Movies like The River (2001)
The best movies like The River (2001) are The Burning Plain (2008), Snow Angels (2007) and My Policeman (2022). If The River 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 ratedForrest Gump (1994)8.5/10 from 30,851 votes
- NewestLove Me Love Me (2026)Released 2026
The Burning Plain (2008)
A trailer is burning in the middle of a plain. The bodies of two adulterous lovers are found. Scenes from both families, before and after the dramatic events, suggest an unusual connection between them. But what is their secret?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSnow Angels (2007)
Waitress Annie has separated from her suicidal alcoholic husband, Glenn. Glenn has become an evangelical Christian, but his erratic attempts at getting back into Annie's life have alarmed her. High school student Arthur works at Annie's restaurant, growing closer to a new kid in town, Lila, after class. When Glenn and Annie's daughter goes missing, the whole town searches for her, as he increasingly spirals out of control.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMy Policeman (2022)
In the late 1990s, the arrival of elderly invalid Patrick into Marion and Tom’s home triggers the exploration of seismic events from 40 years previous: the passionate relationship between Tom and Patrick at a time when homosexuality was illegal.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Wait (2022)
The idyllic and secluded Finnish archipelago. The pandemic soars across the world. Elli’s world trembles as her husband’s old friend arrives at the island.
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 thisThird Person (2014)
An acclaimed novelist struggles to write an analysis of love in one of three stories, each set in a different city, that detail the beginning, middle and end of a relationship.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
SnoozefestMovies like thisMy First Summer (2020)
Isolated on a remote property, 16-year-old Claudia finds her world transformed when a spirited girl named Grace wanders into her garden.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisStealing Home (1988)
Billy Wyatt, a former high school and minor-league baseball player, receives a telephone call from his mother revealing that his former child-sitter, and later in his teens, his first love, Katie Chandler, has died. Wyatt returns home to deal with this tragedy, reminiscing over his childhood growing up with his father, Katie, and best friend Alan Appleby.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLove Me Love Me (2026)
After her brother's death, June moves to Milan for a fresh start, finding comfort in Will, the perfect honor student at her new international school. But when his troubled best friend James—hiding a dangerous life in clandestine MMA fights—sparks a rivalry that quickly turns into irresistible attraction, June must choose between safety and a love that upends everything she thought she wanted.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAfterglow (1997)
Lucky Mann is a builder equally handy at repairs and seduction. The latest housewife to succumb to his charms is Marianne, unhappily married to corporate exec Jeffrey. When Jeffrey becomes enraptured by Lucky’s wife Phyllis, the four get caught in a love quadrangle that reignites their marriages.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
SnoozefestMovies like thisTime Is Up (2021)
Vivien, an accomplished student with a passion for physics, and Roy, a troubled young man, are involved in an accident that forces them to reclaim their lives one minute at the time.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Shipping News (2001)
An emotionally-beaten man with his young daughter moves to his ancestral home in Newfoundland to reclaim his life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFifty Shades Darker (2017)
When a wounded Christian Grey tries to entice a cautious Ana Steele back into his life, she demands a new arrangement before she will give him another chance. As the two begin to build trust and find stability, shadowy figures from Christian’s past start to circle the couple, determined to destroy their hopes for a future together.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisElena Undone (2010)
The wife of a pastor who preaches against homosexuality embarks on an affair with a female writer.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisArch of Triumph (1948)
In the winter of 1938, Paris is crowded with refugees from the Nazis, who live in the black shadows of night, trying to evade deportation. One such is Dr. Ravic, who practices medicine illegally and stalks his old Nazi enemy Haake with murder in mind. One rainy night, Ravic meets Joan Madou, a kept woman cast adrift by her lover's sudden death. Against Ravic's better judgment, they become involved in a doomed affair.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMy Fault: London (2025)
18-year-old Noah moves from America to London, with her mother who's recently fallen in love with William, a wealthy British businessman. Noah meets William’s son, bad-boy Nick, and soon discovers there is an attraction between them neither can avoid. As Noah spends the summer adjusting to her new life, her devastating past will catch up with her while falling in love for the first time.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAll the Bright Places (2020)
