Movies like The Toilers and the Wayfarers (1997)
The best movies like The Toilers and the Wayfarers (1997) are My Policeman (2022), The Object of My Affection (1998) and Looking: The Movie (2016). If The Toilers and the Wayfarers hooked you with its romance and drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedMaurice (1987)7.6/10 from 642 votes
- NewestHeartstopper Forever (2026)Released 2026
My Policeman (2022)
In the late 1990s, the arrival of elderly invalid Patrick into Marion and Tom’s home triggers the exploration of seismic events from 40 years previous: the passionate relationship between Tom and Patrick at a time when homosexuality was illegal.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Object of My Affection (1998)
A pregnant New York social worker begins to develop romantic feelings for her gay best friend, and decides she'd rather raise her child with him, much to the dismay of her overbearing boyfriend.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
SnoozefestMovies like thisLooking: The Movie (2016)
Patrick returns to San Francisco for the first time in almost a year to celebrate a momentous event with his old friends. In the process, he must face the unresolved relationships he left behind and make difficult choices about what’s important to him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHeartstopper Forever (2026)
It's a new school year for the Truham-Higgs gang. As Nick and Charlie's relationship deepens, their thoughts turn to life after the last bell rings.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAkron (2015)
Benny, a college freshman at the University of Akron, Ohio meets and falls for fellow freshman Christopher at a football game. With the support of their families and friends they embark on a new relationship. But a tragic event in the past involving their mothers soon comes to light and threatens to tear them apart.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMy Fault: London (2025)
18-year-old Noah moves from America to London, with her mother who's recently fallen in love with William, a wealthy British businessman. Noah meets William’s son, bad-boy Nick, and soon discovers there is an attraction between them neither can avoid. As Noah spends the summer adjusting to her new life, her devastating past will catch up with her while falling in love for the first time.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBehind the Candelabra (2013)
Based on the autobiographical novel, the tempestuous 6-year relationship between Liberace and his (much younger) lover, Scott Thorson, is recounted.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMaurice (1987)
After his lover rejects him, Maurice attempts to come to terms with his sexuality within the restrictiveness of Edwardian society.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLove Everlasting (2016)
Bridger is a young outsider who's always wanted more. He and his mother flee an abusive home, eventually finding a small town in the middle of nowhere. Once there, Bridger finds true acceptance with another misfit.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisYou Can Live Forever (2023)
When Jaime, a gay teenager, is sent to live in a community of Jehovah's Witnesses in small-town Quebec, she falls madly in love with a devout Witness girl. The two embark on an intense affair with consequences that will reshape the rest of their lives.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBeach Rats (2017)
On the outskirts of Brooklyn, Frankie, an aimless teenager, suffocates under the oppressive glare cast by his family and a toxic group of delinquent friends. Struggling with his own identity, Frankie begins to scour hookup sites for older men.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDeparture (2016)
An English mother and her teenage son spend a week preparing the sale of their remote holiday house in the South of France. Fifteen-year-old Elliot struggles with his dawning sexuality and an increasing alienation from his mother, Beatrice. She in turn is confronted by the realisation that her marriage to his father, Philip, has grown loveless and the life she knows is coming to an end. When an enigmatic local teenager, Clément, quietly enters their lives, both mother and son are compelled to confront their desires and, finally, each other.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe (2023)
Two teenage Mexican-American loners in 1987 El Paso explore a new, unusual friendship and the difficult road to self-discovery.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Sun Is Also a Star (2019)
Two young New Yorkers begin to fall in love over the course of a single day, as a series of potentially life-altering meetings loom over their heads - hers concerning her family’s deportation to Jamaica, and his concerning an education at Dartmouth.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNewness (2017)
In contemporary Los Angeles, two millennials navigating a social media–driven hookup culture begin a relationship that pushes both emotional and physical boundaries.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWander Darkly (2020)
New parents Adrienne and Matteo are forced to reckon with trauma amidst their troubled relationship. They must revisit the memories of their past and unravel haunting truths in order to face their uncertain future.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWhere the Day Takes You (1992)
