Movies like Soft Lad (2015)
The best movies like Soft Lad (2015) are My Policeman (2022), House of Boys (2009) and Behind the Candelabra (2013). If Soft Lad hooked you with its drama and romance, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedBrokeback Mountain (2005)7.8/10 from 7,811 votes
- NewestOnly Good Things (2025)Released 2025
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 thisHouse of Boys (2009)
It is 1984. Frank is a determined English teenager who runs away from high school to find an alternative gay lifestyle in Amsterdam. He finds a home and a job at the "House of Boys", a bar-cum-brothel run by a strict Madame who has an eye for what his punters crave. Frank works his way up from barman to on-stage dancer and falls in love with some of his housemates, Jake. The first intimations of what is described as 'the gay cancer', casts a long shadow over Frank's tight-knit group of friends. Yet despite the troubles that cloud the hopes and dreams of young Frank, his perseverance, along with support from a willing doctor, will carry him through.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies 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 thisCamp Belvidere (2014)
Camp Belvidere is a lesbian romance set in the 1950s about the coming of age of Camp Leader Rose and her forbidden encounter with Nurse Gin. It depicts the journey and evolution of a friendship into a romance between two women when their rapport would have been unlikely.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisElena Undone (2010)
The wife of a pastor who preaches against homosexuality embarks on an affair with a female writer.
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 thisFire with Fire (1986)
A tough, street-smart kid serving a sentence in a state youth reformatory meets a beautiful, innocent girl studying at a nearby convent. When forbidden love blossoms between them, they must fight the prison authorities, their parents and the law.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBelow Her Mouth (2017)
An unexpected affair quickly escalates into a heart-stopping reality for two women whose passionate connection changes their lives forever.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRent: Filmed Live on Broadway (2008)
Set in New York City's gritty East Village, the revolutionary rock opera RENT tells the story of a group of bohemians struggling to live and pay their rent. "Measuring their lives in love," these starving artists strive for success and acceptance while enduring the obstacles of poverty, illness and the AIDS epidemic.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisTwo Moon Junction (1988)
A young Southern débutante temporarily abandons her posh lifestyle and upcoming, semi-arranged marriage to have a lustful and erotic fling with a rugged drifter who works at a local carnival.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWeekend (2011)
After a drunken house party with his straight mates, Russell heads out to a gay club. Just before closing time he picks up Glen but what's expected to be just a one-night stand becomes something else, something special.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLongtime Companion (1989)
During the summer of 1981, a group of friends in New York are completely unprepared for the onslaught of AIDS. What starts as a rumor about a mysterious "gay cancer" soon turns into a major crisis as, one by one, some of the friends begin to fall ill, leaving the others to panic about who will be next. As death takes its toll, the lives of these friends are forever redefined by an unconditional display of love, hope and courage.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOf an Age (2023)
A Serbian ballroom dancer experiences an unexpected and intense 24-hour romance with a friend's older brother.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies 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 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 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 thisA Very Natural Thing (1974)
When David, an ex-monk still in his twenties meets Mark, he falls hard; soon he's asked Mark if they can live together. Things go well for awhile, and then differences in their definition of "commitment" begin to push them apart. Mark wants other sexual adventures, David tries to go along. Can they talk through the crisis in their relationship or is a breakup in the offing? David sees his relationship with Mark as a marriage, so if it ends, can David's heart ever heal?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMaria's Lovers (1984)
A World War II prisoner returns home to his childhood sweetheart. However, back home, he discovers that he has to compete to win her love.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLittle Ashes (2008)
About the young life and loves of artist Salvador Dalí, filmmaker Luis Buñuel and writer Federico García Lorca.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
SnoozefestMovies like thisAn Englishman in New York (2009)
Biographical drama based on the last 20 years of Crisp's life. The literary figure and gay iconoclast emigrated to New York in 1981 and lived there until his death. The film observes Crisp in both his public and private lives, from his seemingly cavalier response to the outbreak of AIDS to his tender relationship with his friend Patrick Angus and his own response to growing old.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like this9 Songs (2004)
