Movies like El Cumpleaños (2026)
The best movies like El Cumpleaños (2026) are You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger (2010), A California Christmas (2020) and Peace, Love & Misunderstanding (2011). If El Cumpleaños 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 ratedThe Apartment (1960)8.2/10 from 2,838 votes
- NewestThe Wrong Paris (2025)Released 2025
- In SpanishThe Journey (1992)Also in Spanish
You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger (2010)
Two married couples find only trouble and heartache as their complicated lives unfold. After 40 years of marriage, Alfie leaves his wife to pursue what he thinks is happiness with a call girl. His wife, Helena, reeling from abandonment, decides to follow the advice of a psychic. Sally, the daughter of Alfie and Helena, is unhappy in her marriage and develops a crush on her boss, while her husband, Roy, falls for a woman engaged to be married.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisA California Christmas (2020)
With his carefree lifestyle on the line, a wealthy charmer poses as a ranch hand to get a hardworking farmer to sell her family’s land before Christmas.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPeace, Love & Misunderstanding (2011)
A conservative lawyer named Diane takes her two teenage children Jake and Zoe to meet their estranged, hippie grandmother in Woodstock after her husband asks for a divorce.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisFools Rush In (1997)
After a one night stand with Alex, Isabel realizes that she is pregnant and they decide to get married. However, along with the marriage comes compromise of one's own cultural traditions.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisL.A. Without a Map (1999)
An aspiring Hollywood actress, on a visit to a charming North England town, has a brief fling with the town undertaker, who also writes obituaries for the local paper. Returning home, where she works as a waitress at a Japanese restaurant, she tells everyone about the handsome "writer" she met on her trip. Unfortunately, he decides to follow her back to Hollywood, setting up the expected light romantic comedy with asides as the newcomer gains experience about the goings on in Hollywood.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & comedy
SnoozefestMovies like thisHe Said, She Said (1991)
Womanising, right-wing Dan Hanson and quiet, liberal Lorie Bryer work for the Baltimore Sun. Rivals for the job of new writer of a vacant column, the paper ends up instead printing their very different opinions alongside each other, which leads to a similarly combative local TV show. At the same time their initial indifference to each other looks like it may evolve into something more romantic.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisA California Christmas: City Lights (2021)
Follows Callie and Joseph one year after they fell in love, now running a dairy farm and winery, but their romance is threatened when business and family obligations call Joseph back to the city.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSidewalks of New York (2001)
The film follows the marital and dating lives of three men and three women who unknowingly form a tangled web of relationships. Interspersing "man on the street" interviews with scenes from the six characters' lives, the film weaves a humorous and biting commentary on the game of love -- easy to start, hard to finish.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Baltimorons (2025)
A newly sober man's Christmas Eve dental emergency leads to an unexpected romance with his older dentist as they explore Baltimore together.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWhich Brings Me to You (2023)
Two romantic burnouts, Jane and Will, are immediately drawn to each other at a mutual friend’s wedding. After a disastrous hookup in the coatroom, the two spend the next 24 hours together, trading candid confessions of messy histories and heartbreak, on the off chance that this fling might be the real thing.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Apartment (1960)
Bud Baxter is a minor clerk in a huge New York insurance company, until he discovers a quick way to climb the corporate ladder. He lends out his apartment to the executives as a place to take their mistresses. Although he often has to deal with the aftermath of their visits, one night he's left with a major problem to solve.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisChéri (2009)
The son of a courtesan retreats into a fantasy world after being forced to end his relationship with the older woman who educated him in the ways of love.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFather of the Bride (2022)
A father comes to grips with his daughter’s upcoming wedding through the prism of multiple relationships within a big, sprawling Cuban-American family.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMadame (2017)
Anne and Bob, a well-to-do American couple, have just moved to a beautiful manor house in romantic Paris. To impress their sophisticated friends, they decide to host a lavish dinner party, but must disguise their maid as a noblewoman to even out the number of guests. When the maid runs off with a wealthy guest, Anne must chase her around Paris to thwart the joyous and unexpected love affair.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & comedy
