Movies like What May Be
The best movies like What May Be are Chéri (2009), The Good House (2021) and Cyrus (2010). If What May Be hooked you with its romance and comedy, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
What May Be
Quick picks
- Highest ratedOn Golden Pond (1981)7.3/10 from 535 votes
- NewestWhy Did I Get Married Again? (2026)Released 2026
Chéri (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 thisThe Good House (2021)
When wry New England realtor Hildy Good rekindles a romance with her old high-school flame, Frank Getchell, it ignites long-buried emotions and family secrets that propel Hildy toward a reckoning with the one person she's been avoiding for decades: herself. Based on the best-selling novel by Ann Leary.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCyrus (2010)
With John's social life at a standstill and his ex-wife about to get remarried, a down on his luck divorcée finally meets the woman of his dreams, only to discover she has another man in her life - her son. Before long, the two are locked in a battle of wits for the woman they both love-and it appears only one man can be left standing when it's over.
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 thisHow to Please a Woman (2022)
When her all-male house-cleaning business gets out of control, a mature woman must embrace her own sexuality, if she is to make a new life for herself.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOnce Around (1991)
A struggling woman finds unexpected love with a charismatic older salesman at a real estate seminar. Their passionate relationship clashes with the values of her family, particularly her father.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHappythankyoumoreplease (2011)
Six New Yorkers navigate love, commitment, and adulthood. When struggling novelist Sam takes in an abandoned boy he meets on the subway, his life begins to intertwine with a talented singer who challenges his bachelor ways. Meanwhile, his best friend Annie battles alopecia while torn between two drastically different men, and a long-term couple faces a crossroads that could alter their future together.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLove & Friendship (2016)
From Jane Austen’s novella, the beautiful and cunning Lady Susan Vernon visits the estate of her in-laws to wait out colorful rumors of her dalliances and to find husbands for herself and her daughter. Two young men, handsome Reginald DeCourcy and wealthy Sir James Martin, severely complicate her plans.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
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 thisWhy Did I Get Married Again? (2026)
The couples reunite for the destination wedding of Marcus and Angela's daughter, bringing drama old and new as they ask, "Why did we get married again?"
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRosaline (2022)
Left heartbroken after Romeo begins to pursue her cousin Juliet, Rosaline schemes to foil the famous romance and win back her guy in this comedic twist of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMumford (1999)
When a would-be psychologist, curiously named Dr. Mumford, comes to the idyllic town of the same name and offers his talent for listening and a disarming frankness, the town's quirkiest citizens scramble for a seat on his couch. As he lightens hearts darkened by old secrets no one realizes he's hiding a whopper of his own, or that he's fallen head over heels for one of his patients!
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisYou 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 thisXX/XY (2002)
Three friends begin a dangerous three-way relationship that spirals out of control, leading to dire consequences that haunt them ten years later.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPersuasion (2022)
Living with her snobby family on the brink of bankruptcy, Anne Elliot is an unconforming woman with modern sensibilities. When Frederick Wentworth - the dashing one she once sent away - crashes back into her life, Anne must choose between putting the past behind her or listening to her heart when it comes to second chances.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
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 thisOther People's Money (1991)
When a corporate raider threatens a hostile takeover of a 'mom and pop' company, the patriarch of the company enlists the help of his wife's attractive daughter—who is a lawyer—to stop the takeover. However, the raider soon becomes infatuated with her, and enjoys the legal manoeuvring as he tries to win her heart.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Rules of Attraction (2002)
The incredibly spoiled and overprivileged students of Camden College are a backdrop for an unusual love triangle between a drug dealer, a virgin and a bisexual classmate.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Best You Can (2025)