Matt, a young glaciologist, soars across the vast, silent, icebound immensities of the South Pole as he recalls his love affair with Lisa. They meet at a mobbed rock concert in a vast music hall - London's Brixton Academy. They are in bed at night's end. Together, over a period of several months, they pursue a mutual sexual passion whose inevitable stages unfold in counterpoint to nine live-concert songs.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & romance
SnoozefestMovies like thisBrokeback Mountain (2005)
In 1960s Wyoming, two men develop a strong emotional and sexual relationship that endures as a lifelong connection complicating their lives as they get married and start families of their own.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisOnly Good Things (2025)
Catalão, Brazil, 1984. The rural region of Batalha dos Neves is made up of large crop pastures, a few farms and divided in half by the São Marcos River. Antonio lives alone and isolated taking care of his small farm until the day he encounters Marcelo, a lonely motorcycler who suffers an accident crossing the region. Antonio takes care of Marcelo’s wounds. The two fall in love and live a story that transforms, destabilizes, and causes ruptures in each of them.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both romance & drama
The Secret Call (1931)
The Secret Call is adapted from The Woman, a play by William C. DeMille (brother of Cecil B.) Peggy Shannon plays Wanda Kelly, the daughter of a disgraced politician. Reduced to working as a switchboard operator, Wanda is privy to the many secrets and indiscretions of the clients of a big-city hotel. She also finds romance in the form of handsome Tom Blake (Richard Arlen). The huge cast of characters comes in handy for the film's multitude of subplots, none of which ever get their wires crossed. Peggy Shannon acquits herself nicely in her first major role, but by the end of the decade her career was in decline.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & romance
Calvary (1996)
A traveling accordionist and superintendent of an old castle lives in an unhappy marriage, with a grown up daughter and has a sister-in-law who has been in love with him for years. During a trip, he meets young journalist (Mato Pavelic)and falls madly in love. His visit to the old castle tears the family apart, resulting in tragedy.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & romance
The Gay Agenda 26 (2024)
In this anthology of shorts, the phrase “Gay Agenda” is reclaimed from the religious right and transformed into a celebration of gay culture. Sit back and enjoy “The Carer,” “Into the Storm,” and “Floating Melon.”
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both romance & drama
To Be or Not to Be (1942)
During the Nazi occupation of Poland, an acting troupe becomes embroiled in a Polish soldier's efforts to track down a German spy.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisI'll Love You Forever... Tonight (1992)
Set in the late 1980s, this critically acclaimed indie classic from 1992 portrays a gritty side of gay life in Los Angeles. Ethan (Paul Marius), a 27-year-old photographer, believes he has no need for love or commitments, and is living his life amidst one-night stands. Ethan is coaxed by his "best buddy" Dennis (Jason Adams) into attending a reunion of college friends and lovers at a Palm Springs hideaway. What is supposed to be a restful vacation turns into a round of hard drinking and cruel sexual games. By the end of the "vacation," Ethan feels a need for new friends and returns to Los Angeles. Confronting his troubled family life, he calls his father - who doesn't want anything to do with him. In the end, Ethan realizes that he can make his own "family" with friends who will accept each other without judgments.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Ozon: Remastered & Uncut (2022)
He thrilled you with 'Swimming Pool', tickled you with '8 Women' and beguiled you with 'Young and Beautiful'. Dive into the the erotic twists and transgressive turns of the early short films of auteur director François Ozon. The 5 short films are: A Summer Dress [Une robe d'été] (1996); X2000 (1998); Truth or Dare [Action vérité] (1994); See the Sea [Regarde la mer] (1997); Little Death [La petite mort] (1995).
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Swans (2016)
By living his entire life fearing the prejudice of others, Aksel inadvertently made himself the source of true bias. Now, the real victims of prejudice will be revealed, as his secret is laid out for the world to see.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Like Soft Lad and something else?
Blend two favourites and we’ll find the films in between.
Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Soft Lad?
The closest matches to Soft Lad are My Policeman (2022), House of Boys (2009) and Behind the Candelabra (2013). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Soft Lad?
Start with My Policeman (2022), the closest match to Soft Lad.
What is the highest-rated movie like Soft Lad?
Brokeback Mountain (2005), rated 7.8/10 by 7,811 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Soft Lad?
Only Good Things (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Soft Lad?
Yes: My Policeman (2022), House of Boys (2009) and Behind the Candelabra (2013).
How are movies similar to Soft Lad chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Soft Lad, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.