Movies like What's Up Connection (1990)
The best movies like What's Up Connection (1990) are Wicked Little Letters (2024), Kikujiro (1999) and Kabukicho Love Hotel (2014). If What's Up Connection 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 ratedKikujiro (1999)7.5/10 from 629 votes
- NewestMAD (2025)Released 2025
- In JapaneseKikujiro (1999)Also in Japanese
Wicked Little Letters (2024)
When the denizens of Littlehampton – including conservative Edith – begin receiving letters full of hilarious profanities, rowdy Irish migrant Rose is charged with the crime. Suspecting something amiss, the town's women band together to investigate.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisKikujiro (1999)
Brash, loudmouthed and opportunistic, Kikujiro is the unlikely companion for Masao who is determined to see the mother he has never met. The two begin a series of adventures which soon turns out to be a whimsical journey of laughter and tears with a wide array of surprises and unique characters along the way.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisKabukicho Love Hotel (2014)
This erotically charged drama traces the intersecting stories of a group of employees and visitors at a notorious "love hotel" in Tokyo's red-light district.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisIn the Soup (1992)
An aspiring young filmmaker gets involved with an eccentric gangster for the financing of his first film.
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 thisAlmost Friends (2017)
A man in his mid-20s, still living at home with his mother and stepfather, puts all his eggs in one basket: the girl who works at his local coffee shop. The problem is, she has a serious boyfriend. As they become closer, the line between friendship and intimacy is blurred, and the situation forces both to examine where they are in their lives.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Funeral (1984)
When Wabisuke's father-in-law unexpectedly dies, the family goes through a series of random events and occurrences as the funeral unfolds over three days in their home.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSwallowtail Butterfly (1996)
The struggles of a group of outcasts living in "Yentown", in an alternate-future Japan.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisA Taxing Woman (1987)
Intrepid tax investigator Ryoko Itakura sets her sights on the mysterious and philandering Hideki Gondo, a suspected millionaire and proprietor of a thriving chain of seedy hourly hotels, who has for years succeeded at hiding the true extent of his assets from the Japanese authorities. Itakura and Gondo soon find themselves engaged in a complicated, satirical battle of wits.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSurvive Style 5+ (2004)
Five bizarre stories with no apparent connection to one another eventually become intertwined, resulting in surreal circumstances.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAdrift in Tokyo (2007)
A thug offers to pay a law student's gambling debt if the student will accompany him on a trip across Tokyo.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCrayon Shinchan the Movie: The Secret Treasure of Buri Buri Kingdom (1994)
The Noharas win a vacation to the Kingdom of Buri Buri -- but the whole thing was just a clever ploy by an evil organization to kidnap Shin-chan!
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHard to Die (1990)
While doing the inventory for a lingerie outlet in a high rise office building, five attractive women are terrorized by a series of bizarre killings. They suspect that the strange janitor, who witnessed another series of killings six months previously, is at the bottom of the whole thing. Little do they know the real horror that they face in the end.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGabriel Iglesias: I'm Sorry for What I Said When I Was Hungry (2016)
Hawaiian-shirt enthusiast Gabriel "Fluffy" Iglesias finds the laughs in racist gift baskets, Prius-driving cops and all-female taco trucks.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisKamikaze Girls (2004)
Momoko, a strange and seemingly emotionless girl obsessed with 18th century France, befriends a Yanki biker and the two experience the ups and downs of their unusual lives in a rural Japanese town.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisKung Pow: Enter the Fist (2002)
A movie within a movie, created to spoof the martial arts genre. Writer/director Steve Oedekerk uses contemporary characters and splices them into a 1970s kung-fu film, weaving the new and old together. As the main character, The Chosen One, Oedekerk sets off to avenge the deaths of his parents at the hands of kung-fu legend Master Pain. Along the way he encounters some strange characters.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRonny Chieng: Asian Comedian Destroys America! (2019)
Comedian Ronny Chieng shares his unapologetic perspective about his journey to America, and what he thinks really makes America great.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisPsychic Kusuo (2017)
Born a powerful psychic, high schooler Kusuo Saiki craves the simple life. But the weirdos in his class make it difficult to conceal his abilities.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCrayon Shinchan the Movie: My Moving Story! Cactus Attack! (2015)
The Noharas must survive a hoard of man-eating killer cacti after Shin-chan's father relocates the family to Mexico for work.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisRyuzo and the Seven Henchmen (2015)
Ryuzo and his 7 former henchmen are all retired yakuza, but they now live as regular old men. One day, Ryuzo becomes the victim of a phishing fraud. He calls his 7 men together to reform their society.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisZatoichi Meets Yojimbo (1970)
Zatoichi treks to a village that has always been a favorite spot of his, only to discover that it’s become a living hell, plagued by feuding father and son yakuza as well as the younger crime boss’s bodyguard, scruffy, smart-mouthed, cash-hungry Yojimbo of legend.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like this12 Men of Christmas (2009)
A high-powered New York publicist finds herself in Montana promoting a charity calendar after being betrayed by her boss and fiancé. Unfortunately, matters of the heart are just as complicated in the wilds as they are in the big city.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
SnoozefestMovies like thisMAD (2025)
After running around the city all day, Mandy finally realizes something a little too late.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Vuja de (2022)
Forced by the parents to be married, a young couple in Paris discover things about themselves as they mature through their romance together.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
Russell Kane - The Essex Variant (2022)
The Essex Variant toured from 2021 to 2023 culminating in this recording at the historic London Palladium. It's belly-laugh comedy from the heart - starting with raucous improvisation and continuing into a whirlwind comedy performance about 2020 and all that happened to us. Enjoy.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
The Mysterians (1957)
In Japan, scientifically advanced invaders from the war-destroyed planet Mysteroid cause an entire village to vanish, then send a giant robot out to storm the city by night, after which they request a small patch of land on Earth and the right to marry earthling women, claiming to be pacifists. Mankind must decide whether to capitulate or to resist.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Old Young Crow (2023)
An Iranian boy befriends an old Japanese woman at a graveyard in Tokyo.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The Insect Woman (1963)
A woman, Tome, is born to a lower class family in Japan in 1918. The title refers to an insect, repeating its mistakes, as in an infinite circle. Imamura, with this metaphor, introduces the life of Tome, who keeps trying to change her poor life.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisRamen Shop (2018)
Masato is a young ramen chef in Japan. When he finds his late mother's journal after the sudden death of his emotionally distant father, he takes it with him to her native country, Singapore, hoping to piece together the story of his family and his life.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTen Years Thailand (2018)
A collection of short films by five Thai directors imagining their country ten years into the future.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like What's Up Connection?
The closest matches to What's Up Connection are Wicked Little Letters (2024), Kikujiro (1999) and Kabukicho Love Hotel (2014). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after What's Up Connection?
Start with Wicked Little Letters (2024), the closest match to What's Up Connection.
What is the highest-rated movie like What's Up Connection?
Kikujiro (1999), rated 7.5/10 by 629 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like What's Up Connection?
MAD (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Japanese movies like What's Up Connection?
Yes: Kikujiro (1999), Kabukicho Love Hotel (2014) and The Funeral (1984).
How are movies similar to What's Up Connection chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside What's Up Connection, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.