Movies like The Art of Getting By (2011)
The best movies like The Art of Getting By (2011) are Circle of Friends (1995), Flesh and the Devil (1926) and After (2019). If The Art of Getting By 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 ratedLife in a Year (2020)8.2/10 from 2,028 votes
- NewestChimney Town: Frozen in Time (2026)Released 2026
Circle of Friends (1995)
Three girlhood friends now at college share first loves, first kisses and first betrayals. At the center of it all is the best-looking boy on campus. Can a self-conscious dreamer hook the biggest fish in the pond?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFlesh and the Devil (1926)
When lifelong best friends Leo and Ulrich return home after completing their military training, Leo meets the stunning Felicitas at a railway station and is mesmerized by her beauty. A scandal follows, for which Leo is sent away. Returning home three years later, he discovers that much has changed.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAfter (2019)
Tessa Young is a dedicated student, dutiful daughter and loyal girlfriend to her high school sweetheart. Entering her first semester of college, Tessa's guarded world opens up when she meets Hardin Scott, a mysterious and brooding rebel who makes her question all she thought she knew about herself -- and what she wants out of life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Best of Me (2014)
A pair of former high school sweethearts reunite after many years when they return to visit their small hometown.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisOld Fashioned (2014)
A reformed frat boy opens an antique store in a college town and falls for the free-spirited girl who moves into the apartment above his shop. In time, this unlikely pair fall into a traditional courtship.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLife in a Year (2020)
A 17 year old finds out that his girlfriend is dying, so he sets out to give her an entire life, in the last year she has left.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisReally Love (2020)
A rising black painter tries to break into a competitive art world while balancing an unexpected romance with an ambitious law student.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFallen (2016)
Lucinda Price is sent to a reform academy under the assumption that she has killed a boy. There, she meets two mysterious boys, Cam and Daniel, to whom she feels drawn to both. But as the love triangle unfurls, it is Daniel that Luce cannot keep herself away from, and things begin to take a darker turn when she finds out his true identity.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBreathe (2017)
Based on the true story of Robin, a handsome, brilliant and adventurous man whose life takes a dramatic turn when polio leaves him paralyzed.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLove Everlasting (2016)
Bridger is a young outsider who's always wanted more. He and his mother flee an abusive home, eventually finding a small town in the middle of nowhere. Once there, Bridger finds true acceptance with another misfit.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisEndless Love (2014)
A privileged girl and a charismatic boy's instant desire sparks a love affair made only more reckless by parents trying to keep them apart.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTurtles All the Way Down (2024)
17-year-old Aza Holmes tries be a good daughter, a good friend, and a good student, all while navigating an endless barrage of invasive, obsessive thoughts that she cannot control. When she reconnects with Davis, her childhood crush, Aza is confronted with fundamental questions about her potential for love, happiness, friendship, and hope.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Object of My Affection (1998)
A pregnant New York social worker begins to develop romantic feelings for her gay best friend, and decides she'd rather raise her child with him, much to the dismay of her overbearing boyfriend.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
SnoozefestMovies like thisAristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe (2023)
Two teenage Mexican-American loners in 1987 El Paso explore a new, unusual friendship and the difficult road to self-discovery.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHomeless to Harvard: The Liz Murray Story (2003)
Based on a true story. Liz Murray is a young girl who is taken care of by her loving, but drug-addicted parents. Liz becomes homeless at 15 and after a tragedy comes upon her, she begins her work to finish high school.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisGiant Little Ones (2019)
Two popular teen boys, best friends since childhood, discover their lives, families, and girlfriends dramatically upended after an unexpected incident occurs on the night of a 17th birthday party.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe True Adventures of Wolfboy (2019)
Follows a young boy who runs away from home in the search of his estranged mother.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisTigertail (2020)
A man reflects on the lost love of his youth and his long-ago journey from Taiwan to America as he begins to reconnect with his estranged daughter.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisUnconditional (2012)
Samantha Crawford is living a storybook life: she’s happily married, she lives on a ranch where she keeps her beloved horse, and the stories she’s told and illustrated since childhood have become published books. When her husband Billy is killed in a senseless act of violence, Sam loses her faith and her will to live. But a death-defying encounter with two children leads to a reunion with Joe, her oldest friend. As Sam watches “Papa” Joe care for and love the kids in his under-resourced neighborhood, she begins to realize that no matter life’s circumstances, the love of God is always reaching out to us.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Derby Stallion (2005)
An alcoholic former horse-trainer perceives in a fifteen-year-old boy a unique gift of horsemanship and makes it possible for the boy to conceive his dream and pursue it.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisJane Eyre (2011)
After a bleak childhood, Jane Eyre goes out into the world to become a governess. As she lives happily in her new position at Thornfield Hall, she meets the dark, cold, and abrupt master of the house, Edward Rochester. Jane and her employer grow close in friendship and she soon finds herself falling in love with him. Happiness seems to have found Jane at last, but could Rochester's terrible secret be about to destroy it forever?
