Movies like Shortcomings (2023)
The best movies like Shortcomings (2023) are 200 Cigarettes (1999), The Big Sick (2017) and Anything Else (2003). If Shortcomings hooked you with its comedy and drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedEternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)8.1/10 from 16,967 votes
- NewestOnly Good Things (2025)Released 2025
200 Cigarettes (1999)
In 1981 New York City, a collection of twentysomethings try to cope with relationships, loneliness, desire and their individual neuroses on New Years Eve.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Big Sick (2017)
Pakistan-born comedian Kumail Nanjiani and grad student Emily Gardner fall in love but struggle as their cultures clash. When Emily contracts a mysterious illness, Kumail finds himself forced to face her feisty parents, his family's expectations, and his true feelings.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAnything Else (2003)
Jerry Falk, an aspiring writer in New York, falls in love at first sight with a free-spirited young woman named Amanda. He has heard the phrase that life is like "anything else," but soon he finds that life with the unpredictable Amanda isn't like anything else at all.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAuthor! Author! (1982)
While facing the stress of his original play being produced on Broadway, playwright Ivan Travalian deals with having to raise his son, his stepdaughters, and his stepsons.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Half of It (2020)
Shy, straight-A student Ellie is hired by sweet but inarticulate jock Paul, who needs help wooing the most popular girl in school. But their new and unlikely friendship gets tricky when Ellie discovers she has feelings for the same girl.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAnnie Hall (1977)
New York comedian Alvy Singer falls in love with the ditsy Annie Hall.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Spectacular Now (2013)
Sutter, a popular party animal, unexpectedly meets the introverted Aimee after waking up on a stranger's lawn. As Sutter deals with the problems in his life and Aimee plans for her future beyond school, an unexpected romance blossoms between them.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSidewalks of New York (2001)
The film follows the marital and dating lives of three men and three women who unknowingly form a tangled web of relationships. Interspersing "man on the street" interviews with scenes from the six characters' lives, the film weaves a humorous and biting commentary on the game of love -- easy to start, hard to finish.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHe Said, She Said (1991)
Womanising, right-wing Dan Hanson and quiet, liberal Lorie Bryer work for the Baltimore Sun. Rivals for the job of new writer of a vacant column, the paper ends up instead printing their very different opinions alongside each other, which leads to a similarly combative local TV show. At the same time their initial indifference to each other looks like it may evolve into something more romantic.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Incredibly True Adventure of Two Girls in Love (1995)
An adventurous love story between two young women of different social and economic backgrounds who find themselves going through all the typical struggles of a new romance.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like this10 Things I Hate About You (1999)
After discovering his high school crush can't date until her brash older sister does, a lovesick teen enlists a bad-boy classmate to woo her.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSomething Borrowed (2011)
Though Rachel is a successful attorney and a loyal, generous friend, she is still single. After one drink too many at her 30th-birthday celebration, Rachel unexpectedly falls into bed with her longtime crush, Dex -- who happens to be engaged to her best friend, Darcy. Ramifications of the liaison threaten to destroy the women's lifelong friendship, while Ethan, Rachel's confidant, harbors a potentially explosive secret of his own.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNew 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.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLaggies (2014)
Overeducated and underemployed, 28 year old Megan is in the throes of a quarterlife crisis. Squarely into adulthood with no career prospects, no particular motivation to think about her future and no one to relate to, Megan is comfortable lagging a few steps behind - while her friends check off milestones and celebrate their new grown-up status. When her high-school sweetheart proposes, Megan panics and- given an unexpected opportunity to escape for a week - hides out in the home of her new friend, 16-year old Annika and Annika's world-weary single dad Craig.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMuch Ado About Nothing (1993)
In this Shakespearean farce, Hero and her groom-to-be, Claudio, team up with Claudio's commanding officer, Don Pedro, the week before their wedding to hatch a matchmaking scheme. Their targets are sharp-witted duo Benedick and Beatrice -- a tough task indeed, considering their corresponding distaste for love and each other. Meanwhile, meddling Don John plots to ruin the wedding.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisIsn't It Romantic (2019)
For a long time, Natalie, an Australian architect living in New York City, had always believed that what she had seen in rom-coms is all fantasy. But after thwarting a mugger at a subway station only to be knocked out while fleeing, Natalie wakes up and discovers that her life has suddenly become her worst nightmare—a romantic comedy—and she is the leading lady.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCarrie Pilby (2017)
