Movies like The Ballad of Hortensia (2024)
The best movies like The Ballad of Hortensia (2024) are Being John Malkovich (1999), The People's Joker (2024) and Skins (2017). If The Ballad of Hortensia hooked you with its comedy and fantasy, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedOut of the Clear Blue Sky (2019)8.3/10 from 397 votes
- NewestLadies First (2026)Released 2026
- In SpanishSkins (2017)Also in Spanish
Being John Malkovich (1999)
One day at work, unsuccessful puppeteer Craig finds a portal into the head of actor John Malkovich. The portal soon becomes a passion for anybody who enters its mad and controlling world of overtaking another human body.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe People's Joker (2024)
An aspiring clown grappling with her gender identity combats a fascistic caped crusader.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSkins (2017)
In a strange world where people share numerous deformities, the same problem we all face challenges each of them: to find someone who accepts you as you are. Sometimes, that means finding yourself first.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAfterlife of the Party (2021)
A social butterfly who dies during her birthday week is given a second chance to right her wrongs on Earth.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTransamerica (2005)
A transgender woman takes an unexpected journey when she learns that she had a son, now a teenage runaway hustling on the streets of New York.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisFreaky Friday (2003)
Mother and daughter bicker over everything -- what Anna wears, whom she likes and what she wants to do when she's older. In turn, Anna detests Tess's fiancé. When a magical fortune cookie switches their personalities, they each get a peek at how the other person feels, thinks and lives.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Hot Chick (2002)
Not only is Jessica Spencer the most popular girl in school -- she is also the meanest. But things change for the attractive teen when a freak accident involving a cursed pair of earrings and a chance encounter at a gas station causes her to switch bodies with Clive, a sleazy crook. Jessica, in the form of the repulsive Clive, struggles to adjust to this radical alteration and sets out to get her own body back before the upcoming prom.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWish Upon a Star (1996)
A younger sister wishes to switch places with her popular older sister and the two bickering siblings awaken to find the wish has come true.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFreaky Friday (1976)
School girl Annabel is hassled by her mother, and Mrs. Andrews is annoyed with her daughter, Annabel. They both think that the other has an easy life. On a normal Friday morning, both complain about each other and wish they could have the easy life of their daughter/mother for just one day and their wishes come true as a bit of magic puts Annabel in Mrs. Andrews' body and vice versa. They both have a Freaky Friday.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Different Man (2024)
Aspiring actor Edward undergoes a radical medical procedure to drastically transform his appearance. But his new dream face quickly turns into a nightmare.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Pretty One (2014)
When her idolized twin sister Audrey dies in a car accident, Laurel decides to take her place. But, as she eases into the life she has always wanted, she must decide between continuing the lie or revealing herself.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSwitch (1991)
Steve Brooks, a sexist womanizer, is killed by a group of his angry former lovers. In heaven, he makes a bargain with God for redemption and agrees to return to Earth. Once there, he must have a sincere relationship with a female and make her fall in love with him. If not, Steve's soul will become the property of the devil. But the devil hedges his bet, and Steve is reincarnated as a woman named Amanda Brooks.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy & comedy
SnoozefestMovies like thisLadies First (2026)
An arrogant but charismatic ladies' man finds his life of money, power and casual flings upended when he wakes up in a parallel world dominated by women.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & fantasy
SnoozefestMovies like thisFaults (2014)
Claire is under the grip of a mysterious new cult called Faults. Desperate to be reunited with their daughter, Claire's parents recruit one of the world's foremost experts on mind control, Ansel Roth.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWeird Science (1985)
Two unpopular teenagers, Gary and Wyatt, fail at all attempts to be accepted by their peers. Their desperation to be liked leads them to "create" a woman via their computer. Their living and breathing creation is a gorgeous woman, Lisa, whose purpose is to boost their confidence level by putting them into situations which require Gary and Wyatt to act like men.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFreakier Friday (2025)
Years after Tess and Anna endured an identity crisis, Anna now has a daughter of her own and a soon-to-be stepdaughter. As they navigate the myriad challenges that come when two families merge, Tess and Anna discover lightning might indeed strike twice.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisKajillionaire (2020)
Two con artists have spent 26 years training their only daughter to swindle, scam and steal at every turn. During a desperate and hastily conceived heist, they charm a stranger into joining them, only to have their entire world turned upside down.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOut of the Clear Blue Sky (2019)
Returning to Earth as an imitator, the legendary Mexican artist Pedro Infante must prove that he is no longer a womanizer to enter paradise.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisA Man Called Otto (2022)
