Movies like I'll Smile in September
The best movies like I'll Smile in September are What Is a Woman? (2022), Palm Trees and Power Lines (2023) and Fitting In (2024). If I'll Smile in September hooked you, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
I'll Smile in September
Quick picks
- Highest ratedThe Red Pill (2016)7.5/10 from 230 votes
- NewestThe State of Us (2026)Released 2026
What Is a Woman? (2022)
Matt Walsh's controversial doc challenges radical gender ideology through provocative interviews and humor.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
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
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFitting In (2024)
A teenage girl gets diagnosed with a reproductive condition that upends her plans to have sex and propels her into exploring unusual methods to have a sex life, challenging her relationships with everyone in her life, but most importantly, herself.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Last Repair Shop (2024)
In a warehouse in the heart of Los Angeles, a dwindling handful of devoted craftspeople maintain more than 80,000 student musical instruments, the largest remaining workshop in America of its kind. Meet four unforgettable characters whose broken-and-repaired lives have been dedicated to bringing so much more than music to the schoolchildren of this city.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThey'll Love Me When I'm Dead (2018)
As his life comes to its end, famous Hollywood director Orson Welles puts it all on the line at the chance for renewed success with the film The Other Side of the Wind.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDisclosure (2020)
An investigation of how Hollywood's fabled stories have deeply influenced how Americans feel about transgender people, and how transgender people have been taught to feel about themselves.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMiss Representation (2011)
The film MISS REPRESENTATION exposes how American youth are being sold the concept that women and girls’ value lies in their youth, beauty and sexuality. Explores the under-representation of women in positions of power and influence in America, and challenges the media's limited portrayal of what it means to be a powerful woman. It’s time to break that cycle of mistruths.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Red Pill (2016)
When a feminist filmmaker sets out to document the mysterious and polarizing world of the Men’s Rights Movement, she begins to question her own beliefs. Chronicling Cassie Jaye’s journey exploring an alternate perspective on gender equality, power and privilege.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisIn the Soup (1992)
An aspiring young filmmaker gets involved with an eccentric gangster for the financing of his first film.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMy Brilliant Career (1979)
A young woman who is determined to maintain her independence finds herself at odds with her family who wants her to tame her wild side and get married.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNormal (2003)
A Midwestern husband and father announces his plan to have a sex change operation.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBarbie & Chelsea: The Lost Birthday (2021)
Barbie, Chelsea and their family go on a cruise ship for Chelsea's birthday. But when they cross the international date line skipping her birthday, Chelsea escapes to the jungle island to find a fabled wish and get her birthday back.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPrivate Parts (1997)
The life and career of shock-jock superstar Howard Stern is recounted from his humble beginnings to his view from the top. Possessing a desire to be an on-air personality since childhood, Stern meanders through the radio world, always with his supportive wife, Alison, by his side. Landing a gig in Washington, D.C., Stern meets Robin Quivers, who will become his long-time partner in crime. When the two move to New York, they face the wrath of NBC executives.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFrom Straight A's to XXX (2017)
When a change of circumstances leaves Miriam unable to pay her college tuition, she makes a surprising decision: to start performing in adult films, using the pseudonym Belle Knox. Miriam lies to her family and her friends at school, keeping her double life a secret. But soon rumours spread and Miriam becomes the subject of vicious online attacks and unwanted attention. Miriam fights back: she talks to the media, saying her new line of work empowers her as a feminist. But her confident stand has unintended consequences. Miriam is shunned by her conservative family and her colleagues in the adult film world. One impulsive decision has quickly spiralled out of control - and Miriam's problems are just beginning.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisAs I Was Moving Ahead Occasionally I Saw Brief Glimpses of Beauty (2000)
A compilation of over 30 years of private home movie footage shot by Lithuanian-American avant-garde director Jonas Mekas, assembled by Mekas "purely by chance", without concern for chronological order.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisGonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson (2008)
Fueled by a raging libido, Wild Turkey, and superhuman doses of drugs, Thompson was a true "free lance, " goring sacred cows with impunity, hilarity, and a steel-eyed conviction for writing wrongs. Focusing on the good doctor's heyday, 1965 to 1975, the film includes clips of never-before-seen (nor heard) home movies, audiotapes, and passages from unpublished manuscripts.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisInvader Zim: Enter the Florpus (2019)
