Movies like How a Kite Flies (2017)
The best movies like How a Kite Flies (2017) are Box of Moonlight (1996), Uncorked (2020) and Fatherhood (2021). If How a Kite Flies 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 ratedThe Holdovers (2023)7.7/10 from 2,775 votes
- NewestMudville (2026)Released 2026
Box of Moonlight (1996)
Al Fountain, a middle-aged electrical engineer, is on the verge of a mid-life crisis, when he decides to take his time coming home from a business trip, rents a car, and heads out looking for a lake he remembers from his childhood. But his wandering takes him into the life of Kid, a free-spirited young man who helps Al escape from the routine of everyday life and find freedom to enjoy himself.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisUncorked (2020)
Elijah must balance his dream of becoming a master sommelier with his father's expectations that he carry on the family's Memphis BBQ joint.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFatherhood (2021)
A widowed new dad copes with doubts, fears, heartache and dirty diapers as he sets out to raise his daughter on his own. Inspired by a true story.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLooking for Eric (2009)
Middle-aged postman and football fan Eric Bishop struggles with his increasingly chaotic existence, but receives some life coaching from the famously philosophical Éric Cantona.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies 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 thisLady Windermere's Fan (1925)
A society woman believes her husband is having an affair, a misconception which may have dire personal consequences for all involved.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBetter Living Through Chemistry (2014)
A straight-laced pharmacist's uneventful life spirals out of control when he starts an affair with a trophy wife customer who takes him on a joyride involving sex, drugs and possibly murder.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & comedy
SnoozefestMovies like thisYoung Adult (2011)
A divorced writer from the Midwest returns to her hometown to reconnect with an old flame, who's now married with a family.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisJuniper (2021)
When a self-destructive teenager is suspended from school and asked to look after his feisty alcoholic grandmother as a punishment, the crazy time they spend together turns his life around.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisShort Cuts (1993)
Many loosely connected characters cross paths in this film, based on the stories of Raymond Carver. Waitress Doreen Piggot accidentally runs into a boy with her car. Soon after walking away, the child lapses into a coma. While at the hospital, the boy's grandfather tells his son, Howard, about his past affairs. Meanwhile, a baker starts harassing the family when they fail to pick up the boy's birthday cake.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisA Futile and Stupid Gesture (2018)
In a life full of triumph and failure, "National Lampoon" co-founder Doug Kenney built a comedy empire, molding pop culture in the 1970s.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Racer (2020)
Summer 1998 - the opening stages of Le Tour de France are relocated to Ireland. Belgian rider Dom Chabol (late 30s) has been one of the best “Domestiques” (support riders) on the Tour for the last 20 years. It’s a sacrificial role – setting pace, blocking wind, and providing support to enable the team’s sprinter to victory - winning is not an option. But Dom secretly harbours a desire to wear the yellow jersey - just once before his career is over. At the start of what will likely be his last Tour, Dom is unceremoniously dropped from the Team he has dedicated his life to. His best mate Sonny, the team masseur, fails to reassure him about his future. But a chance liaison with Lynn, a young Irish doctor, softens the blow, and Dom starts to accept - and even enjoy - the idea of civilian life. But as he gears up to go home and to face his estranged sister, a massive doping error knocks another teammate off the Tour and Dom is thrown back in the saddle…
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & comedy
SnoozefestMovies like thisNothing in Common (1986)
A successful advertising executive finds his freewheeling life crashing to a halt when his parents end their longtime marriage.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & comedy
SnoozefestMovies like thisStanding Up, Falling Down (2020)
An unlikely friendship kindles between a struggling stand-up comedian from L.A. — forced to move back home to Eastern Long Island with his tail between his legs — and a tragically flawed, but charming and charismatic, alcoholic dermatologist. Discovering to be kindred spirits, each helps the other find healing, in addition to the confidence to face the "failures" in their lives.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBeast (2026)
MMA legend Patton James, now a commercial fisherman, is pulled back into the cage when his brother is in danger. Reuniting with his old coach Sammy, he commits to one final fight in one championship against the brutal champion Xavier Grau.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAirplane! (1980)
An ex-fighter pilot is forced to take over the controls of an airliner when the flight crew succumbs to food poisoning.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBunraku (2010)
In a world with no guns, a mysterious drifter, a bartender and a young samurai plot revenge against a ruthless leader and his army of thugs, headed by nine diverse and deadly assassins.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisLouis C.K.: Oh My God (2013)
