Movies like Ode to Joy (2019)
The best movies like Ode to Joy (2019) are After Everything (2018), In the Land of Women (2007) and Friends with Kids (2012). If Ode to Joy 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 ratedCha Cha Real Smooth (2022)7.1/10 from 466 votes
- NewestLay Lefty Down (2026)Released 2026
After Everything (2018)
When Elliot, a brash 23-year-old living carefree in New York City, meets the sensible Mia and receives a damning diagnosis all in the same week, his world is turned completely upside down. But as their love blossoms amidst the chaos of his treatment, they discover that Elliot's illness is not the real test of their relationship – it's everything else.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisIn the Land of Women (2007)
After a bad breakup with his girlfriend leaves him heartbroken, Carter Webb moves to Michigan to take care of his ailing grandmother. Once there, he gets mixed up in the lives of the mother and daughters who live across the street.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & comedy
SnoozefestMovies like thisFriends with Kids (2012)
In the wake of their friends' marriages and eventual offspring, longtime pals Julie and Jason decide to have a child together without becoming a couple. By becoming "time-share" parents, they reason, they can experience the joys of parenthood without significantly curbing their personal freedom. However, when Julie and Jason both become involved with others, they discover that they secretly harbor romantic feelings for each other.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Private Lives of Pippa Lee (2009)
After her much older husband forces a move to a suburban retirement community, Pippa Lee engages in a period of reflection and finds herself heading toward a quiet nervous breakdown.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisIrreplaceable You (2018)
A stunning cancer diagnosis spurs Abbie to seek a future girlfriend for fiancé and childhood sweetheart Sam, who's clueless when it comes to dating.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBarefoot (2014)
The "black sheep" son of a wealthy family meets a young psychiatric patient who's been raised in isolation her entire life. He takes the naive young woman home for his brother's wedding an improbable romance blooms, as she impresses everyone with her genuine, simple charms.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLove & Sex (2000)
When her rather explicit copy is rejected, magazine journalist Kate is asked by her editor to come up with an article on loving relationships instead, and to do so by the end of the day. This gets Kate thinking back over her own various experiences, and to wondering if she is in much of a position to write on the subject.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHello I Must Be Going (2012)
An affair with a 19-year old actor helps reinvigorate life for thirty-something Amy after she moves home to her parents’ house following her divorce.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & comedy
SnoozefestMovies like thisGreat Expectations (1998)
Loosely based on the Charles Dickens' classic novel, "Great Expectations" is a sensual tale of a young man's unforgettable passage into manhood, and the three individuals who will undeniably change his life forever. Through the surprising interactions of these vivid characters, "Great Expectations" takes a unique and contemporary look at life's great coincidences.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNumb (2007)
Hudson Milbank is a successful Hollywood screenwriter who suddenly and strangely finds himself without any emotional feelings. He tries doctor after doctor and shrink after shrink, but nothing works. The Golf Channel, lesbian exercise classes and a dizzying variety of pills get him through the day, but don't quite solve his problem. His writing partner tries everything to get him back to normal, but it's not until Hudson meets Sara that he finds a real motivation to get better and to actually start feeling again. From the writer of Deuce Bigalow, comes NUMB, a romantic comedy following an unusual man looking for strange love.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisCha Cha Real Smooth (2022)
Fresh out of college and stuck at his New Jersey home without a clear path forward, 22-year-old Andrew begins working as a party starter for bar/bat mitzvahs—where he strikes up a unique friendship with a young mom and her teenage daughter.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisEnemies, a Love Story (1989)
A ghostwriter finds himself romantically involved with his current wife, a married woman and his long-vanished wife.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisVenus (2006)
Maurice is an aging veteran actor who becomes taken with Jessie, the grandniece of his closest friend. When Maurice tries to soften the petulant and provincial young girl with the benefit of his wisdom and London culture, their give-and-take surprises both Maurice and Jessie as they discover what they don't know about themselves.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHello, My Name Is Doris (2015)
A self-help seminar inspires a sixty-something woman to romantically pursue her younger co-worker.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisModern Romance (1981)
A film editor breaks up with his girlfriend, unsure if he is in love.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBlue Valentine (2010)
