Movies like John and Mary (1969)
The best movies like John and Mary (1969) are Two for the Seesaw (1962), Newness (2017) and Fire with Fire (1986). If John and Mary hooked you with its drama and romance, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedGabriel's Inferno: Part II (2020)8.3/10 from 1,569 votes
- NewestMy Fault: London (2025)Released 2025
Two for the Seesaw (1962)
After leaving his wife, lawyer Jerry Ryan moves from Omaha, Nebraska to New York City to start a new life. While studying for the New York Bar Examination and working to finalize his divorce, Ryan meets dancer Gittel Mosca, and the two begin a cautious courtship. However, Ryan feels that he must come to terms with his failed marriage and overcome his lingering attachment to his ex-wife before he can redefine himself and embrace his budding romance.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNewness (2017)
In contemporary Los Angeles, two millennials navigating a social media–driven hookup culture begin a relationship that pushes both emotional and physical boundaries.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFire with Fire (1986)
A tough, street-smart kid serving a sentence in a state youth reformatory meets a beautiful, innocent girl studying at a nearby convent. When forbidden love blossoms between them, they must fight the prison authorities, their parents and the law.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTime Is Up (2021)
Vivien, an accomplished student with a passion for physics, and Roy, a troubled young man, are involved in an accident that forces them to reclaim their lives one minute at the time.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSee You Soon (2019)
A U.S. soccer star suffers a career-threatening injury in the run-up to the World Cup, and during his recovery, embarks on an epic romance with a Russian single mom.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisA Journal for Jordan (2021)
Based on the true story of First Sergeant Charles Monroe King, a soldier deployed to Iraq begins to keep a journal of love and advice for his infant son. Back at home, senior New York Times editor Dana Canedy revisits the story of her unlikely, life-altering relationship with King and his enduring devotion to her and their child.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Strawberry Statement (1970)
A college student joins a group of revolutionaries to meet girls but ends up committed to their goals.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
SnoozefestMovies like thisMaria's Lovers (1984)
A World War II prisoner returns home to his childhood sweetheart. However, back home, he discovers that he has to compete to win her love.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMy Policeman (2022)
In the late 1990s, the arrival of elderly invalid Patrick into Marion and Tom’s home triggers the exploration of seismic events from 40 years previous: the passionate relationship between Tom and Patrick at a time when homosexuality was illegal.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAshes in the Snow (2018)
The coming-of-age tale of 16-year-old Lina Vilkas who is deported to Siberia amid Stalin's reign of terror in the Baltic region during WWII. An aspiring artist, she secretly documents her harrowing journey with her drawings.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGabriel's Inferno: Part II (2020)
Professor Gabriel Emerson finally learns the truth about Julia Mitchell's identity, but his realization comes a moment too late. Julia is done waiting for the well-respected Dante specialist to remember her and wants nothing more to do with him. Can Gabriel win back her heart before she finds love in another's arms?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisMarked Men: Rule + Shaw (2025)
Shaw Landon has loved Rule Archer from the moment she laid eyes on him. Rule, a fiery-tempered rebel tattoo artist, doesn’t have time for a good girl pre-med student like Shaw — even if she’s the only one who can see the person he truly is. She lives by other people’s rules; he makes his own. But a short skirt, too many birthday cocktails, and spilled secrets lead to a night neither can forget. Now, Shaw and Rule must figure out how a girl like her and a guy like him are supposed to be together without destroying their love…or each other.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWinter Spring Summer or Fall (2024)
Remi and Barnes, two very different teenagers, meet by chance in the winter of their senior year, then spend four days together over the course of a year that will change their lives forever.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWeekend (2011)
After a drunken house party with his straight mates, Russell heads out to a gay club. Just before closing time he picks up Glen but what's expected to be just a one-night stand becomes something else, something special.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLondon (2005)
London is a drug laden adventure that centers on a party in a New York loft where a young man is trying to win back his ex-girlfriend.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGame of Love (2022)
Follows Vivien and Roy as their love story continues and leads them to Roy’s childhood home in Sicily to prepare for the sale of the family estate. During the visit, a mysterious woman arrives and befriends Vivien, much to Roy’s displeasure. Tensions build and lines are crossed as secrets from Roy’s past force the couple to face aspects of their relationship they did not know existed.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Fugitive Kind (1960)