Filmed at the Celebrity Theatre in Phoenix, AZ on February 15th and 16th, 2013, Oh My God is Louis C.K.'s fifth stand-up special, his first for HBO since 2007's Shameless, and his first since winning a Emmy Award for writing on his acclaimed show on FX, Louie. Performed in the round in front of a live audience, he discusses such topics as the food chain, animals, divorce, strange anecdotes, broken morality, murder and mortality.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisJohn Mulaney: Baby J (2023)
A chaotic intervention. An action-packed stay in rehab. After a weird couple of years, John Mulaney comes out swinging in his return to the stage.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLouis C.K. 2017 (2017)
Louis C.K. muses on religion, eternal love, giving dogs drugs, email fights, teachers and more in a live performance from Washington, D.C.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Song of the Sheep (2024)
A shepherd discovers his wine is gone and one of his sheep, Hervé, can suddenly talk.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & comedy
Dinner at Eight (1933)
An ambitious New York socialite plans an extravagant dinner party as her businessman husband, Oliver, contends with financial woes, causing a lot of tension between the couple. Meanwhile, their high-society friends and associates, including the gruff Dan Packard and his sultry spouse, Kitty, contend with their own entanglements, leading to revelations at the much-anticipated dinner.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDe Quinze em Quinze dias (2025)
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & comedy
The Holdovers (2023)
A curmudgeonly instructor at a New England prep school is forced to remain on campus during Christmas break to babysit the handful of students with nowhere to go. Eventually, he forms an unlikely bond with one of them — a damaged, brainy troublemaker — and with the school’s head cook, who has just lost a son in Vietnam.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLong Day's Journey Into Night (1962)
An Irish miser, his morphine addicted wife, their debauched older son, and a gravely ill younger son. A quiet Connecticut vacation home on one foggy day in August 1912 becomes the backdrop for domestic decline.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMudville (2026)
Ray Patterson, a 47 year old unemployed dad, spends his days hitting baseballs at the community park in a desperate attempt to make it back onto the Atlanta Apaches, a major league baseball team he was signed to when he was younger. His struggles with drinking, which got him booted from the team in his early 20s, are still a daily problem. Ray is plagued with dreams of what he believes are Native American ghosts and supernatural forces that are attempting to bury him and his dreams in the dirt. When a metaphysical event threatens Ray's existence, his family watches hopelessly, while his wife, Holly, finds comfort in suburban witchery and the cosmic answers that the Tarot provides.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Der Lotterieschwede (1958)
Bornholm island in 1880, where quarry worker Johan Jönsson lives a miserable life with his wife and children. He hopes to escape his poverty by winning a lottery ticket. But it doesn't bring him any luck. Instead of spending his little money on a doctor to have his sick child treated, he extends the lottery ticket. The child dies and Johan, plagued by remorse, turns to alcohol. After he has gambled away everything, the lottery ticket brings someone else the main prize. Johan commits suicide, but his son Per has realized that gambling is not the way to change the miserable existence of the workers.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The Servant (1963)
An indolent aristocrat gets more than he bargained for when he hires a competent but silently devious manservant.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisJust Like Zorro (2012)
Zorro and his family live in a messy, run down apartment. Zorro's father is dead and his mother is an alcoholic but, despite their situation, they share a strong bond. Zorro's best friend, Kevin, lives with his family in one of the more expensive family homes in the area. Although they are financially well off, the father is a violent man who takes his frustrations out on Kevin, his mother and younger sister. Through Kevin's and Zorro's courage and strong friendship they are able to overcome almost anything.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Akitsu Hot Springs (1962)
Just after WW2, a romance between an innkeeper and a man with tuberculosis unravels near a thermal spring.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like How a Kite Flies?
The closest matches to How a Kite Flies are Box of Moonlight (1996), Uncorked (2020) and Fatherhood (2021). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after How a Kite Flies?
Start with Box of Moonlight (1996), the closest match to How a Kite Flies.
What is the highest-rated movie like How a Kite Flies?
The Holdovers (2023), rated 7.7/10 by 2,775 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like How a Kite Flies?
Mudville (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like How a Kite Flies?
Yes: Box of Moonlight (1996), Uncorked (2020) and Fatherhood (2021).
How are movies similar to How a Kite Flies chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside How a Kite Flies, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.