Movies like Serial (1980)
The best movies like Serial (1980) are Cousins (1989), Back Roads (1981) and Best Friends (1982). If Serial 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
- NewestMaintenance Required (2025)Released 2025
Cousins (1989)
When Larry and Maria learn that their respective spouses are cheating on them, they try to turn the tables on them by pretending to have an affair. However, they soon find themselves falling in love.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBack Roads (1981)
A prostitute and a drifter find themselves bound together as they make their way through the rural South, doing what they have to do to survive.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & romance
Best Friends (1982)
When a professional couple, who have lived and worked together for many years, finally decide to marry, their sudden betrothal causes many unexpected difficulties. They soon find that being married is often quite different from being "best friends."
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & romance
SnoozefestMovies like thisMicki & Maude (1984)
TV reporter Rob Salinger longs for a baby. But his career-minded wife, Micki, is too busy for motherhood. A romantic fling with a seductive cellist, Maude, leads to her pregnancy. Rob receives another shock when Micki announces that she's also expecting! In love with both women, he marries Maude and starts leading a double life full of complicated and riotous situations.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & romance
SnoozefestMovies like thisUnfaithfully Yours (1984)
A composer—who suspects his wife of cheating—plots to kill her and frame it on her lover, but things don't turn out as planned.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & romance
SnoozefestMovies 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 thisFeast of the Seven Fishes (2019)
A slice of life story that follows a large Italian family on Christmas Eve as they prepare for the traditional Feast of the Seven Fishes, reminisce about the past and seek love in the future.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPlayers (2024)
New York sportswriter Mack has spent years devising successful hook-up "plays" with her friends, but when she unexpectedly falls for one of her targets, she must learn what it takes to go from simply scoring to playing for keeps.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMaintenance Required (2025)
Charlie, the fiercely independent owner of an all-female mechanic shop, is forced to reevaluate her future when a flashy corporate competitor moves in across the street. Seeking comfort, she turns to an anonymous online confidant - unaware she's confiding in Beau, the very rival threatening her business. As sparks fly both online and off, the truth threatens to blow everything apart.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGirl on a Bicycle (2013)
Paolo, an Italian tour bus driver living in Paris, has just summoned up the courage to propose marriage to his German girlfriend Greta. However, a chance encounter with a French woman on a bicycle the very next day turns Paolo's life upside down.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & romance
SnoozefestMovies like thisDesperados (2020)
A panicked young woman and her two best friends fly to Mexico to delete a ranting email she sent to her new boyfriend. On arrival, they run into her former beau, who soon gets caught up in their frantic scheme.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & romance
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 thisCuban Fury (2014)
Beneath Bruce Garrett's under-confident, overweight exterior, the passionate heart of a salsa king lies dormant. Now, one woman is about to reignite his Latin fire.
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 thisThe Long Weekend (2005)
Cooper is an actor who sees life as one big party, while Ed is in advertising and takes life too seriously. When Ed gets stressed over a deadline he has to meet, his brother Cooper works hard in trying to get his brother hooked up with a girl, thus a long weekend of stress and beautiful women, culminating in Ed meeting, and making love to, the woman of his dreams.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & romance
SnoozefestMovies like thisMy Sassy Girl (2008)
A guy has his life planned out until he is wooed, groomed and then dumped by an elusive woman.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSex Appeal (2022)
Avery, a teenager with a tendency towards perfectionism, enlists her friend Larson to help her prepare for her first time with her long-distance boyfriend.
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 thisBye Bye Love (1995)
With varying degrees of success, recently divorced friends Dave, Vic and Donny are trying to move on with their lives. Vic feels vilified by his ex-wife's parents, while Donny has a shaky bond with his teen daughter, Emma. Dave, meanwhile, has an enviable problem -- he has more dates than he can handle. As they confront their post-marital challenges, the men take solace in one another's plights.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisI Want You Back (2022)
Peter and Emma thought they were on the precipice of life’s biggest moments – marriage, kids, and houses in the suburbs – until their respective partners dumped them. Horrified to learn that the loves of their lives have already moved on, Peter and Emma hatch a hilarious plan to win back their exes with unexpected results.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies 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 thisThe List (2023)
After her fiance sleeps with a celebrity on his free pass list, Abby Meyers, with nothing but five names and a fantasy shared by millions, sets out for Los Angeles to sleep with someone from hers.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & comedy
SnoozefestMovies like thisHow I Got Into College (1989)
High school senior Marlon Bowne is smitten with overachieving classmate Jessica Kailo. But, if he wants to have a shot with her, he'll have to find a way to get into Ramsey College, Jessica's top choice of schools. It won't be easy, since the college is highly selective and Marlon's grades are hardly impressive. That means the lovelorn teen will have to find a way to score high on the SATs and win over the college admissions committee.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Wedding Year (2019)
A commitment-phobic 27-year old’s relationship is put to the test when she and her boyfriend attend 7 weddings in the same year.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Yellow Rolls-Royce (1964)
One Rolls-Royce belongs to three vastly different owners, starting with Lord Charles, who buys the car for his wife as an anniversary present. The next owner is Paolo Maltese, a mafioso who purchases the car during a trip to Italy and leaves it with his girlfriend while he returns to Chicago. Finally, the car is owned by American widow Gerda, who joins the Yugoslavian resistance against the invading Nazis.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Pink Telephone (1975)
A small industrialist from Toulouse, goes to Paris to negotiate the buyout of his company from an American financial group. During his stay, the representative of the large firm calls on a luxury call girl to facilitate their "business".
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy & romance
Pardon Mon Affaire (1976)
On an otherwise normal day, Étienne, a happily married man and a good father, sees something that stops him dead in his tracks: a gorgeous woman in a billowing red dress. Long after she has left his vision, her memory continues to haunt his mind. He falls instantly in love with her and tries everything to get to know her better. Helping Étienne snare his elusive lady in red are his three bumbling buddies, which all have secret affairs and/or cheat on their wives.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisEveryone Says I Love You (1996)
A New York girl sets her father up with a beautiful woman in a shaky marriage while her half sister gets engaged.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisJamon Jamon (1992)
José Luis has a cushy corporate job at the lingerie factory his mom owns. After he falls in love and proposes to Silvia, a beautiful laborer on the underwear assembly line, his mom enlists Raul, a potential underwear model and would-be bullfighter, to seduce Silvia.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
Like Serial and something else?
Blend two favourites and we’ll find the films in between.
Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Serial?
The closest matches to Serial are Cousins (1989), Back Roads (1981) and Best Friends (1982). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Serial?
People who watched Serial most often go on to Cousins (1989), Back Roads (1981) and Best Friends (1982).
What is the highest-rated movie like Serial?
¿Quieres ser mi hijo? (2023), rated 8.4/10 by 378 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Serial?
Maintenance Required (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Serial?
Yes: Cousins (1989), Back Roads (1981) and Best Friends (1982).
How are movies similar to Serial chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Serial, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.