Movies like One Special Night (1999)
The best movies like One Special Night (1999) are Borrowed Hearts (1997), A Merry Christmas Match (2019) and Steel Magnolias (2012). If One Special Night hooked you with its drama and romance, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedA Christmas Carol (1984)7.5/10 from 445 votes
- NewestI Heard the Bells (2022)Released 2022
Borrowed Hearts (1997)
Single mom Kathleen Russell (Roma Downey) and her daughter Zoey pretend to be Kathleen's boss's "family" so he can close a major business deal with the mysterious Mexican financier Javier Del Campo.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Merry Christmas Match (2019)
Corey Calvin lives in a ski village where she works at her late father's local antique shop, having sidelined her her big city dreams of becoming a theater director. When Los Angeles hunk Ryder Donnelly comes into her shop, sparks fly and she starts to wonder what could be.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSteel Magnolias (2012)
In an updated contemporary version of the beloved stage play and 1989 film, "Steel Magnolias" chronicles the lives and friendship of six women in Louisiana. Supporting each other through their triumphs and tragedies, they congregate at Truvy’s beauty shop to ponder the mysteries of life and death, husbands and children - and hair and nails - all the important topics that truly unite and celebrate women.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisChristmas Around the Corner (2018)
Claire (Alexandra Breckenridge), a savvy venture capitalist from New York City, escapes to a quaint town in Vermont for the holidays and becomes a guest of the Fortenbury Bookstore. Upon arrival, Claire finds Christmas celebrations have been canceled by the town after a flood and the bookstore is in a dire state of disrepair. She immediately takes on the challenge to revitalize the store, but clashes with the owner, Andrew (Jamie Spilchuk), who initially rejects all her proposed improvements. Eventually, sparks fly as the two begin a budding romance, and Claire’s infectious optimism inspires Andrew to join her in reviving the yuletide spirit. But everything comes to a screeching halt when Claire discovers that Andrew is planning to sell the bookstore in the New Year. Will the spirit of Christmas be enough to change Andrew’s mind and encourage him to follow his heart?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDisappearing Acts (2000)
A struggling construction worker and an aspiring musician find themselves falling in love.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisKaren Kingsbury's Maggie's Christmas Miracle (2017)
Maggie, a single mom has to balance between her career and her son, Jordan. Jordan finds a tutor named Casey to help him at school, and Casey becomes like a father figure. Will the three of them find happiness and love once again?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHow Sarah Got Her Wings (2015)
Good Samaritan Sarah Fitzpatrick has a fatal accident just before Christmas, and finds herself in the lobby before the gates of Heaven. Certain that she will be let in, she is shocked to find that her name is not on the reservation list. However, she is granted the chance to return to Earth as an "angel in training" with the requirement to help a soul in need. Sarah has the 12 days before Christmas to secure her place on the list leaving her in the race for her after-life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisTalhotBlond (2012)
Thomas Montgomery, a married father of two young daughters, gets seduced by the world of online gambling and chat rooms where a virtual romance and sexual obsession ultimately leads to the murder of an innocent man.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNot Easily Broken (2009)
A car accident and shifting affections test the bond between a married couple.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPoinsettias for Christmas (2018)
It’s just weeks before Christmas when Ellie gets a call to return home to help her father on the family’s poinsettia farm. The family business is on the line to deliver tens of thousands of plants for the town’s annual parade. The problem is — the poinsettias have yet to turn red! As Ellie searches for the solution, she is reminded of where her heart truly lies as she falls in love with both her roots and a local botanist.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Veteran's Christmas (2018)
Captain Grace Garland, a decorated U.S. veteran, returns home after two tours of Search and Rescue in Afghanistan. After being separated from her beloved K9 partner, Grace must rediscover the magic of Christmas. When she finds herself stranded in the town of River’s Crossing a couple weeks before Christmas, the local judge, Joe Peterson, offers her a place to stay on his property and takes it upon himself to show Grace everything she has been missing; Christmas, family, community, and love.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCheaters (2000)
In the fall of 1994, a teacher at Chicago's run-down Steinmetz High conspires with the school's academic decathlon team to cheat on an academic competition.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNormal (2003)
A Midwestern husband and father announces his plan to have a sex change operation.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Man from Elysian Fields (2001)
A failed novelist's inability to pay the bills strains relations with his wife and leads him to work at an escort service, where he becomes entwined with a wealthy woman whose husband is a successful writer.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
SnoozefestMovies like thisNine Lives (2005)
Captives of the very relationships that define and sustain them, nine women resiliently meet the travails and disappointments of life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMy Dinner with Hervé (2018)
An unlikely friendship evolves over one wild night in LA between a struggling journalist and actor Hervé Villechaize, the world's most famous gun-toting dwarf, resulting in life-changing consequences for both.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSecret Millionaire (2018)
