Movies like Happy Birthday
The best movies like Happy Birthday are The Boys in the Band (1970), The Substance (2024) and Girl Asleep (2015). If Happy Birthday hooked you, these 20 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Happy Birthday
Quick picks
- Highest ratedRope (1948)7.9/10 from 3,142 votes
- NewestAnniversary (2025)Released 2025
The Boys in the Band (1970)
Harold is celebrating a birthday, and his friend Michael has drafted some other friends to help commemorate the event. As the evening progresses, an unexpected guest shows up, the alcohol flows, the knives come out, and dormant and unspoken emotions are unleashed.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Substance (2024)
A fading celebrity decides to use a black market drug, a cell-replicating substance that temporarily creates a younger, better version of herself.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisGirl Asleep (2015)
The world is closing in on Greta Driscoll. On the cusp of turning fifteen, she can’t bear to leave her childhood; it contains all the things that give her comfort in an incomprehensible new world. She floats in a bubble of loserdom with her only friend, Elliott, until her parents throw her a surprise fifteenth birthday party and she’s flung into a parallel place—a world that’s weirdly erotic, a little bit violent, and thoroughly ludicrous. Only there can she find herself.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like this21 & Over (2013)
Brilliant student Jeff Chang has the most important interview of his life tomorrow. But today is still his birthday, what starts off as a casual celebration with friends evolves into a night of debauchery that risks to derail his life plan.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisLa Bamba (1987)
Los Angeles teenager Ritchie Valens becomes an overnight rock 'n' roll success in 1958, thanks to a love ballad called "Donna" that he wrote for his girlfriend. But as his star rises, Valens has conflicts with his jealous brother, Bob, and becomes haunted by a recurring nightmare of a plane crash just as he begins his first national tour alongside Buddy Holly.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHustlers (2019)
A crew of savvy former strip club employees band together to turn the tables on their Wall Street clients.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSalomé (2013)
After the lewd and frenetic Dance of the Seven Veils, and with the solemn pledge from the very lips of Herod himself that she could have whatever her heart desires up to half his kingdom, wanton and proud young Salomé comes before her king with an unreasonable demand. Beguiled by John the Baptist, and then scorned for the sake of his god, lascivious Salomé—encouraged by her mother, the vindictive, Herodias—commands that John be executed and his head delivered on a silver platter.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisIn Her Shoes (2005)
Irresponsible party girl Maggie is kicked out of her father's and stepmother's home—where she lives for free—and is taken in by her hard-working sister, Philadelphia lawyer Rose. After Maggie's disruptive ways ruin her sister's love life, Rose turns her out as well. But when their grandmother, who they never knew existed, comes into their lives, the sisters face some complicated truths about themselves and their family.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHouse Party (1990)
Young Kid has been invited to a party at his friend Play's house. But after a fight at school, Kid's father grounds him. None the less, Kid sneaks out when his father falls asleep. But Kid doesn't know that three of the thugs at school have decided to give him a lesson in behavior.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGloria Bell (2019)
Gloria is a free-spirited divorcée who spends her days at a straight-laced office job and her nights on the dance floor, joyfully letting loose at clubs around Los Angeles. After meeting Arnold on a night out, she finds herself thrust into an unexpected new romance, filled with both the joys of budding love and the complications of dating, identity, and family.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Addams Family (1991)
When a man claiming to be long-lost Uncle Fester reappears after 25 years lost, the family plans a celebration to wake the dead. But the kids barely have time to warm up the electric chair before Morticia begins to suspect Fester is fraud when he can't recall any of the details of Fester's life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisRope (1948)
Two young men attempt to prove they committed the perfect murder by hosting a dinner party for the family of a classmate they just strangled to death.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisDuck Soup (1933)
Rufus T. Firefly is named president/dictator of bankrupt Freedonia and declares war on neighboring Sylvania over the love of wealthy Mrs. Teasdale.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisYou Can't Take It with You (1938)
Alice, the only relatively normal member of the eccentric Sycamore family, falls in love with Tony Kirby, but his wealthy banker father and snobbish mother strongly disapprove of the match. When the Kirbys are invited to dinner to become better acquainted with their future in-laws, things don't turn out the way Alice had hoped.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAnniversary (2025)
A close-knit family is caught in the turmoil of a controversial rising movement known as "The Change.” Ellen and Paul witness their lives fall apart when Ellen's former student Liz reappears and starts dating their son. As Liz becomes a part of the Taylor family, tensions rise and loyalties are tested.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMeet Joe Black (1998)
Bill Parrish has it all - success, wealth and power. Days before his 65th birthday, he receives a visit from a mysterious stranger, Joe Black, who soon reveals himself as Death. In exchange for extra time, Bill agrees to serve as Joe's earthly guide. But will he regret his choice when Joe unexpectedly falls in love with Bill's beautiful daughter Susan?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDown with Love (2003)
In 1962 New York City, love blossoms between a playboy journalist and a feminist advice author.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisUnder the Volcano (1984)
Against a background of war breaking out in Europe and the Mexican fiesta Day of Death, we are taken through one day in the life of Geoffrey Firmin, a British consul living in alcoholic disrepair and obscurity in a small southern Mexican town in 1939. The consul's self-destructive behaviour, perhaps a metaphor for a menaced civilization, is a source of perplexity and sadness to his nomadic, idealistic half-brother, Hugh, and his ex-wife, Yvonne, who has returned with hopes of healing Geoffrey and their broken marriage.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like this24 Hour Party People (2002)
Manchester, 1976. Tony Wilson is an ambitious but frustrated local TV news reporter looking for a way to make his mark. After witnessing a life-changing concert by a band known as the Sex Pistols, he persuades his station to televise one of their performances, and soon Manchester's punk groups are clamoring for him to manage them. Riding the wave of a musical revolution, Wilson and his friends create the legendary Factory Records label and The Hacienda club.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Swimmer (1968)
A man spends a summer day swimming home via all the pools in his quiet suburban neighborhood.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Happy Birthday?
The closest matches to Happy Birthday are The Boys in the Band (1970), The Substance (2024) and Girl Asleep (2015). Below are 17 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Happy Birthday?
Start with The Boys in the Band (1970), the closest match to Happy Birthday.
What is the highest-rated movie like Happy Birthday?
Rope (1948), rated 7.9/10 by 3,142 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Happy Birthday?
Anniversary (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Happy Birthday?
Yes: The Boys in the Band (1970), The Substance (2024) and Girl Asleep (2015).
How are movies similar to Happy Birthday chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Happy Birthday, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.