019

Two childhood best friends are asked to share a kiss for the purposes of a student short film. Soon, a lingering doubt sets in, confronting both men with their preferences, threatening the brotherhood of their social circle, and, eventually, changing their lives.

I Got Life!
6.1

I Got Life!

2017

Aurore has separated, just lost her job, and learns that she is going to be a grandmother.

More Movies Like Breaking Away

Blue Is the Warmest Color
7.1

Blue Is the Warmest Color

2013

Adèle's life is changed when she meets Emma, a young woman with blue hair, who will allow her to discover desire, to assert herself as a woman and as an adult. In front of others, Adele grows, seeks herself, loses herself, finds herself.

Dean
5.8

Dean

2016

A comedy about loss, grief, and the redemptive power of love. Dean is a NY illustrator who falls hard for an LA woman while trying to prevent his father from selling the family home in the wake of his mother's death.

I Can't Think Straight
7.5

I Can't Think Straight

2008

Tala, a London-based Palestinian, is preparing for her elaborate Middle Eastern wedding when she meets Leyla, a young British Indian woman who is dating her best friend. Spirited Christian Tala and shy Muslim Leyla could not be more different from each other, but the attraction is immediate and goes deeper than friendship. But Tala is not ready to accept the implications of the choice her heart has made for her and escapes back to Jordan, while Leyla tries to move on with her new-found life, to the shock of her tradition-loving parents. As Tala's wedding day approaches, simmering tensions come to boiling point and the pressure mounts for Tala to be true to herself.

Endless Love
6.9

Endless Love

2014

A privileged girl and a charismatic boy's instant desire sparks a love affair made only more reckless by parents trying to keep them apart.

¿Quieres ser mi hijo?
8.5

¿Quieres ser mi hijo?

2023

Lu, a conformist woman in her forties, learns that her 15-year partner has been having extramarital affairs. Starting from scratch, she gets involved in an unexpected relationship with a young womanizer.

Camp Belvidere
6.6

Camp Belvidere

2014

Camp Belvidere is a lesbian romance set in the 1950s about the coming of age of Camp Leader Rose and her forbidden encounter with Nurse Gin. It depicts the journey and evolution of a friendship into a romance between two women when their rapport would have been unlikely.

The Truth About Jane
6.2

The Truth About Jane

2000

High schooler Jane struggles with the self-discovery that she is a lesbian after developing an intense friendship with another girl. However, this is only the start of Jane's troubles when her unaccepting mother Janice also contends with the surprising revelation brought forth by her only daughter.

Just One of the Guys
6.4

Just One of the Guys

1985

When Terry Griffith loses her high school's writing competition, she's convinced that it's because she's a girl. So Terry decides to change high schools and pose as a boy to prove her point. Her brother, Buddy, helps her pass as a guy so well that she is soon making friends with the boys at school, including the attractive Rick, who becomes her new best friend. But her gender-swapping makes things difficult when she falls in love with him.

Beautiful Thing
7.3

Beautiful Thing

1996

During a long, hot summer on the Thamesmead Estate in Southeast London, three teenagers edge towards adulthood.

LOL
6.1

LOL

2012

In a world connected by YouTube, iTunes, and Facebook, Lola and her friends navigate the peer pressures of high school romance and friendship while dodging their sometimes overbearing and confused parents. When Lola's mom, Anne, "accidentally" reads her teenage daughter's racy journal, she realizes just how wide their communication gap has grown.

The Kissing Booth 2
7.6

The Kissing Booth 2

2020

With college decisions looming, Elle juggles her long-distance romance with Noah, changing relationship with bestie Lee and feelings for a new classmate.

Fanfan
6.4

Fanfan

1993

After seeing the initial passion and romance fade into a series of routine and boring relationships, Alexandre (Vincent Perez) concludes that romance ends when sex enters into a relationship. Determined to prevent this from happening with his latest love-interest—a sexy young woman named Fanfan (Sophie Marceau)—he decides that platonic love is the solution. Despite the wonderful, romantic, and inventive ways Alexandre finds for them to spend time together, Fanfan is left disappointed by his refusal to make love to her. Their exciting relationship becomes jeopardized by Alexandre's unwillingness to change his new approach to love.

Why These Movies Are Similar

These recommendations share core qualities with Breaking Away (2025): Comedy and Romance themes, similar narrative structure, and comparable emotional depth. NoBadPicks uses a combination of TMDB collaborative filtering, genre matching, and AI analysis to surface films most likely to resonate with fans of Breaking Away.

See full details for Breaking Away (2025)

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