Cynthia Rand is a buttoned-up New Yorker married to a brilliant professor 25 years her senior. She begins feeling the effects of her husband’s advancing age on their relationship, just as her world is turned upside down by the arrival of sharp but chronically underachieving security guard Stan Olszewski in this smart rom-com that reunites Bacon and Sedgwick on screen for the first time in 20 years.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisGabriel's Redemption: Part I (2023)
After leaving his prestigious post at the University of Toronto, Gabriel embarks on a new journey with Julia, and he is eager to become a father. However, Gabriel's idyllic vision is jeopardized when Julia's intensive program becomes all consuming. When Julia is granted a prestigious opportunity to deliver an academic lecture at Oxford, Gabriel challenges her about the subject of her presentation, which clashes with his own research. In Oxford, their past resurfaces, including an old nemesis determined to humiliate Julia and expose one of Gabriel's well-guarded secrets. Emotions run high, alliances are tested, and the couple must confront the shadows of their shared history in a battle for love, truth, and redemption.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBoys and Girls (2000)
Ryan and Jennifer are opposites who definitely do not attract. At least that's what they always believed. When they met as twelve-year-olds, they disliked one another. When they met again as teenagers, they loathed each other. But when they meet in college, the uptight Ryan and the free-spirited Jennifer find that their differences bind them together and a rare friendship develops.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Harrad Experiment (1973)
At fictional Harrad College students learn about sexuality and experiment with each other. Based on the 1966 book of the same name by Robert Rimmer, this movie deals with the concept of free love during the height of the sexual revolution which took place in the United States.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & romance
Spice It Up (2019)
A film student at Ryerson University struggles to complete her thesis project.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & comedy
FOUFO (2026)
The encounter of Madurese residents with small aliens that triggers hilarious chaos and unexpected adventures.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy & drama
Pyaar Impossible! (2010)
Be-spectacled geek, Abhay falls in love with college hottie, Alisha and silently slinks away into the shadows when he realises she's unattainable. Seven years later, he re-enters her life as the nanny and hopes to woo the single mom, this time at least. Does he succeed?
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy & romance
SnoozefestMovies like thisOn Golden Pond (1981)
For Norman and Ethel Thayer, this summer on golden pond is filled with conflict and resolution. When their daughter Chelsea arrives, the family is forced to renew the bonds of love and overcome the generational friction that has existed for years.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisOrange County (2002)
Shaun Brumder is a local surfer kid from Orange County who dreams of going to Stanford to become a writer and to get away from his dysfunctional family household. Except Shaun runs into one complication after another, starting when his application is rejected after his dim-witted guidance counselor sends in the wrong form.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPraxis Dr. Hasenbein (1997)
Before WWII: Dr. Hasenbein lives with his son Peter in a small town. Aunt Uschi's orphanage houses many children and a hamster. When the hamster falls ill, Dr. Hasenbein is given something to do. The tailor, Mr. Voss, is also treated by Dr. Hasenbein: for tendinitis. During the war, Dr. Hasenbein has to go away. When he comes back after 30 years, everything has changed...
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
Savage Grace (2007)
This examination of a famous scandal from the 1970s explores the relationship between Barbara Baekeland and her only son, Antony. Barbara, a lonely social climber unhappily married to the wealthy but remote plastics heir Brooks Baekeland, dotes on Antony, who is homosexual. As Barbara tries to "cure" Antony of his sexuality -- sometimes by seducing him herself -- the groundwork is laid for a murderous tragedy.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Full Monty (1997)
Sheffield, England. Gaz, a jobless steelworker in need of quick cash persuades his mates to bare it all in a one-night-only strip show.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like What May Be?
The closest matches to What May Be are Chéri (2009), The Good House (2021) and Cyrus (2010). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after What May Be?
Start with Chéri (2009), the closest match to What May Be.
What is the highest-rated movie like What May Be?
On Golden Pond (1981), rated 7.3/10 by 535 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like What May Be?
Why Did I Get Married Again? (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like What May Be?
Yes: Chéri (2009), The Good House (2021) and Cyrus (2010).
How are movies similar to What May Be chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside What May Be, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.