Movies like Beautiful Thing (1996)
The best movies like Beautiful Thing (1996) are Benjamin (2019), But I'm a Cheerleader (2000) and Am I OK? (2024). If Beautiful Thing 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 ratedBrokeback Mountain (2005)7.8/10 from 7,814 votes
- NewestHeartstopper Forever (2026)Released 2026
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.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBut I'm a Cheerleader (2000)
Megan is an all-American girl. A cheerleader. She has a boyfriend. But Megan doesn't like kissing her boyfriend very much. And she's pretty touchy with her cheerleader friends. Her conservative parents worry that she must be a lesbian and send her off to "sexual redirection" school, where she must, with other lesbians and gays learn how to be straight.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAm I OK? (2024)
Lucy and Jane have been best friends for most of their lives and think they know everything there is to know about each other. But when Jane announces she's moving to London, Lucy reveals a long-held secret. As Jane tries to help Lucy, their friendship is thrown into chaos.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGeorgy Girl (1966)
A homely but vivacious young woman dodges the amorous attentions of her father's middle-aged employer while attempting to please her glamorously stuck-up roommate Meredith.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAll of Us Strangers (2023)
One night in his near-empty tower block in contemporary London, Adam has a chance encounter with a mysterious neighbor, which punctures the rhythm of his everyday life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMaurice (1987)
After his lover rejects him, Maurice attempts to come to terms with his sexuality within the restrictiveness of Edwardian society.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisEverybody's Talking About Jamie (2021)
Jamie New is 16 and doesn’t quite fit in—instead of pursuing a "real" career he dreams of becoming a drag queen. Uncertain about his future, Jamie knows one thing for sure: he is going to be a sensation. Supported by his loving mom and his amazing friends, Jamie overcomes prejudice, beats the bullies and steps out of the darkness, into the spotlight.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDeep End (1971)
London, England. Mike, a fifteen-year-old boy, gets a job in a bathhouse, where he meets Susan, an attractive young woman who works there as an attendant.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAlex 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.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFemme (2023)
Jules is a drag artist in London who withdraws into himself and loses his career after a horrific attack. Months later, he recognizes one of his assailants in a gay sauna and quickly realizes he has the perfect opportunity to get revenge.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisReal Women Have Curves (2002)
In East Los Angeles, an 18-year-old struggles between her ambitions of going to college and the desires of her domineering mother for her to get married, have children, and oversee the small, rundown family-owned textile factory.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBehind the Candelabra (2013)
Based on the autobiographical novel, the tempestuous 6-year relationship between Liberace and his (much younger) lover, Scott Thorson, is recounted.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTotally 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.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCamp 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.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPalm Trees and Power Lines (2023)
Seventeen-year-old Lea spends her summer break tanning in her backyard, and drifting between tiptoeing around her needy mother, and aimlessly trailing her best friend and boys from school. This monotony is interrupted by a chance encounter with Tom, a seductive man twice her age who promises an alternative to Lea's unsatisfying adolescent life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHeartstopper Forever (2026)
It's a new school year for the Truham-Higgs gang. As Nick and Charlie's relationship deepens, their thoughts turn to life after the last bell rings.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMy Old Ass (2024)
An 18th birthday mushroom trip brings free-spirited Elliott face-to-face with her wisecracking 39-year-old self. But when Elliott’s "old ass" starts handing out warnings about what her younger self should and shouldn't do, Elliott realizes she has to rethink everything about family, love, and what's becoming a transformative summer.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMagic Mike's Last Dance (2023)
Mike Lane takes to the stage again after a lengthy hiatus, following a business deal that went bust, leaving him broke and taking bartender gigs in Florida. For what he hopes will be one last hurrah, Mike heads to London with a wealthy socialite who lures him with an offer he can’t refuse… and an agenda all her own. With everything on the line, once Mike discovers what she truly has in mind, will he—and the roster of hot new dancers he’ll have to whip into shape—be able to pull it off?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisElena Undone (2010)
