Movies like King Lear (1988)
The best movies like King Lear (1988) are My Own Love Song (2010), SubUrbia (1997) and Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead (1991). If King Lear 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 ratedFeel the Beat (2020)7.5/10 from 1,185 votes
- NewestEcos y otros relatos asombrosos (2025)Released 2025
My Own Love Song (2010)
A wheelchair-bound singer and her best friend embark on a roadtrip to Memphis.
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 thisRosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead (1991)
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, minor characters from the play 'Hamlet', find themselves on the road to Elsinore Castle at the behest of the King of Denmark. The duo encounter a band of players before arriving to find that they are needed to try to discern what troubles the prince Hamlet. Meanwhile, they ponder the meaning of their existence.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAfterlife of the Party (2021)
A social butterfly who dies during her birthday week is given a second chance to right her wrongs on Earth.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHooking Up (2020)
Bailey and Darla embark upon a misguided and mutually deceitful form of therapy, one in which they must drive across the country, re-enacting Darla's colorful history as a sex addict. As their true motivations for the road trip come to light, the unlikely pair force one another to confront their issues, discovering that there might actually be more to love than just sex.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFeel the Beat (2020)
After failing to make it on Broadway, April returns to her hometown and reluctantly begins training a misfit group of young dancers for a competition.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Lady in the Van (2015)
The true story of the relationship between Alan Bennett and the singular Miss Shepherd, a woman of uncertain origins who ‘temporarily’ parked her van in Bennett’s London driveway and proceeded to live there for 15 years.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisIt Runs in the Family (2003)
This is the story of a dysfunctional New York family, and their attempts to reconcile
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisKodachrome (2017)
Matt Ryder is convinced to drive his estranged and dying father Benjamin Ryder cross country to deliver four old rolls of Kodachrome film to the last lab in the world that can develop them before it shuts down for good. Along with Ben's nurse Zooey, the three navigate a world changing from analogue to digital while trying to put the past behind them.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Dog Year (2009)
Jon Katz is close to burnout. He's a writer with writer's block; his wife has left for her sister's because he's emotionally distant; he rarely answers his phone. A kennel sends him a border collie that's undisciplined because of abuse. Despite a series of mishaps, Jon decides to keep trying with the dog, and he rents a dilapidated farm house to give the dog room to run. A local handyman refers Jon to a woman who might be able to help him train the dog. Reluctantly, Jon gives her a try. Is the dog the problem, or the owner?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCarnage (2011)
Two pairs of parents hold a cordial meeting after their sons are involved in a fight, though as their time together progresses, increasingly childish behavior throws the discussion into chaos.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Giver (2014)
In a seemingly perfect community, without war, pain, suffering, differences or choice, a young boy is chosen to learn from an elderly man about the true pain and pleasure of the "real" world.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDeathtrap (1982)
A Broadway playwright puts murder in his plan to take credit for a student's script.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGigi & Nate (2022)
A young man with a bright future suffers a near-fatal accident and recreates his new life with the help of an unlikely animal friend.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisFinding Neverland (2004)
During a writing slump, playwright J.M. Barrie meets a widow and her four children, all young boys—who soon become an important part of Barrie’s life and the inspiration that lead him to create his masterpiece. Peter Pan.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Girl in the Book (2015)
The story of a young writer's transformation when her past invades her present.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisLove and Monsters (2020)
Seven years since the Monsterpocalypse began, Joel Dawson has been living underground in order to survive. But after reconnecting over radio with his high school girlfriend Aimee, Joel decides to venture out to reunite with her, despite all the dangerous monsters that stand in his way.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Truth About Emanuel (2013)
A troubled young woman becomes obsessed with her mysterious new neighbor, who bears a striking resemblance to the girl's dead mother.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAdopt a Highway (2019)
Russ Millings has just been released from prison after serving 21 years for a 3rd strike conviction for possessing an ounce of marijuana. As he tries to adapt to a world he doesn’t recognize – including trying to learn how to use the internet – he finds an abandoned baby in a dumpster behind the fast food restaurant where he works as a dishwasher. Unsure of what to do, and caught between impulses of kindness and panic, Russ soon realizes this could be his chance at redemption.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSynecdoche, New York (2008)
