Movies like Orphans
The best movies like Orphans (1998) are Somewhere in Queens (2023), Eulogy (2004) and Hooking Up (2020). If Orphans 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 ratedFanny and Alexander (1982)7.8/10 from 928 votes
- NewestLa roue tourne (2026)Released 2026
Somewhere in Queens (2023)
Leo and Angela Russo live a simple life in Queens, surrounded by their overbearing Italian-American family. When their son finds success on his high school basketball team, Leo tears the family apart trying to make it happen.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisEulogy (2004)
A black comedy that follows three generations of a family, who come together for the funeral of the patriarch - unveiling a litany of family secrets and covert relationships.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHooking Up (2020)
Bailey and Darla embark upon a misguided and mutually deceitful form of therapy, one in which they must drive across the country, re-enacting Darla's colorful history as a sex addict. As their true motivations for the road trip come to light, the unlikely pair force one another to confront their issues, discovering that there might actually be more to love than just sex.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Road Within (2014)
A young man with Tourette's Syndrome embarks on a road trip with his recently-deceased mother's ashes.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSmall Apartments (2012)
When a clumsy deadbeat accidentally kills his landlord, he must do everything in his power to hide the body, only to find that the distractions of lust, the death of his beloved brother, and a crew of misfit characters force him on a journey where a fortune awaits him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisFamily Weekend (2013)
A 16-year-old girl takes her parents hostage after they miss her big jump-roping competition.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Clique (2008)
A young girl tries to fit in with a clique of popular middle school girls after moving into the guest house of one of their homes.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisFilth (2013)
A bigoted junkie cop suffering from borderline personality disorder and drug addiction manipulates and hallucinates his way in a bid to secure promotion.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBob & Carol & Ted & Alice (1969)
After returning to Los Angeles from a group therapy session, documentary filmmaker Bob Sanders and his wife, Carol, find themselves becoming vigilante couples counselors, offering unsolicited advice to their best friends, Ted and Alice Henderson. Not wanting to be rude, the Hendersons play along, but some latent sexual tension among the four soon comes bubbling to the surface, and long-buried desires don't stay buried for long.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHusbands (1970)
A common friend's sudden death brings three men, married with children, to reconsider their lives and ultimately leave the country together. But mindless enthusiasm for regained freedom will be short-lived.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Funeral (1996)
After the funeral of one of their own, a criminal family decides to embark on an emotionally unnerving journey in an attempt to exact bloody revenge.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisJawbone (2017)
A former youth boxing champion, Jimmy McCabe is a man in search of hope but looking in all the wrong places. When he hits rock bottom he turns to his childhood boxing club and the only family he has left: gym owner Bill corner man Eddie and promoter Joe. Back in training, years after anyone thought he was a contender, he risks his life, as he tries to stand tall and regain his place in the world.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisConvict (2014)
Set in the dark and old Parramatta prison built by the original convicts our lead character Ray a war veteran finds himself serving 18 months for manslaughter after defending his fiance. He soon realizes that the prison boss has it in for him and does everything possible to break Ray even going after his fiance.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSweet Sixteen (2002)
Determined to have a normal family life once his mother gets out of prison, a Scottish teenager from a tough background sets out to raise the money for a home.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisJubal (1956)
Jubal Troop is a cowboy who is found in a weakened condition, without a horse. He is given shelter at Shep Horgan's large ranch, where he quickly makes an enemy in foreman Pinky, a cattleman who accuses Jubal of carrying the smell of sheep.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGangs of New York (2002)
In early 1860s New York, Irish immigrant Amsterdam Vallon is released from prison and returns to the Five Points, seeking revenge against his father's killer, William Cutting, a powerful anti-immigrant gang leader. He knows that revenge can only be attained by infiltrating Cutting's inner circle. Vallon's journey becomes a fight for personal survival and to find a place for the Irish people.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisNo Retreat, No Surrender 3: Blood Brothers (1990)
Two feuding brothers of differing political views, one a policeman, the other a martial artist, join forces to avenge the death of their father, a retired agent who was brutally murdered by the mafia.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLockdown (2000)
