Movies like Merits (2025)
The best movies like Merits (2025) are Real Women Have Curves (2002), Fat Kid Rules The World (2012) and The House of Tomorrow (2019). If Merits hooked you with its drama and comedy, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedAparajito (1956)7.8/10 from 310 votes
- NewestDriver's Ed (2026)Released 2026
Real 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 thisFat Kid Rules The World (2012)
A dropout comes to the aid of a chubby and suicidal high-school kid by recruiting him as the drummer for his upstart punk-rock band.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe House of Tomorrow (2019)
The film tells futurist, architect, and inventor R. Buckminster Fuller's incredible story through two teens hoping to get laid, become punk gods, and survive high school.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSubUrbia (1997)
A group of suburban teenagers try to support each other through the difficult task of becoming adults.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies 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: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisLandline (2017)
A teenager living with her sister and parents in Manhattan during the 1990s discovers that her father is having an affair.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFamily Weekend (2013)
A 16-year-old girl takes her parents hostage after they miss her big jump-roping competition.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTreasure (2024)
A music journalist accompanies her father, a charmingly stubborn Holocaust survivor, on a journey to his homeland. While she's eager to make sense of her family's past, her dad has an agenda of his own.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAbout Alex (2014)
When a group of old college friends reunite over a long weekend after one of them attempts suicide, old crushes and resentments shine light on their life decisions, and ultimately push friendships and relationships to the brink.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisJuniper (2021)
When a self-destructive teenager is suspended from school and asked to look after his feisty alcoholic grandmother as a punishment, the crazy time they spend together turns his life around.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSchool Dance (2014)
High schooler Jason has found his dream girl—the gorgeous Anastacia. There’s just one problem: she doesn’t know he exists. If he can win a spot on the school’s hottest dance crew, Jason might have a shot. But before he does, he’ll have to overcome his battle-ax of a mother, survive Anastacia’s gangsta brother, and pass the crew’s initiation—in this fresh, sexy, and outrageously funny comedy.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCode 3 (2025)
A burned-out paramedic tries to survive his last 24 hours on the job while training a new recruit.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisClass Act (1992)
Duncan is a genius straight A student, Blade is ajuvenile delinquent. But because of a mix up with their school records, everyone thinks each is the other one. Now, Duncan kind of likes the attention from being thought of as a real bad dude, if only the school bully would stop trying to rough him up. And Blade definitely likes being thought of as important instead of as trouble.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisYes, God, Yes (2020)
Alice, a young innocent Catholic girl, is tempted into masturbating after an AOL chat suddenly turns sexual, however is conflicted as the act would be considered a sin.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Clique (2008)
A young girl tries to fit in with a clique of popular middle school girls after moving into the guest house of one of their homes.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Edge of Seventeen (2016)
Two high school girls are best friends until one dates the other's older brother, who is totally his sister's nemesis.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAlmost Friends (2017)
A man in his mid-20s, still living at home with his mother and stepfather, puts all his eggs in one basket: the girl who works at his local coffee shop. The problem is, she has a serious boyfriend. As they become closer, the line between friendship and intimacy is blurred, and the situation forces both to examine where they are in their lives.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies 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 · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAn Irish Goodbye (2022)
In rural Northern Ireland, following the untimely death of their mother, a young man with Down syndrome and his estranged brother discover her unfulfilled bucket list.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDriver's Ed (2026)
A group of teens hit the road in a stolen driver's ed car, racing against time to help a lovesick high school senior track down his college-freshman girlfriend and win her back.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAmerican Graffiti (1973)
A couple of high school graduates spend one final night cruising the strip with their buddies before they go off to college.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisStill Life (2026)
After their son is stillborn at 24 weeks, Jess navigates an unexpected form of motherhood marked by silent milestones and uncomfortable social encounters, while Max struggles to hold their family together through grief.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & comedy
B.Selvi & Daughters (2020)
B. Selvi & Daughters is the story of Selvi, a 50-year old woman in Chennai, India who is trying to get her fledgling online saree store off the ground. Like any Good Indian Mother, Selvi gave up her career aspirations for family life, and left all major decisions to her husband. Now, a year after his death, Selvi has taken her hobby of selling sarees door-to-door to the next level via Whatsapp, and is struggling with the confidence to build it into a real business. When Kavitha - Selvi's fiercely independent, idealistic daughter comes home for Pongal - she discovers her mother's secret with pleasant surprise, and runs an ad for the sari business without consulting her. Now, with close to a hundred orders to fulfill overnight, Selvi is overwhelmed. Can she do this? Is she capable of handling a business on her own? She needs to take the plunge in order to find out.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Shabbat Dinner (2012)
Shabbat Dinner is boring as usual for William Shore. His mother has invited two crazy hippies and their son and is doing her best to show off, his father is drunk and berating their oddball guests, and he doesn't have much in common with their son Virgo. That is, until Virgo tells him that he has just come out as gay.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Somewhat Agree (2004)
Jérémie has a job recruiting subjects for testing. He'd rather recruit Rodrigue for something else entirely.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
Caught Red Handed (2009)
An ambivalent meeting between two friends. Classmates Victor and Amanda meet at a cafe in Stockholm one afternoon before Christmas to study for an exam. Amanda wants to talk about what they read, but Victor steers the conversation into something completely different, and suddenly they both run the risk of losing their face.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Butterflies Do Not Drink Coffee (2009)
Pierre is a very shy man in his sixties, with no family or friends and who just retired. What will he do now?
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Aparajito (1956)
Apu and his family have moved away from the country to live in the bustling holy city of Benares. As he progresses from wide-eyed child to intellectually curious teenager, eventually studying in Kolkata, we witness his academic and moral education, as well as the growing complexity of his relationship with his mother.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisNot Panic (2010)
They go sledging behind a car. They earn extra by fixing the roof of a neighbor's house. They are young and want to fulfill their dreams, but before them an uncertain future prevails. We are there as one of them, equally present, equally absent.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Grandmother's Eye (2010)
A constant motion from a distance all the way into an elderly ladies eye.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Merits?
The closest matches to Merits are Real Women Have Curves (2002), Fat Kid Rules The World (2012) and The House of Tomorrow (2019). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Merits?
Start with Real Women Have Curves (2002), the closest match to Merits.
What is the highest-rated movie like Merits?
Aparajito (1956), rated 7.8/10 by 310 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Merits?
Driver's Ed (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Merits?
Yes: Real Women Have Curves (2002), Fat Kid Rules The World (2012) and The House of Tomorrow (2019).
How are movies similar to Merits chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Merits, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.