Movies like Bagdad Cafe (1987)
The best movies like Bagdad Cafe (1987) are Haunted Mansion (2023), Wicked Little Letters (2024) and The Meddler (2016). If Bagdad Cafe hooked you with its comedy and drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedAli: Fear Eats the Soul (1974)7.7/10 from 475 votes
- NewestTrain Dreams (2025)Released 2025
- In GermanAli: Fear Eats the Soul (1974)Also in German
Haunted Mansion (2023)
A woman and her son enlist a motley crew of so-called spiritual experts to help rid their home of supernatural squatters.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWicked Little Letters (2024)
When the denizens of Littlehampton – including conservative Edith – begin receiving letters full of hilarious profanities, rowdy Irish migrant Rose is charged with the crime. Suspecting something amiss, the town's women band together to investigate.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Meddler (2016)
With a new iPhone, an apartment near the Grove, and a comfortable bank account left to her by her beloved late husband, Marnie Minervini has happily relocated from New Jersey to Los Angeles to be near her daughter Lori, a successful (but still single) screenwriter, and smother her with motherly love. But when the dozens of texts, unexpected visits, and conversations dominated by unsolicited advice force Lori to draw strict personal boundaries, Marnie finds ways to channel her eternal optimism and forceful generosity to change the lives of others - as well as her own - and find a new purpose in life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Station Agent (2003)
When his only friend dies, a man born with dwarfism moves to rural New Jersey to live a life of solitude, only to meet a chatty hot dog vendor and a woman dealing with her own personal loss.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAna (2020)
Ana meets Rafa in a chance encounter and they embark on a road trip to try and save him from bankruptcy, or worse.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSunshine Cleaning (2009)
A single mother and her slacker sister find an unexpected way to turn their lives around in this off-beat dramatic comedy. In order to raise the tuition to send her young son to private school the mom starts an unusual business – a biohazard removal/crime scene clean-up service.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLast Holiday (2006)
The discovery that she has a terminal illness prompts introverted department store saleswoman Georgia Byrd to reflect on what she realizes has been an overly cautious life. With weeks to live, she withdraws her life savings, sells all her possessions and jets off to Europe where she lives it up at a posh hotel. Upbeat and passionate, Georgia charms everybody she meets, including renowned Chef Didier. The only one missing from her new life is her longtime crush Sean Williams.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Shooting (1966)
Two miners agree to guide a mysterious woman, who has appeared in their camp from nowhere, to a nearby town; but soon, because of her erratic behavior, they begin to suspect that her true purpose is quite different.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWestward the Women (1951)
There's a deficit of good, honest women in the West, and Roy Whitman wants to change that. His solution is to bring a caravan of over 100 mail-order brides from Chicago to California. It will be a long, difficult and dangerous journey for the women. So Whitman hires hardened, cynical Buck Wyatt to be their guide across the inhospitable frontier. But as disaster strikes on the trail, Buck just might discover that these women are stronger than he thinks.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAgatha and the Truth of Murder (2018)
England, December 1926. Although her personal life is in tatters, the famous writer Agatha Christie decides to leave everything behind to help unravel an unsolved murder committed on a train six years ago, unable to imagine the disproportionate consequences that such a selfless act will cause.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Huntsman: Winter's War (2016)
As two evil sisters prepare to conquer the land, two renegades—Eric the Huntsman, who aided Snow White in defeating Ravenna in Snowwhite and the Huntsman, and his forbidden lover, Sara—set out to stop them.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTrue Grit (1969)
The murder of her father sends a teenage tomboy on a mission of 'justice', which involves avenging her father's death. She recruits a tough old marshal, 'Rooster' Cogburn because he has 'true grit', and a reputation of getting the job done.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisTrain Dreams (2025)
A logger leads a life of quiet grace as he experiences love and loss during an era of monumental change in early 20th-century America.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWoman of Straw (1964)
Anthony Richmond schemes to get the fortune of his tyrannical, wheelchair-using tycoon uncle Charles Richmond by persuading Maria, a nurse he employs, to marry him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisVera Cruz (1954)
After the American Civil War, mercenaries travel to Mexico to fight in their revolution for money. The former soldier and gentleman Benjamin Trane meets the gunman and killer Joe Erin and his men, and together they are hired by the Emperor Maximillian and the Marquis Henri de Labordere to escort the Countess Marie Duvarre to the harbor of Vera Cruz.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFletch (1985)
When investigative reporter Irwin "Fletch" Fletcher goes undercover to write a piece on the drug trade at a local beach, he's approached by wealthy businessman Alan Stanwyk, who offers him $50,000 to murder him. With sarcastic wit and a knack for disguises, Fletch sets out to uncover Stanwyk's story.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMcLintock! (1963)
Aging rancher and self-made man, George Washington McLintock is forced to deal with numerous personal and professional problems. Seemingly everyone wants a piece of his enormous farmstead, including high-ranking government men and nearby Native Americans. As McLintock tries to juggle his various adversaries, his wife—who left him two years previously—suddenly returns. But she isn't interested in George; she wants custody of their daughter.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisEO (2022)
The world is a mysterious place when seen through the eyes of an animal. EO, a grey donkey with melancholic eyes, meets good and bad people on his life’s path, experiences joy and pain, endures the wheel of fortune randomly turn his luck into disaster and his despair into unexpected bliss. But not even for a moment does he lose his innocence.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Good Witch (2008)
A mysterious woman comes in to town and inhabits the local haunted mansion, making everyone wonder if she's a witch or "The Grey Lady".