Avery (Jones) returns to college as a competitive swimmer after getting his life back on track. But his life takes another unexpected turn when he and his two friends (Bonds, Casseus) are wrongly accused of murder and end up in prison.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies 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 thisThe Outrage (1964)
At a disused railway station, three men -- a con artist, a preacher, and a prospector -- discuss the recent trial and sentencing of the outlaw Juan Carrasco for the murder of a man and the rape of his wife. In their recounting, the three explore the conflicting testimonies of the parties involved in the crimes. Disconcerting new questions arise with each different version of the event.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisLa roue tourne (2026)
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy & drama
Fanny and Alexander (1982)
As children in the loving Ekdahl family, Fanny and Alexander enjoy a happy life with their parents, who run a theater company. After their father dies unexpectedly, however, the siblings end up in a joyless home when their mother, Emilie, marries a stern bishop. The bleak situation gradually grows worse as the bishop becomes more controlling, but dedicated relatives make a valiant attempt to aid Emilie, Fanny and Alexander.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe End (2021)
Seven famous actors get caught up in a game that no one can predict the ending. In a moment when the whole world is in limbo and the future seems more than uncertain, the stars receive a lucrative offer. And although it is not the peak of their professional ambitions, they do not intend to give it up. Sex, intrigue, betrayals, denunciations, disloyalty, deceptions, all covered with an artificial smile.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
The Best Place to Be (2008)
After they have graduated from school, the two best friends Kati and Jo jump into their purple Benz and embark on a journey around the world southwards. Kati, however, struggled with the decision for the journey as the love of her life returned to their hometown Tandern shortly before their departure. The journey leads the two friends over the Brenner pass, where their car suddenly stops working. When Kati then also learns that her grandfather is about to die, she wants to return home – this puts the friendship of the two to an acid test.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Luther (2003)
During the early 16th century, idealistic German monk Martin Luther, disgusted by the materialism in the church, begins the dialogue that will lead to the Protestant Reformation.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisEmpties (2007)
Czech literature teacher Josef Tkaloun, who is past retirement age, realises one day that he no longer understands his pupils, and so he quits… dramatically. What he does not predict is that in doing this he will lose his sense of place in society.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFirst Reformed (2018)
A pastor of a small church in upstate New York starts to spiral out of control after a soul-shaking encounter with an unstable environmental activist and his pregnant wife.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisVeggieTales: Twas the Night Before Easter (2011)
It's Easter time in Crisper County and cable news reporter Marlee Meade (Petunia Rhubarb) is hunting for a way to help others. On a tip that the old town theater will be shut down, Marlee cooks up a plan to save the stage and make a difference through the power of musical theater! With a cast of costume-clad townies, massive props and a 20-foot robot rabbit - "Up With Bunnies" is hatched! There's only one thing missing - the star of the show! When news spreads that singing sensation Cassie Cassava (Melinda Dolittle) is arriving to perform in her hometown church's Easter service, Marlee gets worried. Concerned about the competition, she schemes to steal the starlet for her own pageant! But when things go haywire, will it be curtains for Marlee's dreams - or will she discover the true meaning of Easter and what helping others is really all about?
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
The Three Lives of Thomasina (1963)
Thomasina the cat brings a family together through her mysterious death and reappearance.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPlease, Don’t Cry (2025)
A professional mourner goes to what seems just another job when she begins to suspect that the deceased might be tied to her forgotten past.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Orphans?
The closest matches to Orphans are Somewhere in Queens (2023), Eulogy (2004) and Hooking Up (2020). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Orphans?
Start with Somewhere in Queens (2023), the closest match to Orphans.
What is the highest-rated movie like Orphans?
Fanny and Alexander (1982), rated 7.8/10 by 928 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Orphans?
La roue tourne (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Orphans?
Yes: Somewhere in Queens (2023), Eulogy (2004) and Hooking Up (2020).
How are movies similar to Orphans chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Orphans, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.