Movies like How I Got Into College (1989)
The best movies like How I Got Into College (1989) are Sex Appeal (2022), The Tao of Steve (2000) and ¿Quieres ser mi hijo? (2023). If How I Got Into College hooked you with its comedy and romance, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest rated¿Quieres ser mi hijo? (2023)8.4/10 from 378 votes
- NewestOne Night Only (2026)Released 2026
Sex Appeal (2022)
Avery, a teenager with a tendency towards perfectionism, enlists her friend Larson to help her prepare for her first time with her long-distance boyfriend.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Tao of Steve (2000)
In college, Dex was the big man on campus. Ten years later, now an overweight kindergarten teacher, Dex is immune to the shocked stares of the women who were once his conquests. While trying to pick up the bartender, he is struck by the gorgeous Syd. Through a series of circumstances, Syd and Dex are thrown together and he soon finds himself questioning his belief in all things Steve.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like this¿Quieres ser mi hijo? (2023)
Lu, a conformist woman in her forties, learns that her 15-year partner has been having extramarital affairs. Starting from scratch, she gets involved in an unexpected relationship with a young womanizer.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & romance
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisA Nice Girl Like You (2020)
Lucy Neal is thrown for a loop when she is accused of being too inhibited by her ex-boyfriend. In an effort to prove him wrong, Lucy creates a rather wild to-do list that sends her on a whirlwind and surprising journey of self-discovery, friendship, and new love.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & romance
SnoozefestMovies like thisDesperados (2020)
A panicked young woman and her two best friends fly to Mexico to delete a ranting email she sent to her new boyfriend. On arrival, they run into her former beau, who soon gets caught up in their frantic scheme.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe List (2023)
After her fiance sleeps with a celebrity on his free pass list, Abby Meyers, with nothing but five names and a fantasy shared by millions, sets out for Los Angeles to sleep with someone from hers.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & comedy
SnoozefestMovies like thisPlayers (2024)
New York sportswriter Mack has spent years devising successful hook-up "plays" with her friends, but when she unexpectedly falls for one of her targets, she must learn what it takes to go from simply scoring to playing for keeps.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Right Kind of Wrong (2013)
A stubborn idealist spies a bride on her way to her wedding and immediately falls in love with her.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & comedy
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Incredible Jessica James (2017)
Burned by a bad breakup, a struggling New York City playwright makes an unlikely connection with a divorced app designer she meets on a blind date.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSundown (2016)
High school seniors Logan and Blake prepare for an epic Spring Break as they travel to the beautiful and exotic Mexican beach resort of Puerto Vallarta hoping to hook up with their high school crushes. Surrounded by hot girls in teeny bikinis, the guys are truly in heaven. After meeting at a club, Logan falls for a mysterious local beauty named Gaby but then realizes the next morning, when his grandfather’s Rolex watch is missing, that she was after more than just his heart.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & comedy
SnoozefestMovies like thisMy Sassy Girl (2008)
A guy has his life planned out until he is wooed, groomed and then dumped by an elusive woman.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDean (2016)
A comedy about loss, grief, and the redemptive power of love. Dean is a NY illustrator who falls hard for an LA woman while trying to prevent his father from selling the family home in the wake of his mother's death.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & comedy
SnoozefestMovies like thisMischief (1985)
1956: The shy Jonathan's luck with girls changes when he wins the rebellious Gene as a friend in his last year of high school. Gene is adored by many girls and manages to teach Jonathan a few lessons. Gene himself would rather just be with one girl: his girlfriend Bunny. But since his father is poor, her parents don't accept him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFrench Girl (2024)
Sweet Gordon, an affable English teacher in Brooklyn, has beaten the odds; a French Girl has fallen in love with him and he’s fallen even harder back. But their future is thrown into limbo when she interviews for an executive chef position in her hometown of Quebec City. To Gordon’s dismay her future boss also happens to be her former lover, a celebrity Chef with oceanic eyes and a hit TV show. Good luck Gordon.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBye Bye Love (1995)
With varying degrees of success, recently divorced friends Dave, Vic and Donny are trying to move on with their lives. Vic feels vilified by his ex-wife's parents, while Donny has a shaky bond with his teen daughter, Emma. Dave, meanwhile, has an enviable problem -- he has more dates than he can handle. As they confront their post-marital challenges, the men take solace in one another's plights.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLong Weekend (2021)
Bart's chance encounter with the enigmatic Vienna leads to a whirlwind weekend together. The two fall fast and hard, but both carry secrets that could be their undoing or the chance for a fresh start.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisJust One of the Guys (1985)
