Movies like The Gadfly (1980)
The best movies like The Gadfly (1980) are Love Finds You in Valentine (2016), Home by Spring (2018) and Baywatch: Hawaiian Wedding (2003). If The Gadfly hooked you with its drama and romance, these 20 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedRay Donovan: The Movie (2022)6.8/10 from 242 votes
- NewestKiller Heat (2024)Released 2024
Love Finds You in Valentine (2016)
Kennedy Blaine, a Californian girl, inherits a ranch in the small town of Valentine in Nebraska. Before she sells the property, she decides to spend the summer in her house and learn more about her family.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHome by Spring (2018)
When an ambitious event planner gets an opportunity she can’t refuse, she goes undercover as her boss and returns to her rural hometown. With the help of her family and the man she left behind, she pulls off the perfect spring retreat, but will she discover home is where her heart is?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBaywatch: Hawaiian Wedding (2003)
Mitch Buchannon, believed to have died in a boating accident survived and only has amnesia, he has been recovering in a Los Angeles hospital. His new fiancée, Allison Ford, resembles his old lover, Lt. Stephanie Holden who died years ago.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Hunchback (1997)
Based on Victor Hugo's famed novel, the story of Quasimodo, the deformed bell ringer of Notre Dame, and his unrequited love for the gypsy girl, Esmeralda.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
SnoozefestMovies like thisSteel Magnolias (2012)
In an updated contemporary version of the beloved stage play and 1989 film, "Steel Magnolias" chronicles the lives and friendship of six women in Louisiana. Supporting each other through their triumphs and tragedies, they congregate at Truvy’s beauty shop to ponder the mysteries of life and death, husbands and children - and hair and nails - all the important topics that truly unite and celebrate women.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Magic of Ordinary Days (2005)
Pregnant out of wedlock, an educated young woman is pressured by her father into an arranged marriage with a lonely farmer in this drama set during WWII.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBorrowed Hearts (1997)
Single mom Kathleen Russell (Roma Downey) and her daughter Zoey pretend to be Kathleen's boss's "family" so he can close a major business deal with the mysterious Mexican financier Javier Del Campo.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Very Country Christmas (2017)
Jeanette Williams is a busy single parent, trying to make the best life for her and her daughter. With no time to follow current celebrity gossip, Jeanette is unaware of when a Country superstar returns to their small town to escape the intrusive paparazzi and the chaos of fame. A chance meeting between the two have them both letting their guards down and opening their hearts to the possibility of romance.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Program (1993)
Several players from different backgrounds try to cope with the pressures of playing football at a major university. Each deals with the pressure differently, some turn to drinking, others to drugs, and some to studying.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHome for Christmas Day (2017)
Jane is a single mother dead set on protecting her teenage daughter Betsy from the harsh realities of life. When Betsy falls in love with an enlisted man, Jane tries her best to steer Betsy away from heartache. Little does Jane realize she and her daughter are about to learn important lessons of the heart and that taking chances can sometimes lead to the most extraordinary happy endings.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisPrescription for Love (2019)
Claire’s life as a nurse in a busy hospital is complicated by a supervisor who is intent on making her miserable with tedious and extra tasks. Claire’s only relief is the patients she treats, and even that is not always a picnic. On a rare night off, she attends a dance performance and gets trapped in an elevator with a charming man. There is an instant connection between them, but as they are “rescued” from the elevator, they are pulled away from each other before they can exchange names and numbers.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisI Am Elizabeth Smart (2017)
The story of Elizabeth Smart's kidnapping and captivity, as told from her perspective.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Hero (2019)
An alumni of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service who is settled in Europe gets a call from his father who was considered dead and he sets on a mission to find him with the help of his first love.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisKiller Heat (2024)
An expat PI is hired to investigate a suspicious death in Crete, Greece, where jealousies run deep amongst the victim's powerful family.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
SnoozefestMovies like thisSilverton Siege (2022)
After a failed sabotage mission, a trio of anti-apartheid freedom fighters ends up in a tense bank hostage situation. Based on a true story.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRay Donovan: The Movie (2022)
A showdown decades in the making brings the Donovan family legacy full circle. As the events that made Ray who he is today finally come to light, the Donovans find themselves drawn back to Boston to face the past. Each of them struggles to overcome their violent upbringing, but destiny dies hard, and only their fierce love for each other keeps them in the fight.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNot Easily Broken (2009)
A car accident and shifting affections test the bond between a married couple.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTalhotBlond (2012)
Thomas Montgomery, a married father of two young daughters, gets seduced by the world of online gambling and chat rooms where a virtual romance and sexual obsession ultimately leads to the murder of an innocent man.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAmanda Knox: Murder on Trial in Italy (2011)
Based on the events surrounding the murder of British student Meredith Kercher. Hayden Panettiere (Heroes) and Marcia Gay Harden (Academy Award winner for Pollock) star in the Lifetime Original Movie Amanda Knox: Murder on Trial in Italy based on the international headline-grabbing story of the now infamous American exchange student accused by Italian authorities of brutally killing her roommate. Amanda Knox: Murder on Trial in Italy poses the question of whether Knox (Panettiere), the Seattle honors student accused of murdering her college roommate Meredith Kercher (Amanda Fernando Stevens) in 2007 with her boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito (Paolo Romio) and acquaintance Rudy Guede (Djirbi Kebe), actually committed the crime or was herself a victim.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisIron Jawed Angels (2004)
Defiant young activists take the women's suffrage movement by storm, putting their lives at risk to help American women win the right to vote.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Gadfly?
The closest matches to The Gadfly are Love Finds You in Valentine (2016), Home by Spring (2018) and Baywatch: Hawaiian Wedding (2003). Below are 17 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Gadfly?
Start with Love Finds You in Valentine (2016), the closest match to The Gadfly.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Gadfly?
Ray Donovan: The Movie (2022), rated 6.8/10 by 242 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Gadfly?
Killer Heat (2024) is the most recent release on this list.
How are movies similar to The Gadfly chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Gadfly, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.