Movies like Things Aren't What They Used to Be (1980)
The best movies like Things Aren't What They Used to Be (1980) are Some Kind of Heaven (2021), Iris (2001) and The Leisure Seeker (2018). If Things Aren't What They Used to Be hooked you, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Things Aren't What They Used to Be
Quick picks
- Highest ratedBefore Sunrise (1995)8.0/10 from 4,971 votes
- NewestA Friend of Dorothy (2025)Released 2025
Some Kind of Heaven (2021)
Behind the gates of a palm-tree-lined fantasyland, three residents and one interloper at America's largest retirement community strive to find happiness.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisIris (2001)
True story of the lifelong romance between novelist Iris Murdoch and her husband John Bayley, from their student days through her battle with Alzheimer's disease.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Leisure Seeker (2018)
A runaway couple go on an unforgettable journey from Boston to Key West, recapturing their passion for life and their love for each other on a road trip that provides revelation and surprise right up to the very end.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWhile We're Young (2015)
An uptight documentary filmmaker and his wife find their lives loosened up a bit after befriending a free-spirited younger couple.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOur Souls at Night (2017)
Addie Moore and Louis Waters, a widow and widower, have lived next to each other for years. The pair have almost no relationship, but that all changes when Addie tries to make a connection with her neighbour.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisElsa & Fred (2014)
After his daughter persuades him to move into a new apartment, aged widower Fred strikes up a friendship with his eccentric 74-year-old neighbour Elsa, who convinces him it's never too late to keep enjoying life. Although he seemed resigned to a miserable bedridden existence, Fred embraces Elsa's youthful enthusiasm as she introduces him to the path of life and entertains him with outlandish stories about her past life. But when he discovers Elsa's terminally ill, Fred decides to accompany her on the trip of her dreams to the eternal city of Rome to help her fulfil a lifelong ambition.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAway from Her (2007)
Fiona and Grant have been married for nearly 50 years. They have to face the fact that Fiona’s absent-mindedness is a symptom of Alzheimer’s disease. She must go to a specialized nursing home, where she slowly forgets Grant and turns her affection to Aubrey, another patient in the home.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMake Way for Tomorrow (1937)
An elderly couple are forced to separate themselves from each other after their children refuse to take both into one house.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAround the Bend (2004)
A tale of four generations of men, all of whom have had their offspring at a young age: a great-grandfather, a grandfather, a father in his twenties and a son who is about 7 years old. When the oldest member passes away, the trio heads out on the road together in the Southwest to search out an old family secret that connects to their past.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisUs Again (2021)
In a vibrant city pulsating with rhythm and movement, an elderly man and his young-at-heart wife rekindle their youthful passion for life and each other on one magical night.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisA Friend of Dorothy (2025)
Dorothy is a lonely widow whose body is failing, but her mind remains as bright as ever. When 17-year-old JJ accidentally kicks his football into her garden, he upends Dorothy's daily routine of pills, prunes, and crosswords, and an unlikely friendship blossoms. Despite being worlds apart in every way, the two come to find they have more in common than they could ever imagine.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Straight Story (1999)
Retired farmer and widower Alvin Straight learns one day that his estranged brother Lyle has suffered a severe stroke. Alvin is determined to make things right with Lyle while he still can, but his brother lives in Wisconsin, while Alvin is stuck in Iowa with no car and no driver's license. He then has the idea of making the trip on his old lawnmower, thus beginning a picturesque and at times deeply spiritual odyssey.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Face of Love (2013)
A widow falls for a guy who bears a striking resemblance to her late husband.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPoms (2019)
After moving to a retirement community, loner Martha eventually befriends her fun-loving neighbor, Sheryl, and forms a cheerleading club for young-at-heart seniors, though they face roadblocks along the way.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Love Song (2022)
Two childhood sweethearts, now both widowed, share a night by a lake in the mountains.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Last Movie Star (2018)
