Movies like Way Upstream (1987)
The best movies like Way Upstream (1987) are Three Wise Men and a Baby (2022), Good Luck Charlie, It's Christmas! (2011) and I'm Just F*cking with You (2019). If Way Upstream hooked you with its tv movie and comedy, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedMerry Christmas, Drake & Josh (2008)7.3/10 from 241 votes
- NewestRicky Gervais: Mortality (2025)Released 2025
Three Wise Men and a Baby (2022)
Three brothers get the surprise of their lives when they are forced to work together to care for a baby over the holidays. As they slowly get the hang of things, they find themselves on unexpected journeys of self-discovery and begin to rebuild their relationships as brothers, as well as the damaged romantic and professional relationships in their respective lives…all while rediscovering their love of Christmas.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisGood Luck Charlie, It's Christmas! (2011)
Teddy Duncan's middle-class family embarks on a road trip from their home in Denver to visit Mrs. Duncans Parents, the Blankenhoopers, in Palm Springs. When they find themselves stranded between Denver and Utah, they try to hitch a ride to Las Vegas with a seemingly normal older couple in a station wagon from Roswell, New Mexico. It turns out that the couple believes they are the victims of alien abduction. The Duncan's must resort to purchasing a clunker Yugo to get to Utah, have their luggage stolen in Las Vegas, and survive a zany Christmas with Grandpa and Grandma Blankenhooper.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisI'm Just F*cking with You (2019)
Siblings headed to a family wedding endure a night of increasingly frightening practical jokes while staying at a secluded motel.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & horror
SnoozefestMovies like thisNaughty or Nice (2012)
Krissy Kringle receives a delivery intended for Santa Claus. A magical book that shows if a person has been naughty or nice. She uses the book's power to find out about those around her, which leads to some very unusual and unintended results. Krissy realizes that everyone has some good and some not so good in them.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSpongeBob SquarePants: Kreepaway Kamp (2024)
While at Kamp Koral for a reunion, SpongeBob and the gang are stalked by a mysterious figure lurking in the shadows as campers start disappearing one by one!
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & horror
Worth the HypeMovies like thisPsych: The Movie (2017)
The ambitious friends come together during the holidays after a mystery assailant targets one of their own. A comedic thrill-ride follows, as the wild and unpredictable Psych team pursues the bad guys, justice … and, of course, food!
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Girl Most Likely To... (1973)
An ugly girl undergoes plastic surgery and becomes beautiful. She then takes revenge on all the people who mistreated her when she was ugly.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBlackadder: Back & Forth (1999)
What was a cunning plan from Lord Edmund Blackadder V to fake a time machine on his gullibly incompetent friends, turns out to be the real thing and hurls him and his imbecile underling, Baldrick, through the course of human history.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCasper Meets Wendy (1998)
When a warlock threatens Wendy the Good Little Witch, she and her aunts hide out at a resort where Casper the Ghost is vacationing with his uncles. Although Casper and Wendy are told ghosts and witches don't get along, the two are kindred spirits! This spooky family-friendly adventure finds Casper and Wendy bridging the ghost-witch divide to battle the warlock who is intent on destroying Wendy.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
SnoozefestMovies 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 thisSundown: The Vampire in Retreat (1991)
Reclusive vampires lounge in a lonely American town. They wear sunscreen to protect themselves. A descendant of Van Helsing arrives with hilarious consequences.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Flintstones Christmas Carol (1994)
Fred is cast as Ebenezer Scrooge in a stage adaption of the classic Christmas story, but is acting a bit stingy in real life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisShane Gillis: Beautiful Dogs (2023)
In a rowdy stand-up set, Shane Gillis riffs on his girlfriend's Navy SEAL ex, touring George Washington's house and being bullied by an Australian Goth.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisVillains (2019)
When their car breaks down, a couple on the run headed southbound for a fresh start in the Sunshine State break into a nearby house looking for a new set of wheels. What they find instead is a dark secret, and a sweet-as-pie pair of homeowners who will do anything to keep it from getting out.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDutch (1991)
To get to know his girlfriend's son, a man volunteers to pick him up from a prep school... only to learn that her son's not the nicest kid.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWind Chill (2007)
Two college students share a ride home for the holidays. When they break down on a deserted stretch of road, they're preyed upon by the ghosts of people who have died there.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & horror
SnoozefestMovies like thisOn Becoming a Guinea Fowl (2024)
On an empty road in the middle of the night, Shula stumbles across the body of her uncle. As funeral proceedings begin around them, she and her cousins bring to light the buried secrets of their middle-class Zambian family.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisRicky Gervais: Mortality (2025)
Ricky Gervais tackles life, death and the state of the world in a brutally honest special that spares no topic, even his own mortality.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisFamily Guy Presents: Blue Harvest (2007)
With the Griffins stuck at home during a blackout, Peter tells the story of "Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope".