Two teens facing personal struggles form a powerful bond as they embark on a cathartic journey chronicling the wonders of Indiana.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisFingernails (2023)
Anna and Ryan have found true love together. It's been proven by a controversial test. There's just one problem: Anna still isn't sure. Then she meets Amir.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisSleeping with the Enemy (1991)
A young woman fakes her own death in an attempt to escape her nightmarish marriage, but discovers it is impossible to elude her controlling husband.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOrdinary People (1980)
Beth, Calvin, and their son Conrad are living in the aftermath of the death of the other son. Conrad is overcome by grief and misplaced guilt to the extent of a suicide attempt. He is in therapy. Beth had always preferred his brother and is having difficulty being supportive to Conrad. Calvin is trapped between the two trying to hold the family together.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisYoung Adam (2003)
A young drifter working on a river barge disrupts his employers' lives while hiding the fact that he knows more about a dead woman found in the river than he admits.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & romance
SnoozefestMovies like thisBed and Board (1970)
Parisian everyman Antoine Doinel has married his sweetheart Christine Darbon, and the newlyweds have set up a cozy domestic life of selling flowers and giving violin lessons while Antoine fitfully works on his long-gestating novel. As Christine becomes pregnant with the couple's first child, Antoine finds himself enraptured with a young Japanese beauty. The complications change the course of their relationship forever.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBrokeback Mountain (2005)
In 1960s Wyoming, two men develop a strong emotional and sexual relationship that endures as a lifelong connection complicating their lives as they get married and start families of their own.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisOnly Good Things (2025)
Catalão, Brazil, 1984. The rural region of Batalha dos Neves is made up of large crop pastures, a few farms and divided in half by the São Marcos River. Antonio lives alone and isolated taking care of his small farm until the day he encounters Marcelo, a lonely motorcycler who suffers an accident crossing the region. Antonio takes care of Marcelo’s wounds. The two fall in love and live a story that transforms, destabilizes, and causes ruptures in each of them.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both romance & drama
Wilbur Wants to Kill Himself (2002)
The strange comedy film of two close brothers; one, Wilbur, who wants to kill himself, and the other, Harbour, who tries to prevent this. When their father dies leaving them his bookstore they meet a woman who makes their lives a bit better yet with a bit more trouble as well.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisIn My Dreams (2015)
Natalie and Nick are frustrated with their luck in romance. After tossing coins into a fountain, the two then begin dreaming about each other. But, according to fountain mythology, they only have a week to turn those dreams into reality.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both romance & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisForrest Gump (1994)
A man with a low IQ has accomplished great things in his life and been present during significant historic events—in each case, far exceeding what anyone imagined he could do. But despite all he has achieved, his one true love eludes him.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & romance
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisTo Be or Not to Be (1942)
During the Nazi occupation of Poland, an acting troupe becomes embroiled in a Polish soldier's efforts to track down a German spy.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAvance et tu verras (2025)
The sun rises over the dark, misty forest. It's springtime. Nature is lush. A man in his fifties walks warily along a hiking trail cut through tall ferns. He's not walking alone; something invisible is connected to him.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Jalil (2009)
Jalil is 17-year-old boy living with his Iranian family in a suburb near Helsinki. Though he has lived in Finland all his life, it seems hard for him to find acceptance among the "native" Finns. At home he faces the opposite problem. His parents demand him to respect Iranian cultural traditions. Jalil is about one day in the life of a boy standing on the edge of two cultures. On this summer day big things are bound to culminate; religion, identity, love.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Like The River and something else?
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The River?
The closest matches to The River are The Burning Plain (2008), Snow Angels (2007) and My Policeman (2022). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The River?
Start with The Burning Plain (2008), the closest match to The River.
What is the highest-rated movie like The River?
Forrest Gump (1994), rated 8.5/10 by 30,851 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The River?
Love Me Love Me (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
How are movies similar to The River chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The River, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.