An aging screen icon gets lured into accepting an award at a rinky-dink film festival in Nashville, Tenn., sending him on a hilarious fish-out-of-water adventure and an unexpectedly poignant journey into his past.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNothing Like a Dame (2018)
BBC Arena's documentary on the Dames of British Theatre and film featuring Maggie Smith, Eileen Atkins, Judi Dench and Joan Plowright on screen together for the first time as they reminisce over a long summer weekend in a house Joan once shared with Sir Laurence Olivier.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThelma (2024)
When 93-year-old Thelma Post gets duped by a phone scammer pretending to be her grandson, she sets out on a treacherous quest across the city to reclaim what was taken from her.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWhat They Had (2018)
A woman must fly back to her hometown when her Alzheimer's-stricken mother wanders into a blizzard. The return home forces her to confront her past.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBefore Sunrise (1995)
An unexpected meeting on a train leads two travelers to spend an evening wandering through Vienna. As the night unfolds, they share stories and conversations about life and love, exploring new ideas while a quiet intimacy grows between them, knowing it may be their only night together.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Absolute CinemaMovies like this0.5 mm (2014)
Sawa Yamagishi worked as a nursing-care helper. The family for an old man asked Sawa to sleep with him, which led her to lose her job. Now, she has nowhere to go. Sawa finds elderly people in trouble and gets involved in their lives. Meeting them, Sawa's own wounds start to heal.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Worth the HypeMovies like thisPeace (2010)
What is peace? What is coexistence? And what are the basis for them? PEACE is a visual-essay-like observational documentary, which contemplates these questions by observing the daily lives of people and cats in Okayama city, Japan, where life and death, acceptance and rejection are intermingled.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Return Home (1992)
After the near death of her grandfather, Chinese Canadian filmmaker Michelle Wong embarks on a personal journey back home to her small town of St. Paul, Alberta to speak to her grandparents about their journey from China to Canada.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Common Ground (2002)
In Buenos Aires, a few days before traveling to Spain with his beloved wife Liliana Rovira to visit their son Pedro, the leftist Literature professor Fernando Robles is compulsory retired in the University, and he concludes that it is impossible to live with his pension. The crisis in Argentina does not allow Fernando to get a new job, and his wife decides to sell her family's apartment and move to a small farm near Villa Dolores to reduce their expenses. Fernando comes up with the idea to grow lavender and sell the oil to the perfume industry.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Nobody's Victim (1972)
Shows women how to cope with physical assault. Warns against dangerous situations, such as walking alone at night and driving alone, and prescribes several methods of self defense, such as kicks, the heel grind, and the knee lift.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Coffee Time (2013)
A quartet of refined elderly ladies gets together for coffee. Neatly dressed in houndstooth and pearls, they sip from elegant china and nibble on sweet cakes while discussing Viagra, cock rings, orgasms and quickies. Nothing's off the table as they reminisce about the past and revel in the sexual revolution that's come up around them, empowering their pleasure well into their twilight years.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Anatomy of an Accident (1961)
A Jerry Fairbanks and Bell System production, “Anatomy of an Accident” is a 1961 driver's education film in technicolor focusing on defensive driving told through a scripted story centered around a family outing that came to a tragic end.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Things Aren't What They Used to Be?
The closest matches to Things Aren't What They Used to Be are Some Kind of Heaven (2021), Iris (2001) and The Leisure Seeker (2018). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Things Aren't What They Used to Be?
Start with Some Kind of Heaven (2021), the closest match to Things Aren't What They Used to Be.
What is the highest-rated movie like Things Aren't What They Used to Be?
Before Sunrise (1995), rated 8.0/10 by 4,971 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Things Aren't What They Used to Be?
A Friend of Dorothy (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Things Aren't What They Used to Be?
Yes: Some Kind of Heaven (2021), Iris (2001) and The Leisure Seeker (2018).
How are movies similar to Things Aren't What They Used to Be chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Things Aren't What They Used to Be, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.