Movies like Spanking the Monkey (1994)
The best movies like Spanking the Monkey (1994) are Happiness (1998), Terms of Endearment (1983) and Me and You and Everyone We Know (2005). If Spanking the Monkey hooked you with its comedy and drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedMystic River (2003)7.7/10 from 7,835 votes
- Newest180 (2026)Released 2026
Happiness (1998)
The lives of several individuals intertwine as they go about their lives in their own unique ways, engaging in acts which society as a whole might find disturbing in a desperate search for human connection.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisTerms of Endearment (1983)
Aurora, a finicky woman, is in search of true love while her daughter faces marital issues. Together, they help each other deal with problems and find reasons to live a joyful life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMe and You and Everyone We Know (2005)
Single dad Richard meets Christine, a starving artist who moonlights as a cabbie. They awkwardly attempt to start a romance, but Richard’s divorce has left him emotionally damaged. Meanwhile, Richard’s sons—one a teenager, the other 6-years-old—take part in clumsy experiments with the opposite sex.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisIgby Goes Down (2002)
Igby Slocumb, a rebellious and sarcastic 17-year-old boy, is at war with the stifling world of old money privilege he was born into. With a schizophrenic father, a self-absorbed, distant mother, and a shark-like young Republican big brother, Igby figures there must be a better life out there -- and sets about finding it.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Daytrippers (1997)
Eliza D'Amico thinks her marriage to Louis is going great until she finds a mysterious love note to her husband. Concerned, she goes to her mother for advice. Eliza, her parents, her sister Jo, and Jo's boyfriend all pile into the station wagon and go to the city to confront Louis with the letter. On the way, the five explore their relations with each other and meet many interesting people.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLady Windermere's Fan (1925)
A society woman believes her husband is having an affair, a misconception which may have dire personal consequences for all involved.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Confirmation (2016)
A divorced father reconnects with his son when they track down a stolen toolbox over the course of a weekend.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Magic of Belle Isle (2012)
In an effort to tap into his original talent, a wheelchair-bound author moves to a rural town, where he befriends a single mother and her three kids, who help reignite his passion for writing.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisButterfly on a Wheel (2007)
A sociopathic kidnapper methodically pushes a desperate pair of parents to their absolute breaking point.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Thousand and One (2023)
Struggling but unapologetically living on her own terms, Inez is moving from shelter to shelter in mid-1990s New York City. With her 6-year-old son Terry in foster care and unable to leave him again, she kidnaps him so they can build their life together. As the years go by, their family grows and Terry becomes a smart yet quiet teenager, but the secret that has defined their lives threatens to destroy the home they have so improbably built.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBad Moms (2016)
When three overworked and under-appreciated moms are pushed beyond their limits, they ditch their conventional responsibilities for a jolt of long overdue freedom, fun, and comedic self-indulgence.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Good Woman Is Hard to Find (2019)
The recently widowed mother of two, Sarah, is desperate to know who murdered her husband in front of her young son, rendering him mute. Coerced into helping a low-life drug dealer stash narcotics stolen from the local Mr. Big, she's forced into taking drastic action to protect her children, evolving from downtrodden submissive to take-charge vigilante.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe King (2006)
When Elvis Valderez is honourably discharged from the Navy, he heads to the small Texas town of Corpus Christi, where he introduces himself to Pastor David Sandow, his long-lost father, soon becoming a stalwart member of the church.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like this180 (2026)
When an unexpected road rage incident puts his son in critical condition, an enraged father spirals down a dark path of emotional turmoil and vengeance.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Good Neighbor (2022)
A nightmarish evening unfolds for neighbors David and Robert when they accidentally hit a woman on her bike and flee the scene. While David is increasingly plagued by feelings of guilt, Robert shows no remorse and becomes overbearing and possessive.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisL.I.E. (2001)
With his mother dead and his father busy at work, Howie feels adrift in his New York suburb. He and his friend Gary spend their time burglarizing their neighbors' homes — until they make the mistake of robbing the house of Big John, a macho former Marine who is also an unrepentant pedophile. He propositions Howie, who declines, but the two eventually develop an unlikely and dangerous friendship.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBullet (1996)
A tough, Jewish ex-con just released from prison crosses a powerful drug dealer and former prison rival in his return to a life of crime.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMystic River (2003)
The lives of three men who were childhood friends are shattered when one of them suffers a family tragedy.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisFinestkind (2023)
Two brothers from opposite sides of the tracks are reunited as adults. Desperate circumstances force them into a deal with an organized crime syndicate in Boston, and a young woman gets caught in the middle.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSt. Vincent (2014)
A young boy whose parents just divorced finds an unlikely friend and mentor in the misanthropic, bawdy, hedonistic, war veteran who lives next door.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMillions (2005)
Two boys, still grieving the death of their mother, find themselves the unwitting benefactors of a bag of bank robbery loot in the week before the United Kingdom switches its official currency to the Euro. What's a kid to do?
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisStrawberry and Chocolate (1993)
In 1979 Cuba, flamboyant gay artist Diego attempts to seduce straitlaced David, an idealistic young communist, and fails dismally. But David conspires to be "friends" with Diego so he can monitor the artist's subversive life for the state. As Diego and David discuss politics, individuality and personal expression in Castro's Cuba, a genuine friendship develops between the two.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSmart People (2008)
Professor Lawrence Wetherhold might be imperiously brilliant, monumentally self-possessed and an intellectual giant -- but when it comes to solving the conundrums of love and family, he's as downright flummoxed as the next guy.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisGhost Town (2008)
Bertram Pincus, a cranky, people-hating Manhattan dentist, develops the unwelcome ability to see dead people. Really annoying dead people. Even worse, they all want something from him, particularly Frank Herlihy, a smooth-talking ghost, who pesters him into a romantic scheme involving his widow Gwen. They are soon entangled in a hilarious predicament between the now and the hereafter!
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMeet Bill (2007)
A mild-mannered bank executive mentors a teenage con artist and tries to make a career change as a doughnut merchant.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe 'Burbs (1989)
When secretive new neighbors move in next door, suburbanite Ray Peterson and his friends let their paranoia get the best of them as they start to suspect the newcomers of evildoings and commence an investigation. But it's hardly how Ray, who much prefers drinking beer, reading his newspaper and watching a ball game on the tube expected to spend his vacation.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLove at First Stream (2021)
It revolves around the story of four people a streamer, a student, a breadwinner, and a heartthrob who will explore love and friendships online to escape their realities offline.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
Barely in Love (2013)
When a new troupe leader joins the 'Bnai Akiva' boy scouts movement, Yotam's world trembles. He is forced to cope with his sexual orientation and the difficulties he faces with family and religion, and is torn between his love of religion that forbids homosexuality and his mother who tries to 'cure' him.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Killing Jesus (2017)
Paula, a young art student, witnesses the assassination of her father, a university professor. Frustrated by the local police she starts to investigate the murder herself. Driven by anger, frustration and sorrow, she commits fearless acts that put her and her family at risk.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Like Spanking the Monkey and something else?
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Spanking the Monkey?
The closest matches to Spanking the Monkey are Happiness (1998), Terms of Endearment (1983) and Me and You and Everyone We Know (2005). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Spanking the Monkey?
Start with Happiness (1998), the closest match to Spanking the Monkey.
What is the highest-rated movie like Spanking the Monkey?
Mystic River (2003), rated 7.7/10 by 7,835 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Spanking the Monkey?
180 (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Spanking the Monkey?
Yes: Happiness (1998), Terms of Endearment (1983) and Me and You and Everyone We Know (2005).
How are movies similar to Spanking the Monkey chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Spanking the Monkey, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.