The wife of a pastor who preaches against homosexuality embarks on an affair with a female writer.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMy Policeman (2022)
In the late 1990s, the arrival of elderly invalid Patrick into Marion and Tom’s home triggers the exploration of seismic events from 40 years previous: the passionate relationship between Tom and Patrick at a time when homosexuality was illegal.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisButch 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
Playboy of Paris (1930)
Yvonne, daughter of Philibert, a Paris cafe owner, is in love with dreamy, blundering Albert, a waiter, though he pays little attention to her. Philibert plans to marry his daughter to a wealthy Parisian, but upon learning that Albert is to come into a large inheritance, he conspires to place him under a longterm contract, confident that he willingly will pay a forfeit to break it.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy & romance
All About My Mother (1999)
Following the tragic death of her teenage son, Manuela travels from Madrid to Barcelona in an attempt to contact the long-estranged father the boy never knew. She reunites with an old friend, an outspoken transgender sex worker, and befriends a troubled actress and a pregnant, HIV-positive nun.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Secret Call (1931)
The Secret Call is adapted from The Woman, a play by William C. DeMille (brother of Cecil B.) Peggy Shannon plays Wanda Kelly, the daughter of a disgraced politician. Reduced to working as a switchboard operator, Wanda is privy to the many secrets and indiscretions of the clients of a big-city hotel. She also finds romance in the form of handsome Tom Blake (Richard Arlen). The huge cast of characters comes in handy for the film's multitude of subplots, none of which ever get their wires crossed. Peggy Shannon acquits herself nicely in her first major role, but by the end of the decade her career was in decline.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & romance
Brokeback 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 thisCinderella (1947)
In the fairy kingdom live stepmother, her evil daughters — Anna and Maryana, a limp husband-forester and his daughter from his first marriage — Cinderella. The stepmother exploits the poor girl as a housekeeper. With the help of her godmother-fairy, Cinderella gets to the royal ball, where a beautiful and very kind prince falls in love with her. At midnight, the magic ends, and poor Cinderella has to return to her former life. But on the crystal shoe that Cinderella lost while fleeing the palace to the battle of the palace chimes, the prince searches for the bride.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisYesterday, Today and Tomorrow (1963)
Three tales of very different women using their sexuality as a means to getting what they want.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAnna Christie (1930)
Old sailor Chris Christofferson eagerly awaits the arrival of his grown daughter Anna, whom he sent at five years old to live with relatives in Minnesota. He has not seen her since, but believes her to be a decent and respectably employed young woman. When Anna arrives, however, it is clear that she has lived a hard life in the dregs of society, and that much of spirit has been extinguished. She falls in love with a young sailor rescued at sea by her father, but dreads to reveal to him the truth of her past. Both father and young man are deluded about her background, yet Anna cannot quite bring herself to allow them to remain deluded.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMILF (2018)
Three childhood friends - Elise, Sonia and Cecile - leave for a summer in the South of France to help clear Cecile’s holiday house before it is put up for sale. There, they soon become the prime targets of three horny young men, for whom these single forty-year-old women are much more attractive than girls their age.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy & romance
SnoozefestMovies like thisJohnny Minotaur (1971)
Johnny Minotaur is a lyrical explosion of taboos: incest, intergenerational desire, pansexuality and autoeroticism are a few of the issues Charles Henri Ford grapples with through mythopoeic, sensual imagery, recitations of his diaries and a philosophical debate featuring an impressive narration by such artists as Salvador Dali, Allen Ginsberg, Warren Sonbert and Lynne Tillman.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Beautiful Thing?
The closest matches to Beautiful Thing are Benjamin (2019), But I'm a Cheerleader (2000) and Am I OK? (2024). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Beautiful Thing?
Start with Benjamin (2019), the closest match to Beautiful Thing.
What is the highest-rated movie like Beautiful Thing?
Brokeback Mountain (2005), rated 7.8/10 by 7,814 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Beautiful Thing?
Heartstopper Forever (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Beautiful Thing?
Yes: Benjamin (2019), But I'm a Cheerleader (2000) and Am I OK? (2024).
How are movies similar to Beautiful Thing chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Beautiful Thing, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.