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisReckless (1984)
Teenager Johnny Rourke is reckless. Born on the wrong side of the tracks, he breaks the law and girls' hearts with equal cool. Cheerleader Tracey Prescott is reckless too. She dumps her conventional life and boring boyfriend to follow Johnny wherever his dangerous path leads.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & romance
Seven Minutes in Heaven (1986)
Natalie allows her classmate Jeff, who has run away from home, to stay at her place while her father is away on a business trip. Natalie soon starts dating Jeff's friend James Casey, who isn't as faithful as she thinks, while her best friend Polly falls in love with baseball player Zoo Knudsen.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThree Summer Days (2014)
Little by little, a relationship develops between Gem, a teenager fascinated by tattoos, and his best friend that goes beyond just friendship.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & romance
Finding Joy (2003)
Joy Brown (Billie Dean) is a 40-something woman with little confidence, less self-esteem and a burning desire to realise her dream of being a singer/songwriter. But she cant sing. When Joy takes in a stray dog, Raffi, her life immediately changes. Her best friend, the tarot card reading Tessa (Janet Watson Kruse), moves in, Joy changes her name to Luna Starr, and she meets Peter Wolfman (Andrew Einspruch). When Peter encourages her to perform with him at the local pizzerias folk music nights, Joy sings sort of hiding behind masks of wigs and silliness. Despite the singing, Peter and Joys relationship blossoms. But there are lots of hiccups along the way -- ex-wives, ex-husbands, frightening performances, and bucket loads of doubt. Set to the backdrop of the folk music scene in an arty country town, the film celebrates universal themes of friendship, low self-esteem, love relationships, and the joy of dogs.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & romance
High School U.S.A. (1983)
Set in a senior high school class, J.J. pursues the girlfriend of a rival from a higher clique which culminates in a race at the end of the movie between the two rivals in this light comedy.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both romance
The High Pressures (2014)
Miguel travels to Pontevedra, his hometown, with the request of serching for some locations for a movie. His trip takes him back to the place where he grew up, meeting up with some old friends, but also leads him to the possibility of a new relationship: Alicia, a young nurse who will get to calm him down. Miguel will try to finish his work even though he mostly prefers to film the natives he meets, the movements and faces of his friends, the trains coming or the sea. A journey around the uprooting (the cinema) and love.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Tale of a Tiger (1984)
Primary school aged Orville has a fascination for model planes which intensifies when he encounters Harry who owns a sadly neglected but real Tiger Moth. Orville becomes obsessed with the notion that the Tiger might fly once more and the adventure begins when he and Harry set out to achieve that goal.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Chimney Town: Frozen in Time (2026)
After losing his friend Poupelle, young Lubicchi wanders into a mysterious realm where a clock in a tower is frozen at 11:59. To return home, he must restart it – and find the courage to believe again.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Christina's House (2000)
A teenage girl is plagued by bizarre occurrences and deaths related to her new home.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Art of Getting By?
The closest matches to The Art of Getting By are Circle of Friends (1995), Flesh and the Devil (1926) and After (2019). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Art of Getting By?
Start with Circle of Friends (1995), the closest match to The Art of Getting By.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Art of Getting By?
Life in a Year (2020), rated 8.2/10 by 2,028 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Art of Getting By?
Chimney Town: Frozen in Time (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like The Art of Getting By?
Yes: Circle of Friends (1995), Flesh and the Devil (1926) and After (2019).
How are movies similar to The Art of Getting By chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Art of Getting By, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.