Movies like Merry Christmas... Happy New Year (1989)
The best movies like Merry Christmas... Happy New Year (1989) are Somewhere in Queens (2023), Variety Lights (1950) and A Flat for Three (2012). If Merry Christmas... Happy New Year hooked you with its comedy and drama, these 20 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedUgly, Dirty and Bad (1976)7.5/10 from 363 votes
- NewestThe Greater Good (2026)Released 2026
- In ItalianVariety Lights (1950)Also in Italian
Somewhere in Queens (2023)
Leo and Angela Russo live a simple life in Queens, surrounded by their overbearing Italian-American family. When their son finds success on his high school basketball team, Leo tears the family apart trying to make it happen.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisVariety Lights (1950)
In Italy, Checco Dal Monte manages a troupe of traveling performers with plenty of heart but minimal talent. At a small town engagement, he encounters the starry-eyed, gorgeous Lily Antonelli, and hires her as a dancer on the show. Vivacious Lily quickly sells out crowds and earns the resentment of Checco's mistress, Melina Amour, but the fledgling performer has far bigger ambitions and soon sets her sights on a higher-profile role.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Flat for Three (2012)
Ulisse, Fulvio and Domenico decide to rent an apartment together in order to live with their modest work. However the three encounter any difficulties that have forced them to always be one step away from starvation. Ulisse has to maintain his wife and daughter selling recordings of important foreign singers, Fulvio has the task of reviewing silly scandals of celebrities instead of writing articles for major artists, while Domenico must keep his wife and children going to make love with old single pensioners.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTickets (2005)
A train travels across Italy toward Rome. Onboard is a professor who daydreams a conversation with a love that never was; a family of Albanian refugees who switch trains and steal a ticket; three brash Scottish soccer fans en route to a match; and a complaining widow travelling to a memorial service for her late husband who's accompanied by a community-service volunteer who's assisting her. Interactions among these Europeans turn on class and nationalism, courtesy and decorum, and opportunities for kindness.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisUgly, Dirty and Bad (1976)
Giacinto lives with his wife, their ten children and various other family members in a shack on the hills of Rome. Some time ago he has lost his left eye while at work, and got a consistent sum of money from the insurance company, which he keeps hidden from the rest of the family. His whole life is now based on defending the money he sees as his own, while the rest of the family tries to kill him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBasilicata Coast To Coast (2010)
A musical comedy, a journey filled with unexpected twists and unexpected encounters, leading a group of musicians to set out to the rhythm of their musical verses to participate in the Scanzano Jonico Song-Theatre Festival, walking across Basilicata, from the Tyrrhenian to the Ionian Sea, along the route that gives the project its name. The journey will have a therapeutic effect.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Day in Court (1954)
A day at an Italian trial court, where a magistrate judges a full array of peculiar petty crimes and characters.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAdventures Italian Style (2020)
A few weeks before the Fall of the Berlin Wall, Pago, Rice and Bibi leave the calm city of Cesena looking for adventure: a ten-days-long holiday in Eastern Europe, in those places where the Soviet regime is still alive.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBest Man Down (2012)
A newlywed couple cancels their honeymoon and returns to the snowy Midwest to make the funeral arrangements for their best man, who died unexpectedly after their ceremony.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFamily Weekend (2013)
A 16-year-old girl takes her parents hostage after they miss her big jump-roping competition.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Difficult Life (1961)
Silvio refuses to fight for the fascists and joins the resistance with Elena. After the war, his vitriolic newspaper articles cause him to be sentenced to imprisonment.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisFuori la verità (2025)
New film by Davide Minnella.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisLet's Hope It's a Girl (1986)
A multifaceted exploration of the pointlessness of sexual stereotypes. Liv Ullmann is a countess who, after her divorce, takes over the family farm. Realizing that she can't rely on the patriarchal society structure for assistance, Ullmann runs the farm herself with the help of her female servants and relatives. When the Count (Philipe Noiret) comes back into her life, he and his male buddies find themselves outclassed by the expertise of the ladies.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSubUrbia (1997)
A group of suburban teenagers try to support each other through the difficult task of becoming adults.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Predators (2020)
This is the story of two completely opposite households: the Pavone are intellectual and bourgeois, the Vismara are proletarian and fascists. They are two tribes sharing the same jungle: Rome. A trivial accident brings these two poles together. The madness of a 25-year old youth will set them on a collision course, discovering the cards to reveal that everyone has a secret. People are never what they seem – but we are all predators in the end.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCitizens of the World (2020)
Three Italian retirees embark on a journey to find a new country to live in.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Greater Good (2026)
A tour guide and a failed actress accompany four inmates to the Pollino massif, in search of the centuries-old Bosnian pine, a symbol of resilience. The journey quickly becomes a journey of transformation, filled with encounters and changes, punctuated by a music that takes shape step by step, becoming a collective voice capable of bringing together diverse bodies, emotions, and stories. In a harsh yet beautiful landscape, punctuated by unexpected solidarity, fragments of complex lives emerge, along with open wounds and a profound need to be seen and heard. Talking, singing, and naming what has been experienced becomes a way to release tensions and rediscover a sense of belonging, at least until a sudden event calls everything into question. Because, sometimes, sharing one's story is already a first step toward something bigger.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisReality (2012)
A dark comedy centering on the lives of a Neapolitan based family whose father, a fish merchant, is so infatuated with the reality TV show "Grande Fratello" (the Italian version of "Big Brother") he starts living his life as if he were on it.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLady Windermere's Fan (1925)
A society woman believes her husband is having an affair, a misconception which may have dire personal consequences for all involved.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBangla (2019)
A 22 year-old Bangladeshi-Italian Muslim boy meets a beautiful, exciting Italian girl who makes him re-analyze his beliefs and culture.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Merry Christmas... Happy New Year?
The closest matches to Merry Christmas... Happy New Year are Somewhere in Queens (2023), Variety Lights (1950) and A Flat for Three (2012). Below are 17 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Merry Christmas... Happy New Year?
Start with Somewhere in Queens (2023), the closest match to Merry Christmas... Happy New Year.
What is the highest-rated movie like Merry Christmas... Happy New Year?
Ugly, Dirty and Bad (1976), rated 7.5/10 by 363 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Merry Christmas... Happy New Year?
The Greater Good (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Italian movies like Merry Christmas... Happy New Year?
Yes: Variety Lights (1950), A Flat for Three (2012) and Tickets (2005).
How are movies similar to Merry Christmas... Happy New Year chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Merry Christmas... Happy New Year, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.