Movies like Play (2025)
The best movies like Play (2025) are Picnic on the Grass (1959), Tromeo & Juliet (1996) and Butterflies Are Free (1972). If Play hooked you with its comedy and romance, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedLouis C.K.: Oh My God (2013)7.6/10 from 228 votes
- NewestBalls Up (2026)Released 2026
- In FrenchPicnic on the Grass (1959)Also in French
Picnic on the Grass (1959)
New Europe presidential candidate Etienne Alexis is a scientist promoting artificial insemination for social betterment and therapy to eliminate passion. To celebrate his engagement to a cousin, he hosts an aseptic picnic, where Mother Nature asserts herself. A shepherd's flute conjures a windstorm throwing Alexis together with the luscious Nénette, a farm lass who, although unimpressed with men, wants to have a baby.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTromeo & Juliet (1996)
All the body-piercing, kinky sex, and car crashes that Shakespeare wanted but never had! Join Tromeo and Juliet as they travel through Manhattan's underground in search of climactic love, violence and the American Way.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisButterflies Are Free (1972)
Striving to be independent, the blind but determined Don Baker moves away from his overprotective mother. After settling into his new San Francisco digs, Don meets kooky neighbor Jill Tanner. Don's quick wit and good looks disarm the free-spirited Jill, and before long they're more than just friends. Will Mrs. Baker's incessant meddling destroy Don and Jill's budding relationship?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSocial Animals (2018)
Determined not to turn into her parents, or be drawn into any relationship longer than a one night stand, Zoe constantly struggles with her failing business and love life. Then she falls in love for the first time with Paul. But there's one problem: Paul is married.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisClerks (1994)
Convenience and video store clerks Dante and Randal are sharp-witted, potty-mouthed and bored out of their minds. So in between needling customers, the counter jockeys play hockey on the roof, visit a funeral home and deal with their love lives.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAccident Man (2018)
Mike Fallon, the Accident Man, is a stone cold killer. When a loved one is murdered by his own crew, Fallon is forced to avenge the one person who actually meant something to him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPretty Persuasion (2005)
A 15-year-old girl incites chaos among her friends and a media frenzy when she accuses her drama teacher of sexual harassment.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
SnoozefestMovies like thisRicky Gervais: Mortality (2025)
Ricky Gervais tackles life, death and the state of the world in a brutally honest special that spares no topic, even his own mortality.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHard to Die (1990)
While doing the inventory for a lingerie outlet in a high rise office building, five attractive women are terrorized by a series of bizarre killings. They suspect that the strange janitor, who witnessed another series of killings six months previously, is at the bottom of the whole thing. Little do they know the real horror that they face in the end.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBarbecue (2014)
On his 50th birthday, a man who's been watching his weight, health and temper all his life suffers a heart attack. He's been doing everything he was told he should do and it still didn't help. He decides to turn the page and let loose.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
SnoozefestMovies like thisAll About the Benjamins (2002)
Bounty hunter Bucum Jackson teams with the small-time con artist, Reggie Wright, that he is pursuing, in an attempt to locate a missing stash of diamonds and a lottery ticket worth millions of dollars. Bucum and Reggie find themselves in a race to the finish as they embark on an unlikely partnership that should -- when all is said and done -- prove beneficial to them both.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
SnoozefestMovies like thisBill Burr: Drop Dead Years (2025)
In what might be his most personal and introspective hour yet, Bill offers hilarious takes on everything from male sadness to dating advice.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisRicky Gervais: Armageddon (2023)
Ricky Gervais dishes out controversial takes on political correctness and oversensitivity in a taboo-busting comedy special about the end of humanity.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLouis C.K.: Oh My God (2013)
Filmed at the Celebrity Theatre in Phoenix, AZ on February 15th and 16th, 2013, Oh My God is Louis C.K.'s fifth stand-up special, his first for HBO since 2007's Shameless, and his first since winning a Emmy Award for writing on his acclaimed show on FX, Louie. Performed in the round in front of a live audience, he discusses such topics as the food chain, animals, divorce, strange anecdotes, broken morality, murder and mortality.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWeekend (1967)
A supposedly idyllic weekend trip to the countryside turns into a never-ending nightmare of traffic jams, revolution, cannibalism and murder as French bourgeois society starts to collapse under the weight of its own consumer preoccupations.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBalls Up (2026)
Two marketing executives go "balls out" and pitch a bold full‑coverage condom sponsorship with the World Cup. After their drunken celebration in Brazil sparks a global scandal, they must outrun furious fans, criminals, and power-hungry officials to salvage their careers and make it home alive.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
SnoozefestMovies like thisRound Da Way (2009)
It’s summer in the hood. As every year, there are those who stay, those who leave, and... those who should have left. Some, like Joe Hustleton, work «under the table» in the rich neighborhoods and fall head over heels for a pretty girl. Some, like Tony Pepperoni, play businessman and spend the summer fleeing a local gang leader and a psychopathic girlfriend. Some, like Sammy and Harvey, pretend to have left. Tropics are far for the homies... and summer promises to be very hot!
