Movies like Elling (2001)
The best movies like Elling (2001) are Paddleton (2019), Kings of the Road (1976) and Kitchen Stories (2003). If Elling 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 ratedAnother Round (2020)7.6/10 from 4,007 votes
- NewestEephus (2025)Released 2025
Paddleton (2019)
An unlikely friendship between two neighbors becomes an unexpectedly emotional journey when the younger man is diagnosed with terminal cancer.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisKings of the Road (1976)
Itinerant projection-equipment repairman Bruno Winter and depressed hitchhiker Robert Lander - a doctor who has just been through a break-up with his wife and a half-hearted suicide attempt - travel along the Western side of the East-German border in a repair truck, visiting worn-out movie theaters, learning to communicate across their differences.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisKitchen Stories (2003)
Swedish efficiency researchers come to Norway for a study of Norwegian men, to optimize their use of their kitchen. Folke Nilsson (Tomas Norström) is assigned to study the habits of Isak Bjørvik (Joachim Calmeyer). By the rules of the research institute, Folke has to sit on an umpire's chair in Isak's kitchen and observe him from there, but never talk to him. Isak stops using his kitchen and observes Folke through a hole in the ceiling instead. However, the two lonely men slowly overcome the initial post-war Norwegian-Swede distrust and become friends.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisEephus (2025)
As an imminent construction project looms over their beloved small-town baseball field, a pair of New England rec-league teams face off for the last time. Tensions flare up and ceremonial laughs are shared as an era of camaraderie and escapism fades into an uncertain future.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisNorth (2009)
Following a nervous breakdown, ski athlete Jomar has isolated himself in a lonely existence as the guard of a ski park. When he learns that he might be the father of a child way up north, he sets on a strange and poetic journey through Norway on a snowmobile, with 5 liters of alcohol as sole provisions. On this trip through amazing arctic landscapes, Jomar seems to do everything in his power to avoid reaching his destination. He meets other tender and confused souls, who will all contribute to push Jomar further along his reluctant journey towards the brighter side of life.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisO'Horten (2007)
Odd Horton is dependable and contained: he's a train driver retiring after 40 years of service, living a simple life. His idea of adventure is to fly from one city in Norway to another. Starting on the night of his retirement dinner, Odd has a series of dislocating experiences: a boy insists that Odd sit by his bedside while he falls asleep; misadventure causes Odd to miss his last run; he witnesses an arrest; he assists an old man and makes a friend; he takes a trip with a blindfolded driver; he adopts a dog; he takes stock late one night at the roundhouse; he revisits his mother's disappointment in him. How should he live the rest of his life?
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAberdeen (2000)
Kaisa is a Scot, a successful London lawyer, who snorts coke and has one-night stands with strangers. Her mother calls from Aberdeen with some story begging her to fly to Norway and collect her alcoholic dad whom she hasn't seen in years.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Somewhat Gentle Man (2010)
After serving a 12-year sentence for killing the man that slept with his wife, a man ponders whether he should try and reconcile with his family, or take revenge on those who turned him in.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHome for Christmas (2010)
Adapted from a series of short stories by Norwegian author Levi Henriksen, Bent Hamer's "Home for Christmas" weaves together the lives of people struggling to find their way home on a Christmas Eve, beneath the colors of the Northern Lights. The plot unfolds during a few afternoon hours on Christmas Eve. The individual stories, which at times intertwine, are set in the small town Skogli. The characters in the stories cover a great range in age and life situations, representing both reconciliation with their own lives and strong frustration. Some show the will to understand and do something about their lives, while others have given up. Deeply tragic and melancholy aspects are mixed with humour and rather frivolous solutions.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & comedy
Reprise (2006)
Fueled by literary aspirations and youthful exuberance, two competitive friends endure the pangs of love, depression, and burgeoning careers.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAnother Round (2020)
Four stagnant high school teachers decide to test out a theory that maintaining a constant level of intoxication will improve their overall lives.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisOslo, August 31st (2011)
A recovering drug addict is granted a day’s leave from rehab and returns to Oslo, where he reconnects with friends, faces the weight of his past, and struggles with uncertainty about his future. Over the course of one day, he drifts through encounters that reflect his longing for connection and his deep sense of alienation.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisA Man Called Ove (2015)
Despite being deposed as president of his condominium association, grumpy 59-year-old Ove continues to watch over his neighbourhood with an iron fist. When pregnant Parvaneh and her family move into the terraced house opposite Ove and she accidentally backs into Ove’s mailbox, it sets off a series of unexpected changes in his life.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Telegraphist (1993)
Set against the beautiful backdrop of northern Norway, this film tells the story of a telegraphist in a very small community at the turn of the century.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & drama
The Yellow Handkerchief (1977)
A convict, newly released from prison for murder, joins two strangers on a road trip through Hokkaido to visit his ex-wife, whom he hasn't seen in four years, knowing that if she puts a yellow handkerchief on the window, it would mean that she wants him back at home.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSimple Simon (2010)
Simon has Asperger's syndrome and doesn't like changes in his life. He lives with his big brother Sam and Sam's girlfriend Frida. When Frida can't stand having to adapt to Simon's peculiarities anymore she takes off, leaving Simon with having to find a new, perfect, girlfriend for his brother.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisZero Kelvin (1995)
