Movies like Cosmos (1996)
The best movies like Cosmos (1996) are Universal Language (2024), Slacker (1990) and Night on Earth (1991). If Cosmos 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 ratedNight on Earth (1991)7.5/10 from 1,109 votes
- NewestUniversal Language (2024)Released 2024
- In FrenchUniversal Language (2024)Also in French
Universal Language (2024)
Winter. Somewhere between Tehran and Winnipeg. Negin and Nazgol find a sum of money frozen deep within the sidewalk ice and try to find a way to get it out. Massoud leads a group of befuddled tourists upon an increasingly-strange walking tour of Winnipeg historic sites. Matthew leaves his job at the Québec government and embarks upon a mysterious journey to visit his estranged mother.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSlacker (1990)
Austin, Texas, is an Eden for the young and unambitious, from the enthusiastically eccentric to the dangerously apathetic. Here, the nobly lazy can eschew responsibility in favor of nursing their esoteric obsessions. The locals include a backseat philosopher who passionately expounds on his dream theories to a seemingly comatose cabbie, a young woman who tries to hawk Madonna's Pap test to anyone who will listen and a kindly old anarchist looking for recruits.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNight on Earth (1991)
A quintet of cabbies in five cities and their remarkable fares on the same eventful night.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisShort Cuts (1993)
Many loosely connected characters cross paths in this film, based on the stories of Raymond Carver. Waitress Doreen Piggot accidentally runs into a boy with her car. Soon after walking away, the child lapses into a coma. While at the hospital, the boy's grandfather tells his son, Howard, about his past affairs. Meanwhile, a baker starts harassing the family when they fail to pick up the boy's birthday cake.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDown by Law (1986)
A disc jockey, a pimp and an Italian tourist escape from jail in New Orleans.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCoffee and Cigarettes (2004)
An anthology of eleven vignettes featuring star-studded casts of extremely unique individuals who all share the common activities of conversing while drinking coffee and smoking cigarettes.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Decline of the American Empire (1986)
Four very different Montreal university teachers gather at a rambling country house to prepare a dinner. Remy (married), Claude (a homosexual), Pierre (involved with a girlfriend) and Alain (a bachelor) discuss sex, the female body and their affairs with them. Meanwhile, their four female guests, Louise (Remy's wife of 15 years), Dominique (a spinster), Diane (a divorcée) and Danielle (Pierre's girlfriend) are spending the time at a downtown health gym. They also discuss sex, the female body and, naturally, men. Later in the evening, they finally meet at the country house and have dinner. A ninth guest, named Mario, who used to know Diane, drops in on the group for some talk and has a surprise of his own.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like this8 ½ Women (1999)
After his wife dies, middle-aged businessman Philip Emmenthal, at the prompting of his playboy son Storey, populates his Geneva villa with eight-and-a-half concubines. Three are from Kyoto, where Storey manages Pachinco palaces. Each has a distinctive personality: a nun, a child bearer, a gambler, a student of Kabuki, a horsewoman with a pet pig, a maid. As a year passes, the women begin asserting their own power.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & comedy
SnoozefestMovies like thisLéolo (1992)
The story of an imaginative boy who pretends he is the child of a sperm-laden Sicilian tomato upon which his mother accidentally fell.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisStranger Than Paradise (1984)
New York layabout Willie forms an unexpected bond with his young Hungarian cousin Eva when she pays him a surprise visit. Later, Eva moves in with their aunt in Cleveland, and Willie takes his best friend Eddie to see her—a visit that culminates in a strange, eventful trip to Florida.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · 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: Fans watch both · both comedy & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisMaelström (2000)
A young woman's life spirals into chaos after she is involved in a hit-and-run accident. Then she encounters a mysterious man named Evian who offers her an opportunity for redemption. Narrated by a fish.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMystery Train (1989)
In Memphis, Tennessee, over the course of a single night, the Arcade Hotel, run by an eccentric night clerk and a clueless bellboy, is visited by a young Japanese couple traveling in search of the roots of rock; an Italian woman in mourning who stumbles upon a fleeing charlatan girl; and a comical trio of accidental thieves looking for a place to hide.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBagdad Cafe (1987)
A German woman named Jasmin stumbles upon a dilapidated motel/diner in the middle of nowhere. Her unusual appearance and demeanor are at first suspicious to Brenda, the exasperated owner who has difficulty making ends meet. But when an unlikely magic sparks between the two women, this lonely desert outpost is transformed into a thriving and popular oasis.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisNext Floor (2008)
During an opulent and luxurious banquet, complete with hordes of servers and valets, eleven pampered guests participate in what appears to be a ritualistic gastronomic carnage. In this absurd and grotesque universe, an unexpected sequence of events destabilizes the endless symphony of abundance.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisTales of Erotica (1996)
