Movies like J’aime la vie (2023)
The best movies like J’aime la vie (2023) are It Runs in the Family (2003), Almost Christmas (2016) and My Mother's Wedding (2025). If J’aime la vie hooked you with its drama and comedy, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedMouchette (1967)7.4/10 from 291 votes
- NewestA Dog's Perfect Christmas (2026)Released 2026
It Runs in the Family (2003)
This is the story of a dysfunctional New York family, and their attempts to reconcile
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAlmost Christmas (2016)
A dysfunctional family gathers together for their first Christmas since the death of their matriarch.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMy Mother's Wedding (2025)
Three sisters return to their home for the third wedding of their twice-widowed mother. But the mother and daughters are forced to revisit the past and confront the future, with help from a colorful group of unexpected wedding guests.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOn Becoming a Guinea Fowl (2024)
On an empty road in the middle of the night, Shula stumbles across the body of her uncle. As funeral proceedings begin around them, she and her cousins bring to light the buried secrets of their middle-class Zambian family.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDivine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood (2002)
In a sleepy Louisiana parish, a group of lifelong friends stage a rather unorthodox intervention to help a young playwright unravel the truth about her complicated mother and let go of her painful past.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAnother Year (2010)
During a year, a very content couple approaching retirement are visited by friends and family less happy with their lives.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSweetie (1989)
The buttoned-down, superstitious Kay is attempting to lead a normal existence with her new boyfriend Louis. That’s until Sweetie, her rampaging, devil-may-care sister, returns home after an absence, exposing the rotten roots of their family and placing a strain on Kay and Louis’ relationship.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSubUrbia (1997)
A group of suburban teenagers try to support each other through the difficult task of becoming adults.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMadea's Big Happy Family (2011)
When Shirley, Madea's niece, receives distressing news about her health, the only thing she wants is her family gathered around her. However, Shirley's three adult children are too preoccupied with their own troubled lives to pay attention to their mother. It is up to Madea, with the help of rowdy Aunt Bam, to bring the clan together and help Shirley deal with her crisis.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Dog's Perfect Christmas (2026)
When a medical emergency pulls the Goss family apart, determined dog Winstead will do all he can to bring his humans back together before Christmas Eve.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAna (2020)
Ana meets Rafa in a chance encounter and they embark on a road trip to try and save him from bankruptcy, or worse.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAfterlife of the Party (2021)
A social butterfly who dies during her birthday week is given a second chance to right her wrongs on Earth.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAre You There God? It's Me, Margaret. (2023)
When her family moves from New York City to New Jersey, an 11-year-old girl navigates new friends, feelings, and the beginning of adolescence.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWelcome Home Roscoe Jenkins (2008)
When a celebrated TV show host returns to his hometown in the South, his family is there to remind him that going home is no vacation!
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFathers and Daughters (2015)
A Pulitzer-winning writer grapples with being a widower and father after a mental breakdown, while, 27 years later, his grown daughter struggles to forge connections of her own.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMarvin's Room (1996)
A leukemia patient attempts to end a 20-year feud with her sister to get her bone marrow.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRookie of the Year (1993)
When the cast comes off his once broken arm, a 12-year-old boy can throw a 100-mile-an-hour fastball, and the Chicago Cubs want him as their new pitcher.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOne & Two (2015)
In an isolated farmhouse, located in the middle of nowhere and surrounded by a mysterious wooden wall, Zac and Eva, two siblings gifted with extraordinary abilities, endure every day the wrath of their strict father while witnessing how a cruel sickness lurks their beloved mother.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisWhere the Red Fern Grows (1974)
Billy Coleman works hard and saves his earnings for two years to achieve his dream of buying two red-bone coonhound pups. He develops a new trust in life as he faces overwhelming challenges in adventure and tragedy roaming the river bottoms of Cherokee country with his dogs, Old Dan and Little Ann.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisYours, Mine and Ours (1968)
When a widower with ten children marries a widow with eight, can the twenty of them ever come together as one big happy family?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisForsaken Daughter (1961)
The Lok's family disperses when Japanese occupied China. Mrs. Lok's company prospers in Hong Kong. Her son Tin-yam looks after her business. She misses her daughter. Another daughter Chui-yin dates Kuk-tat. Mrs. Lok hopes that Tin-yam will find a good partner. Wan Yuk-yin works in Mrs. Lok's company and meets Tin-yam. They fall in love. Mrs. Lok asks Yuk-yin to leave Tin-yam. Facing his mother's objection, Tin-yam falls ill. Mrs. Lok let them marry. The wedding guests despised the bride, which makes Mrs. Lok uncomfortable. The couple lives happily, but Mrs. Lok and Chui-yin make Yuk-yin embarrassed. Kuk-tat covets the Loks' fortune. He steals their jewels. Mrs. Lok thinks Yuk-yin did it. Yuk-yin is innocent, but she is expelled. Tin-yam returns. Yuk-yin's parents seek justice at the Loks. Mrs. Lok's saw the Yuk-yin's birthmark. She realizes Yuk-yin is her lost daughter. Mrs. Lok decides to be a dutiful mother. Tin-yam is an adopted son of the Loks so the couple lives happily.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & comedy
A Night In Porto (TBA)
The film follows two former lovers who unexpectedly reunite on a Christmas night in Porto. Their encounter sparks a reflective journey into whether life offers second chances at happiness. Sequeira penned the script.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy & drama
The Carten Brothers (2022)
Two Estranged brothers Alfie and Arnold Carten must find a way to rebuild their relationship, before they no longer call themselves brothers.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Replika (2026)
When two sisters are travelling by car with their ageing, heart-sick mother, they receive the news that their brother has suddenly died. In a tightly drama, the sisters are confronted with an ethical dilemma as they choose to let a lie take precedence over the truth out of concern for their mother’s fragile health.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Mouchette (1967)
A young girl living in the French countryside suffers constant indignities at the hand of alcoholism and her fellow man.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDinty (1920)
Dinty is a newsboy whose fight to care for his ailing mother leads him into conflicts with the other boys on the street and then with drug smugglers in Chinatown.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
The Caprice (2000)
A group of friends meet once a year for a weekend of partying and reconnection. This film centers on the interpersonal dynamics and relationships between this group during their annual reunion.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Les enfants de bohème (2021)
Idi and Rita live with their grandmother, Manie. Idi tries to keep the memories they have of their mother, by drawing on his school notebook. By the force of their desire, the children keep the link they have to their funny mother, despite the separation.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The Crossing (2026)
On a perilous journey north, a Guatemalan farmer risks everything to secure a future for his family, as past and present collide in a story of survival, memory, and sacrifice.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
We Live in Time (2024)
An up-and-coming chef and a recent divorcée find their lives forever changed when a chance encounter brings them together, in a decade-spanning, deeply moving romance.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like J’aime la vie?
The closest matches to J’aime la vie are It Runs in the Family (2003), Almost Christmas (2016) and My Mother's Wedding (2025). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after J’aime la vie?
Start with It Runs in the Family (2003), the closest match to J’aime la vie.
What is the highest-rated movie like J’aime la vie?
Mouchette (1967), rated 7.4/10 by 291 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like J’aime la vie?
A Dog's Perfect Christmas (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
How are movies similar to J’aime la vie chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside J’aime la vie, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.