King is a young man, but he's already a veteran of life on the streets of Los Angeles. The de facto leader of a group of teenage runaways, King acts as a mentor to troubled kids such as gay hustler Little J and junkie Greg. When Heather, a beautiful girl from Chicago, starts hanging out with King and his crew, it changes the dynamic of the gang. However, it seems as though nothing will alter their dangerous lifestyle.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNaked as We Came (2013)
After an unexpected phone call, Laura and her brother Elliot rush to their family’s country estate to find their mother, Lilly, gravely ill and living with a handsome young stranger named Ted. Estranged for some time, their mother’s condition sets Laura and Elliot on a path to realizing where their own lives have gone wrong.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Boys in the Band (2020)
At a birthday party in 1968 New York, a surprise guest and a drunken game leave seven gay friends reckoning with unspoken feelings and buried truths.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAugust (2011)
August tells the story of two former lovers, Troy and Jonathan, who reunite after a long ago painful breakup. After spending several years in Spain, Troy returns to Los Angeles and decides to phone Jonathan and meet for coffee. A seemingly innocent rendezvous turns into an attempt to revive passions past. Only this time it's not that simple as Jonathan has a new beau, Raul, and is trying to make the right decision a second time around.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Peanut Butter Falcon (2019)
A down-on-his-luck crab fisherman embarks on a journey to get a young man with Down syndrome to a professional wrestling school in rural North Carolina and away from the retirement home where he’s lived for the past two and a half years.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSouth of Heaven (2019)
When his boyfriend shows up unannounced, Elias' religious family learns their son's darkest secret.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Longing (2014)
When Michal finds out her husband Meir is having an affair with a man, her world collapses. Not only is she is forced to deal with sexual rejection from Meir, she also has to endure social rejection.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Lucky Fares (2014)
One of the Three Kings and Santa Claus spend Christmas in jail, talking about what their future will be like in a world like this.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Bold Eagle (2022)
Trapped at home with his talking cat, Bold seeks refuge in the strong arms of strange men as together they venture deep down into the nether regions of the Internet in search of true happiness. Caught in the tangle of technology and social media, he wonders to his cat about his place in the world. If he spreads his wings, can he fly?
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both romance
Hair (1979)
Upon receiving his draft notice and leaving his family ranch in Oklahoma, Claude heads to New York and befriends a tribe of long-haired hippies on his way to boot camp.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisTakumi-kun Series: That, Sunny Blue Sky (2011)
It's June of their third year of high school, and Takumi has an important anniversary to attend back in his hometown. He wants to invite Gii along for the trip, but time and scheduling and possibly broken promises stand in the way.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both romance
Takumi-kun Series: And the Spring Breeze Whispers (2007)
A 2nd year student is assigned a handsome new roommate at the start of the school year.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Takumi-kun Series: Rainbow Colored Glass (2009)
Takumi and Gii are now a couple, but Takumi is still uncomfortable with showing affection. Not only that, but Takumi grows jealous when Gii starts paying attention to a good-looking first year student. Is Gii's love really that fickle?
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both romance
Apt Pupil (1998)
One day in 1984, Todd Bowden, a brilliant high school boy fascinated by the history of Nazism, stumbles across an old man whose appearance resembles that of Kurt Dussander, a wanted Nazi war criminal. A month later, Todd decides to knock on his door.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Toilers and the Wayfarers?
The closest matches to The Toilers and the Wayfarers are My Policeman (2022), The Object of My Affection (1998) and Looking: The Movie (2016). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Toilers and the Wayfarers?
Start with My Policeman (2022), the closest match to The Toilers and the Wayfarers.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Toilers and the Wayfarers?
Maurice (1987), rated 7.6/10 by 642 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Toilers and the Wayfarers?
Heartstopper Forever (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like The Toilers and the Wayfarers?
Yes: My Policeman (2022), The Object of My Affection (1998) and Looking: The Movie (2016).
How are movies similar to The Toilers and the Wayfarers chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Toilers and the Wayfarers, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.