SnoozefestMovies like thisShag (1989)
Summer of 1963. Carson is getting married to her boyfriend so her friends Melaina, Pudge and Luanne take her to Myrtle Beach for one last irresponsible weekend.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisI Met a Girl (2020)
An aspiring musician struggling with schizophrenia falls for a mysterious woman who may be all in his head. When she suddenly vanishes, he takes off on a cross-country journey across Australia to find her, forcing his long-suffering brother to chase after him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like this200 Cigarettes (1999)
In 1981 New York City, a collection of twentysomethings try to cope with relationships, loneliness, desire and their individual neuroses on New Years Eve.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Seven Year Hitch (2012)
Jennifer and Kevin are childhood best friends who have lived together, platonically, as adults for many years. When Jennifer decides to marry her cheating, manipulative boyfriend, Bryce Kevin has to stop the wedding to protect her from making, what he believes is, a terrible mistake. With a little help from his brother and neighbor Kevin discovers that he and Jennifer are already legally married due to common law, having lived together for seven years and, as such, Jennifer can not marry Bryce.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Wrong Paris (2025)
Dawn thinks she's joining a dating show in Paris, France, only to land in Paris, Texas. She has an exit plan — until sparks fly with the cowboy bachelor.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Right Kind of Wrong (2013)
A stubborn idealist spies a bride on her way to her wedding and immediately falls in love with her.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & comedy
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Journey (1992)
A young man living in a cold southern village in South America, decides to start a trip looking for his father. By doing this he discovers unexpected facts about his Latin American essence.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Herbie Goes Bananas (1980)
The adorable little VW helps its owners break up a counterfeiting ring in Mexico.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
SnoozefestMovies like thisGuns of the Magnificent Seven (1969)
When Mexican revolutionary leader Quintero is left to rot in jail by the forces of President Diaz, it's up to his subordinate, Max, to bust him out. With $600 in hand, he crosses the border into America and hires Chris Adams, a mercenary of considerable skill, who uses the rest of the cash on more hired guns. After the team is rounded out by experts on close-combat fighting, explosives, and knife-throwing, they set off to free Quintero.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisInhale (2010)
A couple goes to dangerous lengths to find a lung donor for their daughter.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Children of Sanchez (1978)
Hall Bartlett directs the rural drama The Children of Sanchez, based on the tome The Children of Sanchez: Autobiography of a Mexican Family written by Oscar Lewis in the '60s. Anthony Quinn stars as the widowed Jesus Sanchez, a poor farmer struggling to provide for his family in Mexico City. Also starring Lupita Ferrer as Consuelo and Stathis Giallelis as Roberto. This is the last film in the 50-year career of international star Dolores del Rio, who plays the Grandma. Jazz-pop performer Chuck Mangione was nominated for a Golden Globe and won a Grammy award for his original musical score.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Santa Claus (1959)
Pitch, the mean-spirited devil, is trying to ruin Christmas. Santa Claus teams up with Merlin the Magician and the children of the world in order to save the day!
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisVacation Friends (2021)
When a straight-laced couple that has fun with a rowdy couple on vacation in Mexico return to the States, they discover that the crazy couple they met in Mexico followed them back home and decide to play tricks on them.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisButterfly Tale (2023)
A pair of rival butterflies form an unlikely friendship.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
Pegando con tubo (1961)
Developmentally-challenged guy and is caretaker get drafted into he police force and take part in the manhunt for a bank robber.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like El Cumpleaños?
The closest matches to El Cumpleaños are You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger (2010), A California Christmas (2020) and Peace, Love & Misunderstanding (2011). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after El Cumpleaños?
Start with You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger (2010), the closest match to El Cumpleaños.
What is the highest-rated movie like El Cumpleaños?
The Apartment (1960), rated 8.2/10 by 2,838 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like El Cumpleaños?
The Wrong Paris (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Spanish movies like El Cumpleaños?
Yes: The Journey (1992), Santa Claus (1959) and Beloved Mother (1935).
How are movies similar to El Cumpleaños chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside El Cumpleaños, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.