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMerry Christmas, Drake & Josh (2008)
Step brothers Drake and Josh must give a foster family the best Christmas ever or face years in jail for a Christmas party gone wrong.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisFido (2006)
Timmy Robinson's best friend in the whole wide world is a six-foot tall rotting zombie named Fido. But when Fido eats the next-door neighbor, Mom and Dad hit the roof, and Timmy has to go to the ends of the earth to keep Fido a part of the family. A boy-and-his-dog movie for grown ups, "Fido" will rip your heart out.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBad Santa (2003)
You'd better watch out - Willie T. Soke is coming to town, and he doesn't care if you've been naughty or nice. Willie's favorite holiday tradition is to fill his sacks with loot lifted from shopping malls across the country. But this year his plot gets derailed by a wisecracking store detective, a sexy bartender, and a kid who's convinced Willie is the real Santa Claus.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisJack Frost (1998)
A father who can't keep his promises dies in a car accident. One year later, he returns as a snowman, who has one final chance to put things right with his son before he is gone forever.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPauline at the Beach (1983)
Marion is about to divorce from her husband and takes her 15-year-old niece, Pauline, on a vacation to Granville. There, she meets an old love...
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisFlirting with Forty (2008)
A divorcee has a passionate affair with a much younger surfing instructor in Hawaii.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisLittle Women (1994)
Four sisters come of age in America in the aftermath of the Civil War.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisPlaying with Death (2011)
The family of Eusebio, a sick old man, believes that he has begun to lose his mind and that the stories he tells, which nobody listens to, are those of a crazy person.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
Flickering Lights (2000)
Four small gangsters from Copenhagen trick a gangster boss: they take over 4,000,000 kroner which they were supposed to bring him. Trying to escape to Barcelona they are forced to stop in the countryside, in an old, wrecked house, hiding there for several weeks. Slowly, one after another, they realize, that they would like to stay there, start a new life.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Madagascar Penguins in a Christmas Caper (2005)
During the holiday season, when the animals of the Central Park Zoo are preparing for Christmas, Private, the youngest of the penguins notices that the Polar Bear is all alone. Assured that nobody should have to spend Christmas alone, Private goes into the city for some last-minute Christmas shopping. Along the way, he gets stuffed into a stocking
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFriday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan (1989)
Jason ships out aboard a teen-filled "love boat" bound for New York, which he soon transforms into the ultimate voyage of the damned.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Way Upstream?
The closest matches to Way Upstream are Three Wise Men and a Baby (2022), Good Luck Charlie, It's Christmas! (2011) and I'm Just F*cking with You (2019). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Way Upstream?
Start with Three Wise Men and a Baby (2022), the closest match to Way Upstream.
What is the highest-rated movie like Way Upstream?
Merry Christmas, Drake & Josh (2008), rated 7.3/10 by 241 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Way Upstream?
Ricky Gervais: Mortality (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Way Upstream?
Yes: Three Wise Men and a Baby (2022), Good Luck Charlie, It's Christmas! (2011) and I'm Just F*cking with You (2019).
How are movies similar to Way Upstream chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Way Upstream, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.