Movies like 1961 (2023)
The best movies like 1961 (2023) are The Clique (2008), Igby Goes Down (2002) and The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected) (2017). If 1961 hooked you with its family and drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
1961
Quick picks
- Highest ratedOnce Upon a Time in… Hollywood (2019)7.4/10 from 15,541 votes
- NewestDaydream (2026)Released 2026
The Clique (2008)
A young girl tries to fit in with a clique of popular middle school girls after moving into the guest house of one of their homes.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisIgby Goes Down (2002)
Igby Slocumb, a rebellious and sarcastic 17-year-old boy, is at war with the stifling world of old money privilege he was born into. With a schizophrenic father, a self-absorbed, distant mother, and a shark-like young Republican big brother, Igby figures there must be a better life out there -- and sets about finding it.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected) (2017)
An estranged family gathers together in New York for an event celebrating the artistic work of their father.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisParenthood (1989)
The story of the Buckman family and friends, attempting to bring up their children. They suffer/enjoy all the events that occur: estranged relatives, the 'black sheep' of the family, the eccentrics, the skeletons in the closet, and the rebellious teenagers.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCemetery Junction (2010)
In 1970s England, three blue-collar friends spend their days joking, drinking, fighting and chasing girls. Freddie wants to leave their working-class world but cool, charismatic Bruce and lovable loser Snork are happy with life the way it is. When Freddie gets a new job as a door-to-door salesman and bumps into his old school sweetheart Julie, the gang are forced to make choices that will change their lives for ever.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWildflower (2023)
The story of Bea Johnson from birth to graduation as she navigates life with an intellectually disabled parent and an extended family who can't quite agree on the best way to help.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSomewhere in Queens (2023)
Leo and Angela Russo live a simple life in Queens, surrounded by their overbearing Italian-American family. When their son finds success on his high school basketball team, Leo tears the family apart trying to make it happen.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTreasure (2024)
A music journalist accompanies her father, a charmingly stubborn Holocaust survivor, on a journey to his homeland. While she's eager to make sense of her family's past, her dad has an agenda of his own.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004)
Renowned oceanographer Steve Zissou has sworn vengeance upon the rare shark that devoured a member of his crew. In addition to his regular team, he is joined on his boat by Ned, a man who believes Zissou to be his father, and Jane, a journalist pregnant by a married man. They travel the sea, all too often running into pirates and, perhaps more traumatically, various figures from Zissou's past, including his estranged wife, Eleanor.
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 thisThe Confirmation (2016)
A divorced father reconnects with his son when they track down a stolen toolbox over the course of a weekend.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & comedy
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 thisCQ (2001)
A young filmmaker in 1960s Paris juggles directing a cheesy sci-fi debacle, directing his own personal art film, coping with his crumbling relationship with his girlfriend, and a new-found infatuation with the sci-fi film's starlet.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisLandline (2017)
A teenager living with her sister and parents in Manhattan during the 1990s discovers that her father is having an affair.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBlindspotting (2018)
Collin must make it through his final three days of probation for a chance at a new beginning. He and his troublemaking childhood best friend, Miles, work as movers, and when Collin witnesses a police shooting, the two men’s friendship is tested as they grapple with identity and their changed realities in the rapidly-gentrifying neighborhood they grew up in.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisA Hole in the Head (1959)
An impractical widower tries to hang onto his Miami hotel and his 12-year-old son.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBreaking News in Yuba County (2021)
An overlooked pencil-pusher catches her husband in bed with another woman, the shock of which causes him to die of a heart attack. So she buries his body and takes advantage of the growing celebrity status that comes from having a missing husband. But she quickly finds herself in over her head, dodging cops and criminals, all while trying to keep the truth from her sister, a local news anchor who’s desperate for a story.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisAbout Alex (2014)
When a group of old college friends reunite over a long weekend after one of them attempts suicide, old crushes and resentments shine light on their life decisions, and ultimately push friendships and relationships to the brink.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisEmergency (2022)
Ready for a night of legendary partying, three college students must weigh the pros and cons of calling the police when faced with an unexpected situation.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRudderless (2014)
A grieving father in a downward spiral stumbles across a box of his recently deceased son's demo tapes and lyrics. Shocked by the discovery of this unknown talent, he forms a band in the hope of finding some catharsis.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDaydream (2026)
A young adult recounts childhood memories involving his 6th grade teacher and the lessons she taught, particularly her unconventional assignment: to daydream.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy & drama
Emil and the Piglet (1973)
Nursing a piglet back to life because it's the runt of the litter earns Emil a friend for life.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy & family
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOnce Upon a Time in… Hollywood (2019)
Los Angeles, 1969. TV star Rick Dalton, a struggling actor specializing in westerns, and stuntman Cliff Booth, his best friend, try to survive in a constantly changing movie industry. Dalton is the neighbor of the young and promising actress and model Sharon Tate, who has just married the prestigious Polish director Roman Polanski…
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHome Alone 4 (2002)
Kevin McCallister's parents have split up. Now living with his mom, he decides to spend Christmas with his dad at the mansion of his father's rich girlfriend, Natalie. Meanwhile robber Marv Merchants, one of the villains from the first two movies, partners up with a new criminal named Vera to hit Natalie's mansion.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy & family
SnoozefestMovies like thisGhost Town (2008)
Bertram Pincus, a cranky, people-hating Manhattan dentist, develops the unwelcome ability to see dead people. Really annoying dead people. Even worse, they all want something from him, particularly Frank Herlihy, a smooth-talking ghost, who pesters him into a romantic scheme involving his widow Gwen. They are soon entangled in a hilarious predicament between the now and the hereafter!
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWinter Journey (2019)
Tucson, Arizona, September 1996. At the request of his son Martin, George Goldsmith tells him of his past in Nazi Germany as a member of a family of Jewish musicians and the strange history of the Jüdischer Kulturbund, a Jewish organization sponsored by Reichsminister Joseph Goebbels.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & history
Withnail & I (1987)
Two out-of-work actors -- the anxious, luckless Marwood and his acerbic, alcoholic friend, Withnail -- spend their days drifting between their squalid flat, the unemployment office and the pub. When they take a holiday "by mistake" at the country house of Withnail's flamboyantly gay uncle, Monty, they encounter the unpleasant side of the English countryside: tedium, terrifying locals and torrential rain.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCannonball Run II (1984)
When a wealthy sheikh puts up $1 million in prize money for a cross-country car race, there is one person crazy enough to hit the road hard with wheels spinning fast. Legendary driver J.J. McClure enters the competition along with his friend Victor and together they set off across the American landscape in a madcap action-adventure destined to test their wits and automobile skills.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
SnoozefestMovies like thisThirteen Days (2000)
The story of the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962—the nuclear standoff with the USSR sparked by the discovery by the Americans of missile bases established on the Soviet-allied island of Cuba.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both history
Worth the HypeMovies like thisIl est minuit, Paris s'éveille (2012)
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both history
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like 1961?
The closest matches to 1961 are The Clique (2008), Igby Goes Down (2002) and The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected) (2017). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after 1961?
Start with The Clique (2008), the closest match to 1961.
What is the highest-rated movie like 1961?
Once Upon a Time in… Hollywood (2019), rated 7.4/10 by 15,541 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like 1961?
Daydream (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
How are movies similar to 1961 chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside 1961, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.