A theater director struggles with his work, and the women in his life, as he attempts to create a life-size replica of New York inside a warehouse as part of his new play.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisEcos y otros relatos asombrosos (2025)
A tormented ghost and people struggling to survive in an apocalyptic world are the protagonists in this anthology of horror and science fiction stories.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & comedy
Am Tag als Bobby Ewing starb (2005)
1986 - The protest movement against the construction of the nuclear power plant in Brokdorf is on its last legs. Only one rural commune remains: the "Alternative Wohnkollektiv Regenbogen". For them, it could go on and on with endless consensus discussions, shearing sheep and naked communal bathing. One day, the lowland communards are joined by two city dwellers, Hanne and her son Niels. While Hanne gets used to scream therapy and raising vegetables surprisingly quickly - and even more quickly to the tantra games with commune guru Peter - Niels has less and less desire for the dogmatic commune rules. Out of defiance, he joins the violent nuclear power plant resistance, thus upsetting the tranquil chaos of the commune. The big bang, however, comes when a reactor explodes in distant Chernobyl. Exactly on the day Bobby Ewing dies, the petroleum prince from "Dallas" and series favorite of the commune.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy & drama
Ro.Go.Pa.G. (1963)
Four short films by four different directors dealing with the principles of modern life. "Illibatezza" (Rossellini): The hostess Anna Maria, to dissuade an aggressive suitor who prefers maternal tendencies, assumes an unscrupulous attitude, obeying the suggestions of her distant boyfriend. "The New World" (Godard): The deflagration of an atomic bomb causes strange effects on the inhabitants of a city. "La ricotta" (Pasolini): During the filming of a film about a religious subject, the extra Stracci dies hanging on the cross due to an indigestion of ricotta. "Il pollo spante" (Gregoretti): While an expert illustrates to a board of merchants the most modern techniques to increase sales through the discovery of the secret self of the average consumer, the human story of a bourgeois who, following these suggestions, focuses on the purchase of a plot of land in the countryside.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHamlet (2023)
The ultimate royal family crisis. Prince Hamlet's father is dead, poisoned by his uncle, who has usurped the throne and married his mother, the Queen. When the dead King's ghost appears, commanding his son to revenge his foul and most unnatural murder, Hamlet is set on a course of action that can only end in the destruction of a dynasty and his own extinction.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Freejack (1992)
Time-traveling bounty hunters find a doomed race-car driver in the past and bring him to 2009 New York, where his mind will be replaced with that of a terminally ill billionaire.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisWhat We Leave Behind (2024)
In search of others in an infected world, Sam and Lily venture out in hopes to build a community of survivors as Sam struggles for his own survival after refusing to let go of his past.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Macbeth (1971)
Scotland, 11th century. Driven by the twisted prophecy of three witches and the ruthless ambition of his wife, warlord Macbeth, bold and brave, but also weak and hesitant, betrays his good king and his brothers in arms and sinks into the bloody mud of a path with no return, sown with crime and suspicion.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Omega Man (1971)
Due to an experimental vaccine, Dr. Robert Neville is the only human survivor of an apocalyptic war waged with biological weapons. Besides him, only a few hundred deformed, nocturnal people remain; sensitive to light, and homicidally psychotic.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWilde (1997)
Oscar Wilde is a married playwright who has occasionally indulged his weakness for male suitors. After much toil, Wilde debuts 'The Importance of Being Earnest' in London, and a chat at the theatre with Lord Alfred 'Bosie' Douglas leads to a full-fledged romance. However, this affair leads to a legal dispute with Lord Alfred's oppressive father, the Marquess of Queensberry, and, given the local anti-gay laws, Wilde is jailed. Wilde's vast intellect helps him survive until he regains his freedom.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like King Lear?
The closest matches to King Lear are My Own Love Song (2010), SubUrbia (1997) and Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead (1991). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after King Lear?
Start with My Own Love Song (2010), the closest match to King Lear.
What is the highest-rated movie like King Lear?
Feel the Beat (2020), rated 7.5/10 by 1,185 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like King Lear?
Ecos y otros relatos asombrosos (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like King Lear?
Yes: My Own Love Song (2010), SubUrbia (1997) and Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead (1991).
How are movies similar to King Lear chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside King Lear, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.