Movies like Lo que le pasó a Santiago (1989)
The best movies like Lo que le pasó a Santiago (1989) are Elsa & Fred (2005), Sidewalks of New York (2001) and Enemies, a Love Story (1989). If Lo que le pasó a Santiago 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 ratedCarlito's Way (1993)7.8/10 from 3,652 votes
- NewestWhat is Love? (2026)Released 2026
- In SpanishElsa & Fred (2005)Also in Spanish
Elsa & Fred (2005)
When the retired seventy-seven years old hypochondriac widower Fred moves to an apartment in Madrid, his temperamental daughter Cuca has an incident with his next door neighbor, the elder Argentinean Elsa. Later, they meet each other and Elsa seduces Fred with her reckless behavior and view of life and they have a romance.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Worth the HypeMovies 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 thisEnemies, a Love Story (1989)
A ghostwriter finds himself romantically involved with his current wife, a married woman and his long-vanished wife.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & 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 thisSex, Shame & Tears (1999)
A comedic drama featuring two couples and two old friends in Mexico City. Tomas visits Carlos and Ana, while Miguel and Andrea are joined by Maria. The presence of guests triggers lust, rejection, infidelities, reconciliation and other consequences.
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 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 thisLet Me Be with You (2025)
Lucía lives with an incurable disease, and Bruno was deported to Mexico with no place to sleep. An unexpected phone call brings them together in an emotional story of overcoming, reconstruction and hope.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & comedy
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisLove & Sex (2000)
When her rather explicit copy is rejected, magazine journalist Kate is asked by her editor to come up with an article on loving relationships instead, and to do so by the end of the day. This gets Kate thinking back over her own various experiences, and to wondering if she is in much of a position to write on the subject.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDelirious (2007)
Les, a small-time celebrity photographer desperate to make it big, befriends Toby, a homeless young man with no direction except a vague desire to become an actor. When by chance, Toby becomes romantically involved with K'Harma Leeds, the hottest pop star of the moment, Les grows jealous and plots revenge.
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 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 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 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 Big Picture (1989)
Hollywood beckons for recent film school grad Nick Chapman, who is out to capitalize on the momentum from his national award-winning student film. Studio executive Allen Habel seduces Nick with a dream deal to make his first feature, but once production gets rolling, corporate reality begins to intervene: Nick is unable to control a series of compromises to his high-minded vision, and it's all he can do to maintain his integrity in the midst of filmmaking chaos.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & romance
SnoozefestMovies like thisMaría Isabel (1967)
A woman jumping from the poverty of the countryside to the splendor of wealth in the city without losing its simplicity
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Absolute CinemaMovies 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 thisNumb (2007)
Hudson Milbank is a successful Hollywood screenwriter who suddenly and strangely finds himself without any emotional feelings. He tries doctor after doctor and shrink after shrink, but nothing works. The Golf Channel, lesbian exercise classes and a dizzying variety of pills get him through the day, but don't quite solve his problem. His writing partner tries everything to get him back to normal, but it's not until Hudson meets Sara that he finds a real motivation to get better and to actually start feeling again. From the writer of Deuce Bigalow, comes NUMB, a romantic comedy following an unusual man looking for strange love.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisIrreplaceable You (2018)
A stunning cancer diagnosis spurs Abbie to seek a future girlfriend for fiancé and childhood sweetheart Sam, who's clueless when it comes to dating.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like this400 Petals (2020)
“400 pétalos” (400 petals) tells the story of René and Sun, two opposites that love each other... Until René gives Sun a magical Marigold. A petal from the magical flower falls every time the couple fights. Amidst such countdown, René’s anxiety grows. He wonders if, when the Marigold runs out of petals, the relationship will meet its end.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy & drama
What is Love? (2026)
After four failed relationships, Adames—a Puerto Rican artist—sets out to answer one question: what is love? Filming candid conversations with friends, a psychologist, a pastor, and strangers, he collects definitions that sound right on paper—until a new connection forces him to stop analyzing and start feeling.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & romance
From Death, To Life (2026)
In a small town in Puerto Rico, called Comerío, love blooms through poetry and tradition, uniting not just two souls but an entire town. Through music and verse, they discover that to love is also to belong.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & romance
12 horas (2001)
A night in the life of a cab driver in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy & drama
Another Kind of I Do (2019)
Eduardito, the son of Dr. Zalduondo and his partner Maurice, marries. If Mariana's wedding was memorable, Eduardito has proposed that hers be even more so. It will be the first gay wedding in the traditional town of Castañer in Lares, Puerto Rico. The greatest one ever held in family and in the countryside. And you are invited. Not to be missed.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy & drama
Over His Dead Body (TBA)
A dramedy about Carla, an aspiring singer estranged from her family, who hopes to find solace by attending her father's funeral.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy & drama
A Wedding in Castañer (2015)
Shortly before graduating from medical school, Mariana returns home to fulfill her father's promise to celebrate the greatest wedding ever in the history of Castañer. Complications arise when the bride's and the groom's families come together for the wedding preparations and festivities.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy & romance
Carlito's Way (1993)
Free after years in prison, Carlito Brigante intends to give up his criminal ways, but it's not long before the ex-con is sucked back into the New York City underworld.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisRupture (2023)
When an unstable and grief-stricken young man murders the alleged killer of his best friend, he must try to conceal what he’s done from the loose-lipped guests attending his friend's vigil.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Carlito's Way: Rise to Power (2005)
Seduced by the brutal New York underworld, future gangster legend Carlito Brigante enters a deadly circle of greed and retribution. Assisted by his two brothers-in-crime, Carlito is on the fast track to becoming Spanish Harlem's ultimate kingpin. He quickly learns, however, that the only way to survive at the top is through loyalty to his friends and respect for the rules of the street.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Lo que le pasó a Santiago?
The closest matches to Lo que le pasó a Santiago are Elsa & Fred (2005), Sidewalks of New York (2001) and Enemies, a Love Story (1989). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Lo que le pasó a Santiago?
Start with Elsa & Fred (2005), the closest match to Lo que le pasó a Santiago.
What is the highest-rated movie like Lo que le pasó a Santiago?
Carlito's Way (1993), rated 7.8/10 by 3,652 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Lo que le pasó a Santiago?
What is Love? (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Spanish movies like Lo que le pasó a Santiago?
Yes: Elsa & Fred (2005), Sex, Shame & Tears (1999) and Let Me Be with You (2025).
How are movies similar to Lo que le pasó a Santiago chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Lo que le pasó a Santiago, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.