Movies like Paternity Leave (2015)
The best movies like Paternity Leave (2015) are Houseboat (1958), Someone Like You... (2001) and My Fake Boyfriend (2022). If Paternity Leave 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
- NewestJuste Xavier (2025)Released 2025
Houseboat (1958)
An Italian socialite on the run signs on as housekeeper for a widower with three children.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSomeone Like You... (2001)
Jane Goodale has everything going for her. She's a producer on a popular daytime talk show, and is in a hot romance with the show's dashing executive producer Ray. But when the relationship goes terribly awry, Jane begins an extensive study of the male animal, including her womanizing roommate Eddie. Jane puts her studies and romantic misadventure to use as a pseudonymous sex columnist -- and becomes a sensation.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMy Fake Boyfriend (2022)
A young man in a tricky situation follows the advice of his unconventional best friend and uses social media to create a fake boyfriend to keep his awful ex-lover out of his life. But everything backfires when he meets the real love of his life, and breaking up with his fake boyfriend proves hard to do.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & romance
SnoozefestMovies like thisBros (2022)
Two gay men are possibly, probably, stumbling towards love. Maybe. They're both very busy.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSplendor (1999)
Veronica is a white-bread beauty searching for a good man in Los Angeles. While slam dancing at a Halloween rave, she meets Abel, a sensitive poet. Then she meets Zed, a supersexy tattooed drummer with incredible biceps. Who will she choose? Does she go for true love or cheap sex? She can't decide so she chooses both. But after managing to nurture a picture-perfect threesome, along comes Ernest, a rich movie director with deep baby blues that sweep Veronica off her feet. What's a girl to do now?
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 thisStarting Over (1979)
After divorcing his ambitious singer wife, a middle-aged man begins a new relationship with a teacher.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisEverybody Loves Somebody (2017)
On the surface, Clara Barron seems to have it all: a job as an OB-GYN; a great house in LA; and a loving family. But, the one thing Clara doesn't have figured out is her love life. Pressured by a family wedding in Mexico, Clara asks a co-worker to pose as her boyfriend for the weekend festivities,- only to be caught by surprise when her ex- boyfriend (and family favorite) suddenly shows up after disappearing from her life completely. Torn, Clara must decide between going back to the past or open her heart to new and unexpected possibilities.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPuppy Love (2023)
After a disastrous first date, wild-child Nicole and socially-anxious Max vow to lose each other’s numbers until they learn that their dogs found a love match, and now puppies are on the way! The hilariously mismatched Nicole and Max are forced to become responsible co-parents, but may end up finding love themselves.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSocial Animals (2018)
Determined not to turn into her parents, or be drawn into any relationship longer than a one night stand, Zoe constantly struggles with her failing business and love life. Then she falls in love for the first time with Paul. But there's one problem: Paul is married.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisButterflies Are Free (1972)
Striving to be independent, the blind but determined Don Baker moves away from his overprotective mother. After settling into his new San Francisco digs, Don meets kooky neighbor Jill Tanner. Don's quick wit and good looks disarm the free-spirited Jill, and before long they're more than just friends. Will Mrs. Baker's incessant meddling destroy Don and Jill's budding relationship?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies 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 thisWhat's Your Number? (2011)
Ally Darling is realizing she's a little lost in life. Her latest romance has just fizzled out, and she's just been fired from her marketing job. Then she reads an eye-opening magazine article that warns that 96 percent of women who've been with 20 or more lovers are unlikely to find a husband. Determined to turn her life around and prove the article wrong, Ally embarks on a mission to find the perfect mate from among her numerous ex-boyfriends.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHow to Be Single (2016)
New York City is full of lonely hearts seeking the right match, and what Alice, Robin, Lucy, Meg, Tom and David all have in common is the need to learn how to be single in a world filled with ever-evolving definitions of love.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBabes (2024)
After getting pregnant from a one-night stand, a single woman leans on her married best friend and mother of two to guide her through gestation and beyond.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSaved! (2004)
Mary is a good Christian girl who goes to a good Christian high school where she has good Christian friends and a perfect Christian boyfriend. Her life seems perfect, until the day that she finds out that her boyfriend may be gay — and that she’s pregnant.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLittle Man (2006)