Awkward, isolated and disapproving of most of the people around her, a precocious 19-year-old genius is challenged to put her convictions to the test by venturing out on to the NYC dating scene.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisShe's Funny That Way (2015)
On the set of a playwright's new project, a love triangle forms between his wife, her ex-lover, and the call girl-turned-actress cast in the production.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & romance
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Sun Is Also a Star (2019)
Two young New Yorkers begin to fall in love over the course of a single day, as a series of potentially life-altering meetings loom over their heads - hers concerning her family’s deportation to Jamaica, and his concerning an education at Dartmouth.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Lonely Guy (1984)
A writer for a greeting card company learns the true meaning of loneliness when he comes home to find his girlfriend in bed with another man.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMuriel's Wedding (1994)
Socially awkward Muriel Heslop wants nothing more than to get married. Unfortunately, due to her oppressive politician father, Muriel has never even been on a date. Ostracized by her more socially adept friends, Muriel runs into fellow outcast Rhonda Epinstalk, and the two move from their small Australian town to the big city of Sydney, where Muriel changes her name and begins the arduous task of redesigning her life to match her fantasies.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAbout a Boy (2002)
Will Freeman is a good-looking, smooth-talking bachelor whose primary goal in life is avoiding any kind of responsibility. But when he invents an imaginary son in order to meet attractive single moms, Will gets a hilarious lesson about life from a bright, but hopelessly geeky 12-year-old named Marcus. Now, as Will struggles to teach Marcus the art of being cool, Marcus teaches Will that you're never too old to grow up.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPocketful of Miracles (1961)
A New York gangster and his girlfriend attempt to turn street beggar Apple Annie into a society lady when the peddler learns her daughter is marrying royalty.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBrokeback Mountain (2005)
In 1960s Wyoming, two men develop a strong emotional and sexual relationship that endures as a lifelong connection complicating their lives as they get married and start families of their own.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBerlin is in Germany (2001)
When Martin, a former GDR citizen, is released from jail, he lately becomes confronted with the consequences of the German re-unification.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy & drama
Butch Jamie (2008)
The film follows the story of Jamie, a struggling butch lesbian actress who gets cast as a man in a film. The main plot is a romantic comedy between Jamie's male alter-ego, "Male Jamie," and Jill, a heterosexual woman on set. The film's subplots include Jamie's bisexual roommate Lola and her cat actor Howard, Lola's abrasive butch German girlfriend Andi, and Jamie's gay Asian friend David.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy & romance
Only Good Things (2025)
Catalão, Brazil, 1984. The rural region of Batalha dos Neves is made up of large crop pastures, a few farms and divided in half by the São Marcos River. Antonio lives alone and isolated taking care of his small farm until the day he encounters Marcelo, a lonely motorcycler who suffers an accident crossing the region. Antonio takes care of Marcelo’s wounds. The two fall in love and live a story that transforms, destabilizes, and causes ruptures in each of them.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both romance & drama
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
Joel Barish, heartbroken that his girlfriend underwent a procedure to erase him from her memory, decides to do the same. However, as he watches his memories of her fade away, he realises that he still loves her, and may be too late to correct his mistake.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & romance
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisKing Kong (2005)
In 1933 New York, an overly ambitious movie producer coerces his cast and hired ship crew to travel to mysterious Skull Island, where they encounter Kong, a giant ape who is immediately smitten with the leading lady.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOzon: Remastered & Uncut (2022)
He thrilled you with 'Swimming Pool', tickled you with '8 Women' and beguiled you with 'Young and Beautiful'. Dive into the the erotic twists and transgressive turns of the early short films of auteur director François Ozon. The 5 short films are: A Summer Dress [Une robe d'été] (1996); X2000 (1998); Truth or Dare [Action vérité] (1994); See the Sea [Regarde la mer] (1997); Little Death [La petite mort] (1995).
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Shortcomings?
The closest matches to Shortcomings are 200 Cigarettes (1999), The Big Sick (2017) and Anything Else (2003). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Shortcomings?
Start with 200 Cigarettes (1999), the closest match to Shortcomings.
What is the highest-rated movie like Shortcomings?
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004), rated 8.1/10 by 16,967 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Shortcomings?
Only Good Things (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Shortcomings?
Yes: 200 Cigarettes (1999), The Big Sick (2017) and Anything Else (2003).
How are movies similar to Shortcomings chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Shortcomings, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.