When a bored millionaire (Steve Lund) is mistaken for a parking attendant by a beautiful girl (Siobhan Williams) who is protesting against his family’s intention of closing a local park, he uses the misunderstanding to get to know her better.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHello, Goodbye, and Everything in Between (2022)
Clare and Aidan make a pact to break up before college — no regrets, no broken hearts. But will one epic goodbye date offer them a last chance at love?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBlind (2017)
A novelist is blinded in a car crash that killed his wife and several years later rediscovers his passion for life and writing when he embarks on an affair with the neglected wife of an indicted businessman.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGarage Sale Mystery: A Case Of Murder (2017)
Jenn buys an old reel-to-reel recorder at a garage sale only to find that it includes the sound of a man pleading for his life. When the former owner of the recorder, a retired therapist, is found murdered in a patient’s apartment, Jenn’s investigation leads to other patients whose love lives are more entangled than she was first led to believe.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMistletoe & Menorahs (2019)
When a determined toy company executive, Christy, must learn about Hanukkah in a hurry in order to land a big account, she enlists the help of her co-worker's friend Jonathan, who happens to also be in desperate need of turning his bachelor pad into a Christmas Wonderland to impress his girlfriend's father.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both romance & drama
Snowed in for Christmas (2021)
Kaley, a young Au Pair, finds herself unable to return home for the holidays when a snowstorm derails her plans. In spite of her own disappointment she is determined to teach the girls she watches, alongside their charming Uncle, the magic of Christmas. Will this series of events lead to a perfect Christmas?
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both romance
The Princess Switch: Switched Again (2020)
When Duchess Margaret unexpectedly inherits the throne & hits a rough patch with Kevin, it’s up to Stacy to save the day before a new lookalike — party girl Fiona — foils their plans.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisChristmas Matchmakers (2019)
Two executive assistants scheme to get their bosses to date during the holidays, and in the process fall in love themselves.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both romance
Metsolat - Muistojen joulu (1996)
Antti and Annikki have secretly decided to spend Christmas in Leppävaara. The family's entrepreneurial son Erkki has gone to Moscow with his yarn Jaakko Järvenheimo to sell tampers and ski packages to the Russians. The Metsola family (except for Erkki, Jaakko and Heikki's family) gather once again in Leppävaara to celebrate the Christmas of memories.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
A Christmas Carol (1984)
Miser Ebenezer Scrooge is awakened on Christmas Eve by spirits who reveal to him his own miserable existence, what opportunities he wasted in his youth, his current cruelties, and the dire fate that awaits him if he does not change his ways. Scrooge is faced with his own story of growing bitterness and meanness, and must decide what his own future will hold: death or redemption.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisI Heard the Bells (2022)
Known as America’s Poet, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow leads an idyllic life – until the day his world is shattered by tragedy. With a nation divided by Civil War and his family torn apart, Henry puts down his pen, silenced by grief. But it’s the sound of Christmas morning that reignites the poet’s lost voice as he discovers the resounding hope of rekindled faith.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
While You Were Sleeping (1995)
A transit worker pulls commuter Peter off railway tracks after he's mugged, but—while he's in a coma—his family mistakenly thinks she's Peter's fiancée, and she doesn't correct them. Things get more complicated when she falls for his brother, who's not quite sure that she's who she claims to be.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisŚwięta inaczej (2022)
Fed up with forced cheer, twelve-dish feasts and predictable gifts, one person rejects the usual Christmas ritual and flees to the unknown, finally doing what they truly desire instead of what they must. This holiday, nothing will be the same: the world turns upside down and even the wildest dreams may come true.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both romance
Christmas Coupon (2019)
Alison Grant begins teaching ice skating students on a friend's frozen pond after being fired from her rink job. On the first day of class her old high school sweetheart and now famous hockey player, Ivan Hall, unexpectedly shows up when he brings his niece for her skating lessons. While an initially cold reunion ensues, eventually Alison warms up to Ivan again.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both romance
Like One Special Night and something else?
Blend two favourites and we’ll find the films in between.
Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like One Special Night?
The closest matches to One Special Night are Borrowed Hearts (1997), A Merry Christmas Match (2019) and Steel Magnolias (2012). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after One Special Night?
Start with Borrowed Hearts (1997), the closest match to One Special Night.
What is the highest-rated movie like One Special Night?
A Christmas Carol (1984), rated 7.5/10 by 445 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like One Special Night?
I Heard the Bells (2022) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like One Special Night?
Yes: Borrowed Hearts (1997), A Merry Christmas Match (2019) and Steel Magnolias (2012).
How are movies similar to One Special Night chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside One Special Night, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.