Four erotic short films, all with similar unexpected endings: 'The Dutch Master': a woman who enters a living painting; 'The Insatiable Mrs. Kirsch': a woman is lured by noises from a chamber; 'Vroom Vroom Vroooom': a motorcycle transforms into a woman; and 'Wet': a hot tub salesman seduced by a woman.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & drama
Dream with the Fishes (1997)
Terry is a suicidal voyeur who treats a dying addict to a final binge, but Terry will only do this if he promises to kill him.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & drama
Dance with Him (2007)
Three years after simultaneously parting with a philanderer husband and experiencing a dramatic fall during a horse jumping contest, Alexandra Balzan, a Parisian architect, regains an appetite for life and love after a chance encounter with an aging misanthrope of a master horseman and his horse
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAll About Nina (2018)
Nina Geld's passion and talent have made her a rising star in the comedy scene, but she's an emotional mess offstage. When a new professional opportunity coincides with a romantic one, she is forced to confront her own deeply troubled past.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisAll About Actresses (2009)
A director wants to make a documentary about actresses, all actresses: the popular ones, the unknown ones, the intellectuals, the comedians, the forgotten ones... Filming everything, with or without their consent, the director gets caught up in the game and lets herself be devoured by these women, who are as fragile as they are manipulative.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisJeune Femme (2017)
Broke, with nothing but her cat to her name and doors closing in her face, Paula is back in Paris after a long absence. As she meets different people along the way, there is one thing she knows for sure: she's determined to make a new start and she'll do it with style and panache.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisMaestro (2014)
Henry, a young actor, finds himself involved in a film by cinema superstar, Cédric Rovere. Charmed by his benevolence, feelings hitherto unknown are aroused, while Rovere, intrigued by Henry's dream, lives this shoot as an unexpected gift.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWilly the 1st (2016)
Willy, a boorish 50 something, finally moves out of his parents’ to start a new life
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisKing of the Belgians (2016)
The King of the Belgians is on a state visit in Istanbul when his country falls apart. He must return home at once to save his kingdom. But a solar storm causes airspace and communications to shut down. No planes. No phones. With the help of a British filmmaker and a troupe of Bulgarian folk singers, the King and his entourage manage to escape over the border. Incognito. Thus begins an odyssey across the Balkans during which the King discovers the real world - and himself.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies 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 thisTo Each His Own Cinema (2007)
Commissioned to mark the 60th anniversary of the Cannes Film Festival, "To Each His Own Cinema" brought together 33 of the world's pre-eminent filmmakers to produce short pieces exploring the multifarious facets of cinema and their perspective on the state of their chosen artform in the early 21st century.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLulu in the Nude (2013)
After a job interview gone wrong, Lulu sets sail leaving her husband and three children behind. But being an adventurer is easier said than done.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSex Is Comedy (2002)
A director struggles with a difficult sex scene between a young actor and actress who can't stand one another. Aided by her loyal assistant, she is hell-bent on getting the scene right without compromise.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisNew Biz in the Hood (2019)
Fred Bartel is the charismatic boss of a trendy Parisian communication agency, Happy Few. After a heated tax audit, he was forced by the administration to relocate overnight his company in La Courneuve. Fred and his team meet Samy, a young suburb who will quickly propose to teach them the rules and practices to adopt in this new environment.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
SnoozefestMovies like this10,000 Saints (2015)
A sweeping multigenerational story set against the backdrop of the raw, roaring New York City of the late 1980s; adoption, teen pregnancy, drugs, hardcore punk rock, the unbridled optimism and reckless stupidity of the young—and old—are all major elements in this heart-aching tale of the son of diehard hippies and his strange odyssey through the extremes of late 20th century youth culture.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
Like Cosmos and something else?
Blend two favourites and we’ll find the films in between.
Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Cosmos?
The closest matches to Cosmos are Universal Language (2024), Slacker (1990) and Night on Earth (1991). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Cosmos?
People who watched Cosmos most often go on to Universal Language (2024), Slacker (1990) and Night on Earth (1991).
What is the highest-rated movie like Cosmos?
Night on Earth (1991), rated 7.5/10 by 1,109 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Cosmos?
Universal Language (2024) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there French movies like Cosmos?
Yes: Universal Language (2024), The Decline of the American Empire (1986) and Léolo (1992).
How are movies similar to Cosmos chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Cosmos, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.