ZIM discovers his almighty leaders never had any intention of coming to Earth and he loses confidence in himself for the first time in his life, which is the big break his human nemesis, Dib has been waiting for.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisJim & Andy: The Great Beyond - Featuring a Very Special, Contractually Obligated Mention of Tony Clifton (2017)
Through the lens of his stunningly immersive performance as Andy Kaufman, Jim Carrey ponders the meaning of life, reality, identity and career.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBenjamin (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
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOrgasm Inc: The Story of OneTaste (2022)
A sexual wellness company gains fame and followers, then members come forward with shocking allegations.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Wave (2025)
A music student’s testimony ignites a feminist uprising on her campus, where protest becomes performance and collective voice becomes an act of resistance.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Christmas Telethon (2024)
Local TV channel news anchors Nick Roberts and Kelly Snow host the absolute worst holiday telethon to save the network from bankruptcy. The worst talent, the worst acts, a doofus crew, a narcissist weatherman, and its over-the-top station owner, Jon Sampson, create a perfect holiday storm in this Christmas Eve cavalcade comedy.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
The State of Us (2026)
Tearaway Frankie breaks out his best friend Taylor for one final night out. Over a riotous few hours filled with laughter, heartbreak and some home truths, the boys will face the ultimate test.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Zitlover (2000)
The zitlover must acquire cheese in order to feed the hungry boils that drive him. Unfortunately, a Rambo-esque convenience store clerk stands between him and the pus-growing liquid he desires.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
The Bible on Trial (TBA)
Followers of the Bible and its teachings are challenged in a liberal courtroom.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Never Have I Ever (2009)
Charlie Brandis leads a quiet and uneventful life as a wallflower. His parents trust him, his friends like him, girls are indifferent toward him. Then there's the girl he's watched from afar, Annie Briggs, who doesn't even know he exists. Until today. For today, the powers of fate conspire against him when jock friend Gary decides to throw a party at Charlie's house because the Brandis parents are away; a party specifically orchestrated to do one thing, put Charlie and Annie (who is unaware of this plan) together. The wrench comes in the form of Gary's older sister Margot, a girl who Charlie has also loved from afar, and who might be interested in him as well. The question is, when will Charlie stop doing things because other people want him to and take stock in his own situation.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Gate to Heaven (2022)
Robert Sternvall, a German journalist, returns to Artsakh in 2016 to cover the war which has been reignited after a 22-year ceasefire. In the result of his journalistic investigation, Robert meets Sophia, a young opera singer, who happens to be the daughter of missing photojournalist Edgar Martirosyan, whom Robert abandoned in captivity during the fall of the village of Talish in 1992. Robert and Sophia’s frequent rendezvouses ignite a passionate romance...
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Secret Sunshine (2007)
Shin-ae moves to her recently late husband’s hometown. Despite her efforts to settle in this unfamiliar and too-normal place, she finds that she can’t fit in. After a sudden tragedy, Shin-ae turns to Christianity to relieve her pain, but when even this is not permitted, she wages a war against God.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Worth the HypeMovies like thisNo Address (2025)
A group of individuals who unexpectedly fall into homelessness. They bond together as an unconventional family, struggling to survive on the streets while warding off a harassing gang, an unforgiving community, and local authorities.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Nowhere (1997)
In Los Angeles, a colorful assortment of bohemians try to make sense of their intersecting lives. The moody Dark Smith, his bisexual girlfriend, her lesbian lover and their shy gay friend plan on attending the wildest party of the year. But they'll only make it if they can survive the drug trips, suicides, trysts, mutilations and alien abductions that occur as one surreal day unfolds.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like I'll Smile in September?
The closest matches to I'll Smile in September are What Is a Woman? (2022), Palm Trees and Power Lines (2023) and Fitting In (2024). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after I'll Smile in September?
Start with What Is a Woman? (2022), the closest match to I'll Smile in September.
What is the highest-rated movie like I'll Smile in September?
The Red Pill (2016), rated 7.5/10 by 230 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like I'll Smile in September?
The State of Us (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Hindi movies like I'll Smile in September?
The closest matches are in other languages.
How are movies similar to I'll Smile in September chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside I'll Smile in September, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.