Movies like The Instigator (1987)
The best movies like The Instigator (1987) are XX/XY (2002), How to Please a Woman (2022) and Chéri (2009). If The Instigator hooked you with its drama and comedy, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedLove Don't Co$t a Thing (2003)7.7/10 from 743 votes
- NewestThe Baltimorons (2025)Released 2025
XX/XY (2002)
Three friends begin a dangerous three-way relationship that spirals out of control, leading to dire consequences that haunt them ten years later.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHow to Please a Woman (2022)
When her all-male house-cleaning business gets out of control, a mature woman must embrace her own sexuality, if she is to make a new life for herself.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisChéri (2009)
The son of a courtesan retreats into a fantasy world after being forced to end his relationship with the older woman who educated him in the ways of love.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisYou Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger (2010)
Two married couples find only trouble and heartache as their complicated lives unfold. After 40 years of marriage, Alfie leaves his wife to pursue what he thinks is happiness with a call girl. His wife, Helena, reeling from abandonment, decides to follow the advice of a psychic. Sally, the daughter of Alfie and Helena, is unhappy in her marriage and develops a crush on her boss, while her husband, Roy, falls for a woman engaged to be married.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisL.A. Without a Map (1999)
An aspiring Hollywood actress, on a visit to a charming North England town, has a brief fling with the town undertaker, who also writes obituaries for the local paper. Returning home, where she works as a waitress at a Japanese restaurant, she tells everyone about the handsome "writer" she met on her trip. Unfortunately, he decides to follow her back to Hollywood, setting up the expected light romantic comedy with asides as the newcomer gains experience about the goings on in Hollywood.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & comedy
SnoozefestMovies like thisStrictly Sexual (2008)
Two successful women, sick and tired of dating and relationships, decide to keep two young men in their pool house for strictly sexual purposes.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSidewalks of New York (2001)
The film follows the marital and dating lives of three men and three women who unknowingly form a tangled web of relationships. Interspersing "man on the street" interviews with scenes from the six characters' lives, the film weaves a humorous and biting commentary on the game of love -- easy to start, hard to finish.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisI Met a Girl (2020)
An aspiring musician struggling with schizophrenia falls for a mysterious woman who may be all in his head. When she suddenly vanishes, he takes off on a cross-country journey across Australia to find her, forcing his long-suffering brother to chase after him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA California Christmas: City Lights (2021)
Follows Callie and Joseph one year after they fell in love, now running a dairy farm and winery, but their romance is threatened when business and family obligations call Joseph back to the city.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRosaline (2022)
Left heartbroken after Romeo begins to pursue her cousin Juliet, Rosaline schemes to foil the famous romance and win back her guy in this comedic twist of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHe Said, She Said (1991)
Womanising, right-wing Dan Hanson and quiet, liberal Lorie Bryer work for the Baltimore Sun. Rivals for the job of new writer of a vacant column, the paper ends up instead printing their very different opinions alongside each other, which leads to a similarly combative local TV show. At the same time their initial indifference to each other looks like it may evolve into something more romantic.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisDanny Deckchair (2003)
An unappreciated laborer's patience reaches breaking point when his girlfriend cancels a romantic holiday. Making light of the situation, he decides to tie hundreds of helium balloons to a chair in an outlandish bid to float to a new life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLove Don't Co$t a Thing (2003)
A high school outcast pays a cheerleader to pose as his girlfriend so he can be considered cool.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Baltimorons (2025)
A newly sober man's Christmas Eve dental emergency leads to an unexpected romance with his older dentist as they explore Baltimore together.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisJust Before I Go (2015)
Ted Morgan has been treading water for most of his life. After his wife leaves him, Ted realizes he has nothing left to live for. Summoning the courage for one last act, Ted decides to go home and face the people he feels are responsible for creating the shell of a person he has become. But life is tricky. The more determined Ted is to confront his demons, to get closure, and to withdraw from his family, the more Ted is yanked into the chaos of their lives. So, when Ted Morgan decides to kill himself, he finds a reason to live.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Best You Can (2025)
Cynthia Rand is a buttoned-up New Yorker married to a brilliant professor 25 years her senior. She begins feeling the effects of her husband’s advancing age on their relationship, just as her world is turned upside down by the arrival of sharp but chronically underachieving security guard Stan Olszewski in this smart rom-com that reunites Bacon and Sedgwick on screen for the first time in 20 years.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCollege (1927)
A bookish college student dismissive of athletics is compelled to try out sports to win the affection of the girl he loves.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisATL (2006)
As four friends prepare for life after high school, different challenges bring about turning points in each of their lives. The dramas unfold and resolve at their local rollerskating rink, Cascade.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisEdges of the Lord (2001)
A 12-year-old Jewish boy hides with a family of Catholic peasant farmers to escape the Nazis.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA California Christmas (2020)
With his carefree lifestyle on the line, a wealthy charmer poses as a ranch hand to get a hardworking farmer to sell her family’s land before Christmas.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisStructure of the Moment (1980)
On preserving moral principles and the importance of gaining the trust and respect of others.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & comedy
The Scoundrel (1989)
Film exposes the corruption and the decadence of the late Soviet bureaucracy in Azerbaijan SSR through the eyes of a naive Azerbaijani adult man, Hatem.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & comedy
Our Great-Grandfather's Grandfather (1981)
Too old grandpa is being celebity by news maker who came from centre. But then he recollected something weird things about his missus .
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & comedy
The Basement (1990)
After many years of effort and patience, she failed to save her family. She watched with pain as her husband, an architect by training, was ruining his life with idleness and melancholy. Unable to bear the boredom of life together, she leaves home...
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & romance
Only You (1986)
After the story of same name of Ilyas Afandiyev. The film is about two young people's love.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & romance
The Bat (1995)
In a Azerbaijan, in the beginning of this century, the first films made in the history of cinema are shown.The characters meet each other in a room. Three characters who will witness the linking up of their destinies through their common love for this new captivating art.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Nabat (2014)
The story is set during an upsurge in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and revolves around an old, sick ex-forestry worker and his wife Nabat, whose son has died in battle.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
From Two Worlds as a Keepsake (2012)
In Soviet Azerbaijan, a divorced Armenian couple fights over the custody of their daughter, Ashen. Stolen from one parent to another, Ashen's guardians are tragically killed in the bloody war surrounding them. Will the arrival of a new savior finally bring Ashen freedom? Official selection of the Global Lens Collection presented by the Global Film Initiative.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
My Seven Sons (1970)
This film was based on Samad Vurgun's "Komsomol poem". Seven sons, like seven samurai become the seven komsomols (communist leaders) who were sent to a village to establish Soviet power. Seven sons become the romanticized images of people's heroes ready to take revenge.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
In a Southern Town (1969)
Murad, a young man, lives by the old ethical norms that are still valid in the suburbs of his city. He had promised Tofig, his childhood friend, to give him his sister as a wife, but Tofig is in love with another girl. He forgets the promise and takes the girl home. Murad is offended. According to the code of honor, he must take revenge. One of the first films ever produced in the Soviet Union to challenge the sociopolitical establishment.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Like The Instigator and something else?
Blend two favourites and we’ll find the films in between.
Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Instigator?
The closest matches to The Instigator are XX/XY (2002), How to Please a Woman (2022) and Chéri (2009). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Instigator?
Start with XX/XY (2002), the closest match to The Instigator.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Instigator?
Love Don't Co$t a Thing (2003), rated 7.7/10 by 743 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Instigator?
The Baltimorons (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
How are movies similar to The Instigator chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Instigator, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.