NoBadPicks

Movies Like China Girl

If you loved China Girl's Romance and Crime storytelling, these films deliver a similar experience — carefully selected for tone, themes, and emotional depth. Each pick includes where to watch it right now.

Top Picks

West Side Story
7.2

West Side Story

1961

In Manhattan’s Upper West Side, rival gangs of Polish-Americans and newly arrived Puerto Ricans clash for control of the neighborhood, even as two young members from opposite sides fall dangerously in love.

Fire with Fire
6.2

Fire with Fire

1986

A tough, street-smart kid serving a sentence in a state youth reformatory meets a beautiful, innocent girl studying at a nearby convent. When forbidden love blossoms between them, they must fight the prison authorities, their parents and the law.

West Side Story
6.9

West Side Story

2021

Two youngsters from rival New York City gangs fall in love, but tensions between their respective friends build toward tragedy.

Not Easily Broken
6.3

Not Easily Broken

2009

A car accident and shifting affections test the bond between a married couple.

Love Everlasting
7.5

Love Everlasting

2016

Bridger is a young outsider who's always wanted more. He and his mother flee an abusive home, eventually finding a small town in the middle of nowhere. Once there, Bridger finds true acceptance with another misfit.

Blue Story
7.3

Blue Story

2019

Blue Story is a tragic tale of a friendship between Timmy and Marco, two young boys from opposing postcodes. Timmy, a shy, smart, naive and timid young boy from Deptford, goes to school in Peckham where he strikes up a friendship with Marco, a charismatic, streetwise kid from the local area. Although from warring postcodes, the two quickly form a firm friendship until it is tested and they wind up on rival sides of a street war. Blue Story depicts elements of Rapman's own personal experiences and aspects of his childhood.

Heights
6.3

Heights

2005

Spanning twenty-four hours, HEIGHTS follows five New Yorkers challenged to choose their destiny before the sun comes up the next day.

Past Lives
7.7

Past Lives

2023

After decades apart, childhood friends Nora and Hae Sung are reunited in New York for one fateful weekend as they confront notions of destiny, love, and the choices that make a life.

More Movies Like China Girl

Fallen Angel
6.6

Fallen Angel

1945

An unemployed drifter, Eric Stanton wanders into a small California town and begins hanging around the local diner. While Eric falls for the lovely waitress Stella, he also begins romancing a quiet and well-to-do woman named June Mills. Since Stella isn't interested in Eric unless he has money, the lovelorn guy comes up with a scheme to win her over, and it involves June. Before long, murder works its way into this passionate love triangle.

The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Her
6.7

The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Her

2014

Told from the woman's perspective, the story of a couple trying to reclaim the life and love they once knew and pick up the pieces of a past that may be too far gone.

On the Edge
6.6

On the Edge

2001

A suicidal young man is committed to a Dublin psychiatric hospital where he meets new friends who greatly influence his life.

Love in Taipei
6.7

Love in Taipei

2023

A young American woman is sent by her parents to a cultural immersion program in Taipei where she begins a new journey of self-discovery and romance.

Father of the Bride
6.4

Father of the Bride

2022

A father comes to grips with his daughter’s upcoming wedding through the prism of multiple relationships within a big, sprawling Cuban-American family.

The Fugitive Kind
6.8

The Fugitive Kind

1960

Val Xavier, a drifter of obscure origins, arrives at a small town and gets a job in a store run by Lady Torrence. Her husband, Jabe M. Torrance, is dying of cancer. Val is pursued by Carol Cutere, the enigmatic local tramp-of-good-family.

Brooklyn
7.3

Brooklyn

2015

In 1950s Ireland and New York, young Eilis Lacey has to choose between two men and two countries.

In the Heights
7.1

In the Heights

2021

The story of Usnavi, a bodega owner who has mixed feelings about closing his store and retiring to the Dominican Republic or staying in Washington Heights.

New York, I Love You
5.9

New York, I Love You

2008

New York, I Love You delves into the intimate lives of New Yorkers as they grapple with, delight in and search for love. Journey from the Diamond District in the heart of Manhattan, through Chinatown and the Upper East Side, towards the Village, into Tribeca, and Brooklyn as lovers of all ages try to find romance in the Big Apple.

Sylvie's Love
6.2

Sylvie's Love

2020

When a young woman meets an aspiring saxophonist in her father’s record shop in 1950s Harlem, their love ignites a sweeping romance that transcends changing times, geography, and professional success.

Marked Men: Rule + Shaw
6.7

Marked Men: Rule + Shaw

2025

Shaw Landon has loved Rule Archer from the moment she laid eyes on him. Rule, a fiery-tempered rebel tattoo artist, doesn’t have time for a good girl pre-med student like Shaw — even if she’s the only one who can see the person he truly is. She lives by other people’s rules; he makes his own. But a short skirt, too many birthday cocktails, and spilled secrets lead to a night neither can forget. Now, Shaw and Rule must figure out how a girl like her and a guy like him are supposed to be together without destroying their love…or each other.

Almost Friends
6.3

Almost Friends

2017

A man in his mid-20s, still living at home with his mother and stepfather, puts all his eggs in one basket: the girl who works at his local coffee shop. The problem is, she has a serious boyfriend. As they become closer, the line between friendship and intimacy is blurred, and the situation forces both to examine where they are in their lives.

Why These Movies Are Similar

These recommendations share core qualities with China Girl (1987): Romance and Crime 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 China Girl.

See full details for China Girl (1987)

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