Movies like Legal Wife (1986)
The best movies like Legal Wife (1986) are Hounddog (2008), Goal II: Living the Dream (2007) and Fast Girls (2012). If Legal Wife hooked you with its drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedWhat Maisie Knew (2013)7.1/10 from 466 votes
- NewestEleanor the Great (2025)Released 2025
Hounddog (2008)
A drama set in the American South, where a precocious, troubled girl finds a safe haven in the music and movement of Elvis Presley.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGoal II: Living the Dream (2007)
Tempted away from Newcastle United to join Real Madrid, rising star Santiago Munez finds this latest change of fortune the greatest challenge yet - personally as well as professionally. He is reunited with Gavin Harris, though they must compete to be on the team, and estranged from fiancee Roz, whose nursing career keeps her back home.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFast Girls (2012)
A street smart runner develops an intense rivalry with an equally ambitious wealthy young athlete.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAll Day and a Night (2020)
While serving life in prison, a young man looks back at the people, the circumstances and the system that set him on the path toward his crime.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Nest (2020)
Rory is an ambitious entrepreneur who brings his American wife and kids to his native country, England, to explore new business opportunities. After abandoning the sanctuary of their safe American suburban surroundings, the family is plunged into the despair of an archaic '80s Britain and their unaffordable new life in an English manor house threatens to destroy the family.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Pumpkin Eater (1964)
Jo, the mother of seven children, divorces her second husband in order to marry Jake, a successful but promiscuous screenwriter. Though they are physically and emotionally compatible, they are slowly torn apart.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBobby Jones: Stroke of Genius (2004)
The story of golf icon and legend, Bobby Jones, who retired from competition at the tender age of 28.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisJungleland (2020)
Stanley manages his boxer brother Lion but when a devastating loss in the ring leaves the pair in debt, an opportunity to recoup the cash leads to a series of misadventures that threaten to break the bond between them.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Trials of Cate McCall (2013)
In order to be reinstated to the bar and recover custody of her daughter, a hotshot lawyer, now in recovery and on probation, must take on the appeal of a woman wrongfully convicted of murder.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisI Am Elizabeth Smart (2017)
The story of Elizabeth Smart's kidnapping and captivity, as told from her perspective.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisEleanor the Great (2025)
94-year-old Eleanor Morgenstein tries to rebuild her life after the death of her best friend. As a result, she moves back to New York City after living in Florida for decades.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHappy Old Year (2019)
While decluttering her home, a woman's hefty house renovation leads her back to the past when she uncovers her ex-boyfriend's belongings.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWhat Maisie Knew (2013)
In New York City, six-year-old Maisie is caught in the middle of a bitter custody battle between her self-absorbed parents—an aging rock singer mother and a distracted art dealer father. As both quickly marry new partners to strengthen their legal standing, Maisie is shuttled back and forth in an endless game of emotional point-scoring. Yet amid the chaos and upheaval, Maisie begins to find true comfort and affection in her new step-parents.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisO.G. (2018)
Louis Menkins is five weeks away from being released after 26 years in prison. He is faced with the decision to put his own release at risk in order to protect a young man named Beecher from growing gang controversies.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisBastard Out of Carolina (1996)
A poor, struggling South Carolinian mother and daughter face painful choices with their resolve and pride. Bone, the eldest daughter, and Anney her tired mother, grow both closer and farther apart: Anney sees Glen as her last chance.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds (1972)
Middle-aged widow Beatrice Hunsdorfer and her daughters Ruth and Matilda are struggling to survive in a society they barely understand. Beatrice dreams of opening an elegant tea room but does not have the wherewithal to achieve her lofty goal. Epileptic Ruth is a rebellious adolescent, while shy but highly intelligent and idealistic Matilda seeks solace in her pets and school projects, including one designed to show how small amounts of radium affect marigolds.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCome Sunday (2018)
Evangelist Carlton Pearson is ostracized by his church for preaching that there is no Hell.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisMindwalk (1991)
On the French island of Mont Saint-Michel, Jack, a failed presidential candidate, Tom, a poet and Sonia, a physicist, engage in an intellectual conversation about politics, philosophy and life over the course of a single day.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Safety of Objects (2002)
In a suburban landscape, the lives of several families interlace with loss, despair and personal crisis. Esther Gold has lost focus on all but caring for her comatose son, Paul, and neglects her daughter and husband. Lawyer Jim Train is devoted to his career, not his family. Helen Christianson wants to find a new spark in life, while Annette Jennings tries to rebuild hers.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSalomé (2013)
After the lewd and frenetic Dance of the Seven Veils, and with the solemn pledge from the very lips of Herod himself that she could have whatever her heart desires up to half his kingdom, wanton and proud young Salomé comes before her king with an unreasonable demand. Beguiled by John the Baptist, and then scorned for the sake of his god, lascivious Salomé—encouraged by her mother, the vindictive, Herodias—commands that John be executed and his head delivered on a silver platter.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSway (2014)
Three parallel love stories set in three different cities are set against some of the major international events of the last five years, in this ambitious.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Muen and Rid (1994)
The true story of Muen, a Thai woman living in the 1800s under the rule of King Mongkut. At that time, women had no rights. Wives and daughters were bought and sold as if they were cattle. Muen is regarded as being the first Thai woman to stand up for women's rights.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Sininen uni (2012)
A short film about Jami, who have traveled to Pattaya 17 times. This time he takes his son to trip with him.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Plastic Girl (2023)
A young writer finds herself promoting her new book in a televised interview, but things are not what they seem when the interviewer starts to challenge her.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The Scar (2014)
A story of the unrequited love. Kwan's love for Riam grew fonder while her love for him seem to fade as she was taken to Bangkok.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Hong Hoon (2014)
Two people's loved ones die after they get a wax figure shaped like themselves. An investigation into the deaths brings the two together as they seek the truth behind the mystery.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
AI Love You (2022)
A modern love story set in the near future where an AI building is powered by human feelings. Due to a software glitch, it falls in love with a real girl, escapes the building into the body of a real man, and tries to win her affections.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Legend of King Naresuan 3 (2011)
In 1584, at Kraeng, King Naresuan continued the war for the independence of the Ayutthaya Kingdom. The conflict escalated when King Nanda Bayin of the Toungoo dynasty secretly ordered two armies to attack Ayutthaya.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Is Am Are: A Reason to Live For (2013)
3 Short Stories on the lives 3 unrelated ones. WHAT IF: a story about Songyos, an IT guy who thinks he could do anything he wants with his life no matter if it's right or wrong. THE SHADOW: Mali, a mysterious woman who's never realize how happy her life would be. FAY: a hidden secret of a rock star waiting to be uncovered
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The Couple (2014)
A lovelorn man overcomes the pain of splitting with his wife with a newfound love, only for his mother and brother to frustrate his happiness.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Like Legal Wife and something else?
Blend two favourites and we’ll find the films in between.
Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Legal Wife?
The closest matches to Legal Wife are Hounddog (2008), Goal II: Living the Dream (2007) and Fast Girls (2012). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Legal Wife?
Start with Hounddog (2008), the closest match to Legal Wife.
What is the highest-rated movie like Legal Wife?
What Maisie Knew (2013), rated 7.1/10 by 466 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Legal Wife?
Eleanor the Great (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
How are movies similar to Legal Wife chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Legal Wife, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.