After leaving prison, dwarf criminal Calvin Sims joins his moron brother Percy in stealing an expensive huge diamond from a jewelry store for the mobster Walken. They are chased by the police, and Calvin hides the stone in the purse of executive Vanessa Edwards, whose husband Darryl Edwards wants to have a baby. Percy convinces Calvin to dress like a baby and be left in front of the Edwards' house to get inside the house and retrieve the diamond. Darryl and Vanessa keep Calvin for the weekend and decide to adopt him, while Walken threatens Darryl to get the stone back.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
SnoozefestMovies like thisAttraction (2001)
A writer/radio advice show host fails to heed his own advice as he stalks his ex-girlfriend and then becomes involved with an actress friend of hers.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRaising Arizona (1987)
When a childless couple—an ex-con and an ex-cop—take one of a wealthy family’s quintuplets to raise as their own, their lives grow more complicated than anticipated.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMy Beautiful Laundrette (1985)
A young Pakistani Briton manages a rundown laundrette with his lover while dealing with tension in his family, the local Pakistani community, and a persistent mob of skinheads.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNaked in New York (1993)
Naked in New York begins in the car of grown up Jake, he is talking to us about his girlfriend, Joanne, and to whom you can turn to for help while facing life. From there it flashes back to his memories of his parents, college, house across from a squirrel infested peanut factory, best friend, writing career and Joanne.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy & romance
Never Met Picasso (1997)
Still living at home with his avant-garde actress mother, constantly rejected by art schools, and without a lover, aspiring painter Andrew decides to enter a contest in hopes of winning a six month stay in Kenya. Though things aren't great for Andrew, neither are they wonderful for his lesbian friend Lucy who constantly bickers with her lover Ingrid. Lucy complicates Andrew's life when she introduces him to the suspicious-looking, enigmatic Jerry.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy & romance
Mamma Mia! (2008)
A spirited young bride-to-be living with her single mother on a small Greek island secretly invites three of her mother's ex-boyfriends in hope of finding her biological father to walk her down the aisle.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisShow Me Love (1998)
Two teenage girls in small-town Sweden. Elin is beautiful, popular, and bored with life. Agnes is friendless, sad, and secretly in love with Elin.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisRiding in Cars with Boys (2001)
In 1965, a young woman with dreams of becoming a writer has a son at the age of 15 and struggles to make things work with the drug-addicted father.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisJuste Xavier (2025)
Xavier, a trans lawyer, reunites with his family at Christmas for the first time since his transition. Between his father’s enthusiasm, a budding flirtation with Ariane, and his tense relationship with his mother and sisters, this not-so-traditional holiday dinner becomes a colorful occasion for reconnecting.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
Seed of Chucky (2004)
This time around, Chucky and his homicidal honey, Tiffany, are brought back to life by their orphan offspring, Glen. Then the horror goes Hollywood as Chucky unleashes his own brand of murderous mayhem!
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
SnoozefestMovies like thisPopeye (1980)
Popeye is a super-strong, spinach-scarfing sailor man who's searching for his father. During a storm that wrecks his ship, Popeye washes ashore and winds up rooming at the Oyl household, where he meets Olive. Before he can win her heart, he must first contend with Olive's fiancé, Bluto.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
SnoozefestMovies like thisMona Lisa Smile (2003)
Katherine Watson is a recent UCLA graduate hired to teach art history at the prestigious all-female Wellesley College, in 1953. Determined to confront the outdated mores of society and the institution that embraces them, Katherine inspires her traditional students, including Betty and Joan, to challenge the lives they are expected to lead.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Paternity Leave?
The closest matches to Paternity Leave are Houseboat (1958), Someone Like You... (2001) and My Fake Boyfriend (2022). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Paternity Leave?
Start with Houseboat (1958), the closest match to Paternity Leave.
What is the highest-rated movie like Paternity Leave?
¿Quieres ser mi hijo? (2023), rated 8.4/10 by 378 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Paternity Leave?
Juste Xavier (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Paternity Leave?
Yes: Houseboat (1958), Someone Like You... (2001) and My Fake Boyfriend (2022).
How are movies similar to Paternity Leave chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Paternity Leave, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.