Movies like The Best Years (2020)
The best movies like The Best Years (2020) are A California Christmas: City Lights (2021), Chéri (2009) and One Day More (2011). If The Best Years hooked you with its romance and drama, these 20 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedWe All Loved Each Other So Much (1974)8.3/10 from 674 votes
- NewestThe Baltimorons (2025)Released 2025
- In ItalianOne Day More (2011)Also in Italian
A California Christmas: City Lights (2021)
Follows Callie and Joseph one year after they fell in love, now running a dairy farm and winery, but their romance is threatened when business and family obligations call Joseph back to the city.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisChéri (2009)
The son of a courtesan retreats into a fantasy world after being forced to end his relationship with the older woman who educated him in the ways of love.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOne Day More (2011)
Giacomo is a 40-year-old man who works for a big company in Milan. To avoid working on weekends, he lies about having a girlfriend whose character he creates based upon a girl he sees every morning.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMadame (2017)
Anne and Bob, a well-to-do American couple, have just moved to a beautiful manor house in romantic Paris. To impress their sophisticated friends, they decide to host a lavish dinner party, but must disguise their maid as a noblewoman to even out the number of guests. When the maid runs off with a wealthy guest, Anne must chase her around Paris to thwart the joyous and unexpected love affair.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & comedy
SnoozefestMovies like thisI Met a Girl (2020)
An aspiring musician struggling with schizophrenia falls for a mysterious woman who may be all in his head. When she suddenly vanishes, he takes off on a cross-country journey across Australia to find her, forcing his long-suffering brother to chase after him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisYou Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger (2010)
Two married couples find only trouble and heartache as their complicated lives unfold. After 40 years of marriage, Alfie leaves his wife to pursue what he thinks is happiness with a call girl. His wife, Helena, reeling from abandonment, decides to follow the advice of a psychic. Sally, the daughter of Alfie and Helena, is unhappy in her marriage and develops a crush on her boss, while her husband, Roy, falls for a woman engaged to be married.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisA California Christmas (2020)
With his carefree lifestyle on the line, a wealthy charmer poses as a ranch hand to get a hardworking farmer to sell her family’s land before Christmas.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisL.A. Without a Map (1999)
An aspiring Hollywood actress, on a visit to a charming North England town, has a brief fling with the town undertaker, who also writes obituaries for the local paper. Returning home, where she works as a waitress at a Japanese restaurant, she tells everyone about the handsome "writer" she met on her trip. Unfortunately, he decides to follow her back to Hollywood, setting up the expected light romantic comedy with asides as the newcomer gains experience about the goings on in Hollywood.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & comedy
SnoozefestMovies like thisWhich Brings Me to You (2023)
Two romantic burnouts, Jane and Will, are immediately drawn to each other at a mutual friend’s wedding. After a disastrous hookup in the coatroom, the two spend the next 24 hours together, trading candid confessions of messy histories and heartbreak, on the off chance that this fling might be the real thing.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHe Said, She Said (1991)
Womanising, right-wing Dan Hanson and quiet, liberal Lorie Bryer work for the Baltimore Sun. Rivals for the job of new writer of a vacant column, the paper ends up instead printing their very different opinions alongside each other, which leads to a similarly combative local TV show. At the same time their initial indifference to each other looks like it may evolve into something more romantic.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisPeace, Love & Misunderstanding (2011)
A conservative lawyer named Diane takes her two teenage children Jake and Zoe to meet their estranged, hippie grandmother in Woodstock after her husband asks for a divorce.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisOnce Around (1991)
A struggling woman finds unexpected love with a charismatic older salesman at a real estate seminar. Their passionate relationship clashes with the values of her family, particularly her father.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLove in Taipei (2023)
A young American woman is sent by her parents to a cultural immersion program in Taipei where she begins a new journey of self-discovery and romance.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Baltimorons (2025)
A newly sober man's Christmas Eve dental emergency leads to an unexpected romance with his older dentist as they explore Baltimore together.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCosi (1996)
Lewis, a young amateur theater director, is offered a job with a governmental program for the rehabilitation of mentally ill patients in a Sydney institution. His project is overrun by one of the patients, who wants to stage the opera Cosi Fan Tutte by Mozart, despite the fact that none of the patients can sing or speak Italian. A comedy of errors ensues, but one which unifies the patients and their director in unexpected ways.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisIrreplaceable You (2018)
A stunning cancer diagnosis spurs Abbie to seek a future girlfriend for fiancé and childhood sweetheart Sam, who's clueless when it comes to dating.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisA Christmas Wish (2019)
Every December in the small town of Ponchatoula, Louisiana a wooden wishing box is placed in the park as a Christmas tradition. After a night out together, Maddie encourages her sister Faith to put a wish in the box - a wish to experience true love for the first time. Faith and Maddie are surprised the next day when she meets the very handsome and eligible Andrew. As Christmas nears, Faith begins to wonder if Andrew is really perfect for her, or if the wish is leading her to her best friend, Wyatt.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWe All Loved Each Other So Much (1974)
Three partisans bound by a strong friendship return home after the war, but the clash with everyday reality puts a strain on their bond.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & comedy
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisReality (2012)
A dark comedy centering on the lives of a Neapolitan based family whose father, a fish merchant, is so infatuated with the reality TV show "Grande Fratello" (the Italian version of "Big Brother") he starts living his life as if he were on it.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisNot Easily Broken (2009)
A car accident and shifting affections test the bond between a married couple.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Best Years?
The closest matches to The Best Years are A California Christmas: City Lights (2021), Chéri (2009) and One Day More (2011). Below are 17 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Best Years?
Start with A California Christmas: City Lights (2021), the closest match to The Best Years.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Best Years?
We All Loved Each Other So Much (1974), rated 8.3/10 by 674 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Best Years?
The Baltimorons (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Italian movies like The Best Years?
Yes: One Day More (2011), We All Loved Each Other So Much (1974) and Reality (2012).
How are movies similar to The Best Years chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Best Years, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.