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisRiddle of Fire (2024)
Three mischievous children embark on a woodland odyssey when their mother sends them on an errand.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWilbur Wants to Kill Himself (2002)
The strange comedy film of two close brothers; one, Wilbur, who wants to kill himself, and the other, Harbour, who tries to prevent this. When their father dies leaving them his bookstore they meet a woman who makes their lives a bit better yet with a bit more trouble as well.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTeddy Bear Motel (2022)
A young woman travels to the Teddy Bear Motel after seeing it in her dreams. Between the allure of the motel’s portal into childhood and the realities of adulthood, she inevitably needs to make her choice.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy & drama
Ali: Fear Eats the Soul (1974)
Emmi Kurowski, a cleaning lady, is lonely in her old age. Her husband died years ago, and her grown children offer little companionship. One night she goes to a bar frequented by Arab immigrants and strikes up a friendship with middle-aged mechanic Ali. Their relationship soon develops into something more, and Emmi's family and neighbors criticize their spontaneous marriage. Soon Emmi and Ali are forced to confront their own insecurities about their future.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisOcean's Eleven (1960)
Danny Ocean and his gang attempt to rob the five biggest casinos in Las Vegas in one night.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBreathless (1960)
A small-time thief steals a car and impulsively murders a motorcycle policeman. Wanted by the authorities, he attempts to persuade a girl to run away to Italy with him.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMonster (2003)
In 1989, prostitute Aileen Wuornos befriends and enters a relationship with a young woman named Selby. Determined to straighten out her life, Aileen's limited education lands her back on the corner. She's raped by a trick, who she kills. A string of murder and robbery follows that ultimately leads Aileen to becoming America's first female serial killer.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisScoop (2006)
An American journalism student in London scoops a big story, and begins an affair with an aristocrat as the incident unfurls.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLaura (1944)
A police detective falls in love with the woman whose murder he's investigating.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBreakdown (1997)
On their cross-country drive, a married couple, Jeff and Amy Taylor, experience car trouble after their SUV breaks down. Stranded in the New Mexico desert, the two catch a break when a passing truck driver offers Amy a ride to a nearby café to call for help. Meanwhile, Jeff is able to fix the car and make his way to the café, but Amy isn't there. He tracks down the trucker ― who tells the police he's never seen Jeff or his wife before. Jeff then begins a desperate, frenzied search for Amy.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Waterboy (1998)
Bobby Boucher is a water boy for a struggling college football team. The coach discovers Boucher's hidden rage makes him a tackling machine whose bone-crushing power might vault his team into the playoffs.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Bagdad Cafe?
The closest matches to Bagdad Cafe are Haunted Mansion (2023), Wicked Little Letters (2024) and The Meddler (2016). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Bagdad Cafe?
Start with Haunted Mansion (2023), the closest match to Bagdad Cafe.
What is the highest-rated movie like Bagdad Cafe?
Ali: Fear Eats the Soul (1974), rated 7.7/10 by 475 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Bagdad Cafe?
Train Dreams (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there German movies like Bagdad Cafe?
Yes: Ali: Fear Eats the Soul (1974).
How are movies similar to Bagdad Cafe chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Bagdad Cafe, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.