Dean and Cindy live a quiet life in a modest neighborhood. They appear to have the world at their feet at the outset of the relationship. However, his lack of ambition and her retreat into self-absorption cause potentially irreversible cracks in their marriage.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHallam Foe (2007)
Hallam's talent for spying on people reveals his darkest fears-and his most peculiar desires. Driven to expose the true cause of his mother's death, he instead finds himself searching the rooftops of the city for love.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMaestro (2023)
A towering and fearless love story chronicling the lifelong relationship between Leonard Bernstein and Felicia Montealegre Cohn Bernstein. A love letter to life and art, Maestro at its core is an emotionally epic portrayal of family and love.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAll of You (2025)
Laura and Simon have been best friends since college. Over the years, they've realized their bond is more than platonic. Can they—and should they—risk everything to explore a love that has existed all along?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLove in the Time of Cholera (2007)
In Colombia just after the Great War, an old man falls from a ladder; dying, he professes great love for his wife. After the funeral, a man calls on the widow - she dismisses him angrily. Flash back more than 50 years to the day Florentino Ariza, a telegraph boy, falls in love with Fermina Daza, the daughter of a mule trader.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisShe's Dating the Gangster (2014)
Seventeen-year-old Athena Dizon unwittingly plays a trick on resident heartthrob and bad boy Kenji de los Reyes. All of a sudden, she finds herself pretending to be his girlfriend to make an ex jealous; however, she falls in love with him.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBoobies (2025)
A couple is making a sextape, but she has a question, and he doesn't know the answer...
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy & drama
Withdrawal (2025)
Artistic lovers, Viv and Jay, have become trapped in a vicious cycle of codependent heroin addiction. But when Viv’s wealthy parents hire an interventionist to take Viv to rehab, the couple decides to set off on their own with the help of a suboxone prescription... all they have to do is survive a harrowing night through drug withdrawal.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & romance
The Right Way (1970)
Ali gets a job and, by dint of dedication and patience, achieves a significant promotion and ends up becoming the manager of the company, as well as winning Meltem's love. However, this is not to the liking of his cousin Cihangir and his father, who instead are totally broke and want to get their revenge on Ali.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & romance
Inshore (2025)
A commercial fisherman finds love.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & romance
Rams (2020)
In remote Western Australia, two estranged farmer brothers, Colin and Les, are at war. But when Les' prize ram is diagnosed with a rare and lethal illness, authorities order a purge of every sheep in the valley—so the brothers must work together to reunite their family, save their herd, and bring their community back together.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWedding Wars (2006)
Ben, a slightly uptight man, ends up hiring his gay brother Shel, a party planner, to be his wedding planner. The two seem to be getting along famously, but then in the midst of planning, politics enters the fray. Ben is engaged to the governor's daughter, and the governor has taken a public stance against same sex marriage. Though his constituents seem to approve of his political agenda, Shel doesn't. And he shows his displeasure by walking off the job and going on strike for equal rights.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy & romance
Lay Lefty Down (2026)
Two women unexpectedly unite through stories of grief and laughter, after their family throws a surprise memorial for a left breast.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & comedy
Rat Girl (TBA)
JORDAN is a lonely Manhattan painter. When GINGER, a suicidal 19 year old squatter calls Jordan by accident, she threatens to kill herself if he doesn't meet her for lunch. This dark dramedy is 'Breakfast at Tiffany's' on lithium. 16mm film
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & comedy
Bootmen (2000)
Sean Odkin loves to dance—much to his fathers distain. When the woman he loves cannot return his love, he goes in search of the only thing that can make him whole again—dancing.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Ode to Joy?
The closest matches to Ode to Joy are After Everything (2018), In the Land of Women (2007) and Friends with Kids (2012). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Ode to Joy?
Start with After Everything (2018), the closest match to Ode to Joy.
What is the highest-rated movie like Ode to Joy?
Cha Cha Real Smooth (2022), rated 7.1/10 by 466 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Ode to Joy?
Lay Lefty Down (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Ode to Joy?
Yes: After Everything (2018), In the Land of Women (2007) and Friends with Kids (2012).
How are movies similar to Ode to Joy chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Ode to Joy, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.