When Terry Griffith loses her high school's writing competition, she's convinced that it's because she's a girl. So Terry decides to change high schools and pose as a boy to prove her point. Her brother, Buddy, helps her pass as a guy so well that she is soon making friends with the boys at school, including the attractive Rick, who becomes her new best friend. But her gender-swapping makes things difficult when she falls in love with him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisZack and Miri Make a Porno (2008)
Lifelong platonic friends Zack and Miri look to solve their respective cash-flow problems by making an adult film together. As the cameras roll, however, the duo begin to sense that they may have more feelings for each other than they previously thought.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe 4:30 Movie (2024)
In the summer of 1986, three sixteen year old friends spend their Saturdays sneaking into movies at the local multiplex. But when one of the guys also invites the girl of his dreams to see the latest comedy, each of the teens learn more about life and love.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & romance
SnoozefestMovies like thisOne Night Only (2026)
Two love-starved strangers crash into each other on the one night of the year when single people are allowed to have sex.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHarold and Maude (1971)
A deadpan young man obsessed with death meets an eccentric septuagenarian who teaches him to live life to the fullest.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisRemotely Working (2023)
Alex gets fired from his office job and accepts several remote working positions to avoid telling the truth to his girlfriend. The situation that he has placed himself in by working several remote jobs at the same time soon spirals out of control.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both romance & comedy
Monsoon Wedding (2001)
A stressed father, a bride-to-be with a secret, a smitten event planner, and relatives from around the world create much ado about the preparations for an arranged marriage in India.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWinona (2020)
Seems like an ordinary trip to a remote beach. Four young women enjoy the warmth of the sun, the coolness of the sea and one another's company. None of them is "Winona"
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
Head or Tails (2016)
Lilly convinces her best friend René to join her on a nocturnal trespassing adventure. The two young women break into a zoo and enter an idiosyncratic animal kingdom where the boundaries between fear and desire begin to blur.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
Taiga Sailor (1983)
Far up north, a team of gas workers led by foreman Gena Morozov is at work. During a forced stop in a road construction workers' village, he meets the beautiful Lyuba, who is being courted by the road section chief Rostovtsev. One day, during a blizzard, a report comes in about an accident on the gas pipeline. Morozov and his comrades set off for the scene of the accident. Rostovtsev refuses to give him any equipment, but his subordinates, the drivers of the all-terrain vehicle and bulldozer, decide on their own to help Morozov's team. The accident is repaired, but Morozov, who has fallen ill, is taken to the hospital, accompanied by Lyuba, who hopes to meet the brave "taiga sailor" again soon...
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both romance
Night on Earth (1991)
A quintet of cabbies in five cities and their remarkable fares on the same eventful night.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisEverything Is Illuminated (2005)
A young Jewish American man endeavors—with the help of eccentric, distant relatives—to find the woman who saved his grandfather during World War II—in a Ukrainian village which was ultimately razed by the Nazis.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSummer Storm (2004)
Tobi and Achim, the pride of the local crew club, have been the best of friends for years and are convinced that nothing will ever stand in the way of their friendship. They look forward to the upcoming summer camp and the crew competition. Then the gay team from Berlin arrives and Tobi is totally confused. The evening before the races begin, the storm that breaks out is more than meteorological.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBang, Boom, Bang (1999)
Bank robber Kalle Grabowski escapes from prison while his unemployed smalltime crook buddy is sitting around doing nothing after he just lost all their money. A fast paced comedy from German director Peter Thorwarth.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like How I Got Into College?
The closest matches to How I Got Into College are Sex Appeal (2022), The Tao of Steve (2000) and ¿Quieres ser mi hijo? (2023). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after How I Got Into College?
Start with Sex Appeal (2022), the closest match to How I Got Into College.
What is the highest-rated movie like How I Got Into College?
¿Quieres ser mi hijo? (2023), rated 8.4/10 by 378 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like How I Got Into College?
One Night Only (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like How I Got Into College?
Yes: Sex Appeal (2022), The Tao of Steve (2000) and ¿Quieres ser mi hijo? (2023).
How are movies similar to How I Got Into College chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside How I Got Into College, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.