Movies like The General Retires (1988)
The best movies like The General Retires (1988) are All Day and a Night (2020), The Nest (2020) and Jimmy P. (2013). If The General Retires hooked you with its drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedMr. Church (2016)7.4/10 from 558 votes
- NewestSpringsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere (2025)Released 2025
All Day and a Night (2020)
While serving life in prison, a young man looks back at the people, the circumstances and the system that set him on the path toward his crime.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Nest (2020)
Rory is an ambitious entrepreneur who brings his American wife and kids to his native country, England, to explore new business opportunities. After abandoning the sanctuary of their safe American suburban surroundings, the family is plunged into the despair of an archaic '80s Britain and their unaffordable new life in an English manor house threatens to destroy the family.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisJimmy P. (2013)
At the end of WWII, Jimmy Picard, a Native American Blackfoot who fought in France, suffers from unexplainable symptoms and is admitted to a military hospital. When doctors suspect schizophrenia, an eccentric psychoanalyst takes up the case and starts a conversation with the veteran.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisEleanor the Great (2025)
94-year-old Eleanor Morgenstein tries to rebuild her life after the death of her best friend. As a result, she moves back to New York City after living in Florida for decades.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisStrange Weather (2016)
Years after her son's suicide, a woman longs to confront both the past and a friend of his who took his business idea.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Safety of Objects (2002)
In a suburban landscape, the lives of several families interlace with loss, despair and personal crisis. Esther Gold has lost focus on all but caring for her comatose son, Paul, and neglects her daughter and husband. Lawyer Jim Train is devoted to his career, not his family. Helen Christianson wants to find a new spark in life, while Annette Jennings tries to rebuild hers.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHardball (2001)
An aimless young man who is scalping tickets, gambling and drinking, agrees to coach a Little League team from the Cabrini Green housing project in Chicago as a condition of getting a loan from a friend.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Congress (2013)
An aging, out-of-work actress accepts one last job, though the consequences of her decision affect her in ways she didn't consider.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTaurus (2022)
A rising but troubled musician searches for the inspiration to record one last song, pushing himself deep into the void.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisHome Run (2013)
A pro ball player with a substance abuse problem is forced into rehab in his hometown, finding new hope when he gets honest about his checkered past, and takes on coaching duties for a misfit Little League team
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTigertail (2020)
A man reflects on the lost love of his youth and his long-ago journey from Taiwan to America as he begins to reconnect with his estranged daughter.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMr. Church (2016)
A unique friendship develops when a little girl and her dying mother inherit a cook - Mr. Church. What begins as an arrangement that should only last six months, instead spans fifteen years.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Beautiful Country (2004)
After reuniting with his mother in Ho Chi Minh City, a family tragedy causes Binh to flee from Viet Nam to America. Landing in New York, Binh begins a road trip to Texas, where his American father is said to live.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHoly Lands (2019)
When lapsed Jew and former cardiologist Harry suddenly decides to spend his retirement as a pig farmer in Nazareth, Israel, the move deeply shocks his family and his new neighbours. Back in New York, Harry’s ex-wife Monica is trying to manage the lives of their adult children, Annabelle and David, as well as her own.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHereafter (2010)
Three people — a blue-collar American, a French journalist and a London school boy — are touched by death in different ways.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMan with No Past (2025)
Waking up in an unfamiliar city, a man with no memory must confront the mysteries of his own identity. However, his desperate search to uncover the past pits him against a powerful enemy, leading to a showdown that ultimately reveals the truth.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMindwalk (1991)
On the French island of Mont Saint-Michel, Jack, a failed presidential candidate, Tom, a poet and Sonia, a physicist, engage in an intellectual conversation about politics, philosophy and life over the course of a single day.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSpringsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere (2025)
Bruce Springsteen, a young musician on the cusp of global superstardom, struggles to reconcile the pressures of success with the ghosts of his past.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Question of Faith (2017)
When Tragedy Strikes three Families, their Destiny forces them on a coverging path and mercy as the challenges of their fate could also resurrect their beliefs
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBastard Out of Carolina (1996)
A poor, struggling South Carolinian mother and daughter face painful choices with their resolve and pride. Bone, the eldest daughter, and Anney her tired mother, grow both closer and farther apart: Anney sees Glen as her last chance.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBad Timing (1982)
Nancy Savoca’s second student film follows two twelve-year olds, Bobby (Joey D’Arelli) and Denise (Kelly Cinnante) who run away to Hollywood. They land at an open mic night in a New Jersey bar where Bobby’s aunt and uncle (once aspiring actors) lay out the realities of life as a working actor. The film was inspired by performers Savoca met while making her first student film, most notably William DaPrato. Filled with wry humor and quiet revelations about the pursuit of artistic dreams, Bad Timing also features Marianne Leone and the on-screen debut of future Academy Award winner Chris Cooper.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Down with the King (2021)
Sent to the Berkshires to focus on his next album, disillusioned rap star Money Merc abruptly announces his retirement on Twitter. After Merc's announcement, his manager rushes to the countryside to lure him back into the music industry.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Auguri professore (1997)
Professor Lipari teaches in a public school and is in a full-on existential crisis. He has no faith in himself and in the possibility of changing the world for the better. At school, a former student of his who is also a teacher will change his attitude.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDog Pound (2010)
Three juvenile delinquents arrive at a correctional center and are put under the care of an experienced guard.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSadie McKee (1934)
A maid has romances with a two-timer, a boozing millionaire and the master of the house.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Horse Teeth (2024)
A married couple begins to drift apart after they discover the husband's doppelgänger lurking the streets of their neighbourhood.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Beating Sun (2023)
Max is preparing an architecture and landscape competition for the city of Marseille. He is confident, his project is daring but pioneering. The oral is going well. The garden on this square is finally emerging and with it radical changes for the inhabitants as well as for Max whose career is stalling dangerously.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The Big Animal (2000)
When the circus leaves town, Zygmunt and Marysia unwittingly adopt a camel into their home. The couple quickly forms a close bond with the nameless camel, but as the bond grows stronger, their neighbors slowly begin to ostracize them.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
To Love the Damned (1980)
Young radical Riccardo returns home after hiding in South America for five years, only to find out that his comrades either gave up their ideals or turned to drugs, while all they fought for seems to have set the stage for near-anarchy.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Sue (1998)
An unemployed ex-office worker searching for work floats a fragile line of sanity as she struggles to find friendship and companionship. Her tenuous grasp on reality further fluctuates when a man whom she met in a restaurant and started an affair with is called to go to India for an assignment. The final straw occurs when she is evicted and moves into a sleazy hotel. She then starts seeking casual sex in unorthodox locations just to have human contact.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Like The General Retires and something else?
Blend two favourites and we’ll find the films in between.
Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The General Retires?
The closest matches to The General Retires are All Day and a Night (2020), The Nest (2020) and Jimmy P. (2013). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The General Retires?
Start with All Day and a Night (2020), the closest match to The General Retires.
What is the highest-rated movie like The General Retires?
Mr. Church (2016), rated 7.4/10 by 558 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The General Retires?
Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
How are movies similar to The General Retires chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The General Retires, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.