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like this68 Kill (2017)
Chip's problem is that he can't say no to beautiful women. This weakness gets him into a world of trouble when he agrees to help his girlfriend steal $68,000.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
SnoozefestMovies like thisShowdown in Little Tokyo (1991)
An American with a Japanese upbringing, Chris Kenner is a police officer assigned to the Little Tokyo section of Los Angeles. Kenner is partnered with Johnny Murata, a Japanese-American who isn't in touch with his roots. Despite their differences, both men excel at martial arts, and utilize their formidable skills when they go up against Yoshida, a vicious yakuza drug dealer with ties to Kenner's past.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAccident Man: Hitman's Holiday (2022)
The Accident Man is back, and this time he must best the top assassins in the world to protect the ungrateful son of a mafia boss, save the life of his only friend and rekindle his relationship with his maniacal father figure.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHeart and Souls (1993)
A fateful night in 1959, four people die when the bus they are riding crashes. They continue as ghosts; their souls become eternally entwined to the life of a child born at the moment of their deaths as his guardians. Baby Thomas grows up to be a businessman who has memories of his playmates, but assumes they are products of his youthful imagination. When the ghosts realize they need Thomas' help to move on to the afterlife, they decide to make an appearance once more.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Nutty Professor (1996)
When beautiful Carla Purty joins the university faculty, genetic professor Dr. Sherman Klump grows desperate to whittle his 400-pound frame down to size and win her heart. So, with one swig of his experimental fat-reducing serum, Sherman becomes 'Buddy Love', a fast-talking, pumped-up, plumped down Don Juan.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy & romance
SnoozefestMovies like thisI Love You Phillip Morris (2010)
Steven Russell leads a seemingly average life – an organ player in the local church, happily married to Debbie, and a member of the local police force. That is until he has a severe car accident that leads him to the ultimate epiphany: he’s gay and he’s going to live life to the fullest – even if he has to break the law to do it. Taking on an extravagant lifestyle, Steven turns to cons and fraud to make ends meet and is eventually sent to the State Penitentiary where he meets the love of his life, a sensitive, soft-spoken man named Phillip Morris. His devotion to freeing Phillip from jail and building the perfect life together prompts him to attempt (and often succeed at) one impossible con after another.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisJeffrey (1995)
Jeffrey, a gay man living in New York City with an overwhelming fear of contracting AIDS, concludes that being celibate is the only option to protect himself. As fate would have it, shortly after his declaration of a sex-free existence, he meets the handsome Steve Howard, his dream man -- except for his HIV-positive status. Facing this dilemma, Jeffrey turns to his best friend and an outrageous priest for guidance.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisShe's Dating the Gangster (2014)
Seventeen-year-old Athena Dizon unwittingly plays a trick on resident heartthrob and bad boy Kenji de los Reyes. All of a sudden, she finds herself pretending to be his girlfriend to make an ex jealous; however, she falls in love with him.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both romance & comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBeach-O (2025)
This 16mm short film is an homage to the campy beach movies of the 1960s, set within a late 90s time capsule. Shot in 1998 and completed in 2025, the music-driven film features performances by DC and Boston indie rock legends The Make Up, Victory At Sea, and The Wicked Farleys. The film follows Greg and Lesley as they enjoy a summer’s day at the beach. After they befriend a group of locals, their day takes an unexpected turn when everyone gets hungry…
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
Footlong (2002)
A documentary about the social impact of the hot dog on American Culture. Follow the crew as they travel across the country to explore the many facets of hot dog culture. 'To understand a bike, you look at the wheels. To understand a wall, you look at each brick. And to understand America, you must look at the hot dog."
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
Just Looking (1995)
An architect becomes a voyeur when he spies upon his female neighbor.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
Caro diario (1993)
Nanni Moretti recounts in his diary three slice-of-life stories marked by a dry, ironic gaze: in the first, he rides his Vespa through a deserted, sun-drenched summertime Rome; in the second, he visits a reclusive friend on an island, who ropes him into an impromptu journey between islets in search of quiet; and in the last, he finds himself grappling with an unknown illness.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBe Kind Rewind (2008)
A man whose brain becomes magnetized unintentionally destroys every tape in his friend's video store. In order to satisfy the store's most loyal renter, an aging woman with signs of dementia, the two men set out to remake the lost films.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Play?
The closest matches to Play are Picnic on the Grass (1959), Tromeo & Juliet (1996) and Butterflies Are Free (1972). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Play?
Start with Picnic on the Grass (1959), the closest match to Play.
What is the highest-rated movie like Play?
Louis C.K.: Oh My God (2013), rated 7.6/10 by 228 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Play?
Balls Up (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there French movies like Play?
Yes: Picnic on the Grass (1959), Barbecue (2014) and Weekend (1967).
How are movies similar to Play chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Play, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.