Larsen, an aspiring poet in '20s Oslo, leaves his girlfriend to spend a year as a trapper in East Greenland. There he is teamed with a seemingly rough old sailor/trapper, Randbæk, and a scientist, Holm. Trapped in a tiny hut together as the Arctic winter sets in, a complex and intense love/hate relationship develops between Randbæk and Larsen, who are more similar than either would like to admit. A powerful psychological and physical drama set against stunningly bleak Arctic scenery.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Art of Negative Thinking (2006)
The local disability support group visits an involuntary member, not realizing that it will bring them to a critical mass.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Serious Man (2009)
It is 1967, and Larry Gopnik, a physics professor at a quiet Midwestern university, has just been informed by his wife Judith that she is leaving him. He scrambles to find a semblance of meaning as he loses control of nearly every aspect of his life.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWonder Boys (2000)
Grady is a 50-ish English professor who hasn't had a thing published in years—not since he wrote his award winning 'Great American Novel' 7 years ago. This weekend proves even worse than he could imagine as he finds himself reeling from one misadventure to another in the company of a new wonder boy author.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSaint Ralph (2005)
This Canadian made comedy/drama, set in Hamilton, Ontario in 1954, is a sweet and - at times - goofy story that becomes increasingly poignant as the minutes tick by. It's the fictional tale of a wayward 9th grader, Ralph (Adam Butcher), who is secretly living on his own while his widowed, hospitalized mother remains immersed in a coma. Frequently in trouble with Father Fitzpatrick (Gordon Pinsent), the principal of his all-boys, Catholic school, Ralph is considered something of a joke among peers until he decides to pull off a miracle that could save his mother, i.e., winning the Boston Marathon. Coached by a younger priest and former runner, Father Hibbert (Campbell Scott), whose cynicism has been lifted by the boy's pure hope, Ralph applies himself to his unlikely mission, fending off naysayers and getting help along a very challenging path from sundry allies and friends.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisTour de Force (2014)
Belgium, of all places. What's Belgium got besides chocolates and fries? No matter, this year it was Hannes' and Kiki's turn to choose the destination of their annual bike tour with their closest friends. They all looks forward to the adventure, after all they know that what counts the most is the time they spend together. It's only after the tour has begun that Hannes tells his friends that he's suffering from an incurable disease. The trip is to be his last. At first, the group is shocked and helpless, but after they hit the road again, they embark on a wild and one-of-a-kind adventure. Through Hannes, they realize how precious life is. Equipped with a list of things that still remain to do, and aware that nothing will be the same after this trip, they celebrate life as they never did before.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCitizens Band (1977)
The interlaced stories of several characters in a small town united by their use of CB (citizen's band) radio.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & drama
The Station Agent (2003)
When his only friend dies, a man born with dwarfism moves to rural New Jersey to live a life of solitude, only to meet a chatty hot dog vendor and a woman dealing with her own personal loss.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like this1001 Grams (2014)
When Norwegian scientist Marie attends a seminar in Paris on the actual weight of a kilo, it is her own measurement of disappointment, grief and, not least, love, that ends up on the scale. Finally Marie is forced to come to terms with how much a human life truly weighs and which measurements she intends to live by.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisBurning (2014)
For all who remember Cannonball Run. Here is a modern twist on the subject. The longest, wildest and funniest car race, ever. From Oslo to the North Cape. The only rule is getting there first!
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Mighty (1998)
Kevin, an intelligent guy helps out Maxwell to improve his reading skills. In return, Kevin wants Maxwell to take him out places since he is not authorized to go out. Being the social outcasts of the town, Kevin and Maxwell come to realize that they are similar to each other and accept that they are "freaks" and nothing will stop them.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCome As You Are (2020)
Three young men with disabilities embark on a road trip to a brothel in Montreal catering to people with special needs to lose their virginity and embrace their independence.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisKinds of Kindness (2024)
A triptych fable following a man without choice who tries to take control of his own life; a policeman who is alarmed that his wife who was missing-at-sea has returned and seems a different person; and a woman determined to find a specific someone with a special ability, who is destined to become a prodigious spiritual leader.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHouse of D (2004)
In the present, artist Tom Warshaw recalls his traumatic coming of age. As a 13-year-old growing up in New York City in 1973, Tom hangs out with Pappass, a mentally disabled man. With Tom's mother battling depression after the death of her husband, the young boy is left to his own devices. When Tom develops a crush on schoolmate Melissa, Pappass feels abandoned and begins behaving erratically.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Elling?
The closest matches to Elling are Paddleton (2019), Kings of the Road (1976) and Kitchen Stories (2003). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Elling?
People who watched Elling most often go on to Paddleton (2019), Kings of the Road (1976) and Kitchen Stories (2003).
What is the highest-rated movie like Elling?
Another Round (2020), rated 7.6/10 by 4,007 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Elling?
Eephus (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
How are movies similar to Elling chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Elling, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.