When a lively young family moves in next door, grumpy widower Otto Anderson meets his match in a quick-witted, pregnant woman named Marisol, leading to an unlikely friendship that turns his world upside down.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLymelife (2008)
A coming of age dramedy where infidelity, real estate, and Lyme disease have two families falling apart on Long Island in the early eighties. Scott, 15, is at the point in his life when he finds out that the most important people around him, his father, his mother, and his brother, are not exactly who he thought they were. They are flawed and they are human.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like this18 Again! (1988)
81-year-old millionaire Jack Watson switches bodies with his 18-year-old grandson David, leading the two to experience life on opposite ends of the age spectrum. But when David, trapped in Jack's aged body, ends up in a coma, his grandfather must use his meager knowledge of the youth to prevent his family from pulling the plug.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both fantasy & comedy
SnoozefestMovies like thisThis Year's Love (1999)
A group of thirtysomethings flit around Camden Town swapping partners in search of love, lust and life.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & comedy
Kenneth Williams: Fantabulosa! (2006)
Kenneth Williams was the star of the Carry Ons and Round the Horne. Despite his fame, he led a life full of mental torture as he tried to overcome his homosexuality in 1950s Britain. This film follows his life and eventual death based on the many diaries he kept
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy & drama
Dissertation Station (2015)
Ms Norris meets with students, goes a little batty, has dinner with her boyfriend, and revelations ensue.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy & drama
Lee Evans: Monsters (2014)
The legend of comedy returns in 2014 with his biggest and funniest show yet. Monsters is the frightening funny new Live DVD from one of the biggest names in British comedy filmed during his ambitious 2014 tour. Lee’s manic energy, uncanny observations, hilarious delivery and side-splitting material have made his live performances a must-see for comedy fans worldwide and Monsters sees Lee back doing what he does best live on stage, proving once again why he is a record-breaking comic and one of the nation’s best! "The must see comedy event of the autumn" ***** - Daily Telegraph "Stand-up doesn't get much bigger" - Evening Standard
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
Old Narcissus (2023)
74-year-old Yamazaki, having been handsome as a young gay man, grows narcissistic of his beauty and is unable to bear his own aging. One night, Yamazaki meets a young and beautiful man named Leo. Having loved only himself during his long tumultuous life, Yamazaki falls in love with another person. Through this love, he finally begins to forge the relationships he failed to carve during his youth with his friends and family.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Jon Richardson: Take My Mother-in-Law (2022)
Jon Richardson takes his mother-in-law Gill on a retirement road trip to Spain to find her a perfect home - that isn't his in Yorkshire! But there's one problem: Gill wants to grow old disgracefully!
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
Hot Road (2014)
Teenager Kazuki Miyaichi has always felt unloved by her mother due the circumstances surrounding her birth. Because she harbors anxiety and perceives herself as being worthless to others, she engages in acts of juvenile delinquency. One day, a transfer student from Yokohama named Eri introduces her to Hiroshi Haruyama, a reckless youth who’s a member of the “Nights” motorcycle gang. Kazuki finds herself increasingly drawn to Hiroshi over time, but he soon becomes leader of the Nights and gets caught up in a conflict with a rival gang.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
A Delicate Balance (1973)
In their finely appointed Connecticut home, Agnes and Tobias have grown used to the imperfection and fragility of their marriage. Quietly nursing their grief over the death of their son, they get by well enough together. Agnes' boozy sister wanders in and out, and they allow anxiety-stricken friends to move into an upstairs room. But, when their daughter, Julia, shows up announcing her fourth divorce, long-repressed emotions come to the surface.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
A Fool There Was (1915)
John Schuyler, a happily married lawyer, is appointed diplomat and sent to England. Due to an unfortunate accident, his wife and child can not come along with him. On the ship to England, Schuyler meets the notorious Vampire - a relentless gold digger who causes the moral degradation of those she seduces, first fascinating and then draining the very life from her victims.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Ballad of Hortensia?
The closest matches to The Ballad of Hortensia are Being John Malkovich (1999), The People's Joker (2024) and Skins (2017). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Ballad of Hortensia?
Start with Being John Malkovich (1999), the closest match to The Ballad of Hortensia.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Ballad of Hortensia?
Out of the Clear Blue Sky (2019), rated 8.3/10 by 397 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Ballad of Hortensia?
Ladies First (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Spanish movies like The Ballad of Hortensia?
Yes: Skins (2017) and Out of the Clear Blue Sky (2019).
How are movies similar to The Ballad of Hortensia chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Ballad of Hortensia, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.