Val Xavier, a drifter of obscure origins, arrives at a small town and gets a job in a store run by Lady Torrence. Her husband, Jabe M. Torrance, is dying of cancer. Val is pursued by Carol Cutere, the enigmatic local tramp-of-good-family.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMy Fault: London (2025)
18-year-old Noah moves from America to London, with her mother who's recently fallen in love with William, a wealthy British businessman. Noah meets William’s son, bad-boy Nick, and soon discovers there is an attraction between them neither can avoid. As Noah spends the summer adjusting to her new life, her devastating past will catch up with her while falling in love for the first time.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSylvie's Love (2020)
When a young woman meets an aspiring saxophonist in her father’s record shop in 1950s Harlem, their love ignites a sweeping romance that transcends changing times, geography, and professional success.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRachel, Rachel (1968)
Rachel is a 35-year-old school teacher who has no man in her life and lives with her mother. When a man from the big city returns and asks her out, she begins to have to make decisions about her life and where she wants it to go.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHanele (1999)
Based on an autobiographical novella by Ivan Olbracht, the film tells the story of Hanele Safarová, who grows up just after the First World War in a little Ruthenian schtetl which, in true Hassidic fashion, awaits the arrival of the Messiah. But Hanele decides to follow the Zionists instead. She moves to the city to prepare for her departure to the Promised Land, where she meets a successful businessman named Ivo Karadzic, who has renounced Judaism to become a free-thinker. Their love for each other doesn’t only drive Hanele’s parents to distraction, it also threatens to destroy the entire community in the schetl.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & romance
Betrayed Women (2024)
Two married people fall in love and everything else breaks apart. A infidelities story told in a female voice.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & romance
Parallel Worlds (2014)
A lyrical serene drama dedicated to love and loneliness
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & romance
Looking for Mr. Goodbar (1977)
A short, unhappy affair with a married man leads a dedicated schoolteacher into the alcohol-and-drug fueled underworld of singles’ bars, where she begins to engage in a pattern of dangerous sexual activity.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Absent (2014)
An old man lives alone in a shabby cabin in a remote mountainous area of Mexico. His house is set to be demolished in order to facilitate the redevelopment of the area. He doesn't know how to protect his house. Time goes by and one day a young man shows up on his doorstep. Looking exhausted, he starts his new routine here, cooking and doing laundry just like the old man.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
National Theatre Live: King Lear (2014)
An aged king decides to divide his kingdom between his three daughters, according to which of them is most eloquent in praising him. His favourite, Cordelia, says nothing. Simon Russell Beale, whose recent appearances at the National include Timon of Athens and Collaborators, takes the title role in Shakespeare’s tragedy.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Black Mountain Side (2016)
A group of archaeologists working in Northern Canada uncover a strange structure dating over ten thousand years before the present. The team soon finds themselves isolated when their communication systems fail and they begin to feel the effects of solitude.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisShe Who Must Burn (2015)
When Angela refuses to leave her planned-parenthood clinic after it is shut down by the state, a family of fanatical evangelists vow to make her pay.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
B.Selvi & Daughters (2020)
B. Selvi & Daughters is the story of Selvi, a 50-year old woman in Chennai, India who is trying to get her fledgling online saree store off the ground. Like any Good Indian Mother, Selvi gave up her career aspirations for family life, and left all major decisions to her husband. Now, a year after his death, Selvi has taken her hobby of selling sarees door-to-door to the next level via Whatsapp, and is struggling with the confidence to build it into a real business. When Kavitha - Selvi's fiercely independent, idealistic daughter comes home for Pongal - she discovers her mother's secret with pleasant surprise, and runs an ad for the sari business without consulting her. Now, with close to a hundred orders to fulfill overnight, Selvi is overwhelmed. Can she do this? Is she capable of handling a business on her own? She needs to take the plunge in order to find out.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Like John and Mary and something else?
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like John and Mary?
The closest matches to John and Mary are Two for the Seesaw (1962), Newness (2017) and Fire with Fire (1986). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after John and Mary?
Start with Two for the Seesaw (1962), the closest match to John and Mary.
What is the highest-rated movie like John and Mary?
Gabriel's Inferno: Part II (2020), rated 8.3/10 by 1,569 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like John and Mary?
My Fault: London (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like John and Mary?
Yes: Two for the Seesaw (1962), Newness (2017) and Fire with Fire (1986).
How are movies similar to John and Mary chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside John and Mary, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.