Movies like The Secret Life of Happy People (2006)
The best movies like The Secret Life of Happy People (2006) are Kitchen Brigade (2022), Big Kids (2023) and Uptown Girls (2003). If The Secret Life of Happy People hooked you with its drama and comedy, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedOctober Sky (1999)7.7/10 from 1,530 votes
- NewestBon Voyage, Marie (2025)Released 2025
- In FrenchKitchen Brigade (2022)Also in French
Kitchen Brigade (2022)
Cathy is a sous-chef wanting to open a restaurant. With financial difficulties, Cathy accepts a job at a shelter for young migrants. At first she hates the job then her passion for cuisine starts to change children's lives.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBig Kids (2023)
Yannick is a caregiver in a retirement home. Between permanent pressure and budget restrictions, he faces the lack of means with a contagious good mood. But when he is forced to share the dining room with a class of children, the situation becomes complicated. Their arrival, as well as that of his hostess, Aude, will shake up the daily life of everyone, especially the residents.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisUptown Girls (2003)
Molly Gunn, the freewheeling daughter of a deceased rock legend, is forced to get a job when her manager steals her money. As nanny to Ray - the precocious, oft-ignored daughter of a music executive - she learns what it means to be an adult while teaching Ray how to be a child.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAn Indian Tale (2017)
The life of two men changed unexpectedly when Ajith, an Indian sailor who was robbed and lost everything, appears out of nowhere in front of Pierre, a single and grumpy Frenchman.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & comedy
SnoozefestMovies like thisMacadam Stories (2015)
Improbable encounters bring tenderness, laughter and compassion to a world of urban alienation.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRide Away (2025)
From the Atlantic to the Black Sea, Mathias and Philippe, two old friends, embark on a bicycle journey that Mathias’s son made before his tragic death. The two men ride through the ordeals with tenderness, humor and emotion.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisChloe and Theo (2015)
A young woman, Chloe, living by her wits on the streets of New York City, has a chance meeting with a wise Inuit Eskimo, Theo, who was sent to New York by his elders to provide a message to the people of the world – We either change our destructive was or be destroyed by them. Chloe, who has been searching for something to believe in, becomes inspired by Theo and , with the help of a kind lawyer, Monica, the three of them present Theo’s story to the United Nations in hopes of creating a better future for all of us.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisSometimes Always Never (2019)
Alan is a stylish tailor with moves as sharp as his suits. He has spent years searching tirelessly for his missing son Michael who stormed out over a game of Scrabble. With a body to identify and his family torn apart, Alan must repair the relationship with his youngest son and solve the mystery of an online player who he thinks could be Michael, so he can finally move on and reunite his family.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAnd the Party Goes On (2023)
In Marseille, Rosa, 60, dedicated her life to family and politics with the same sense of duty. Everyone considers her unwavering, until the day she falls in love with Henri. For the first time, Rosa is afraid to commit. Between the pressure of his family, politics and a desire to indulge in her feelings, the conflict is difficult to sustain.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPerfumes (2020)
Anne Walberg is a celebrity in the world of perfume. She creates fragrances and sells her incredible talent to companies of all kinds. She lives as a diva, selfish, with a strong temper. Guillaume is her new driver and the only one who is not afraid to stand up to her. No doubt this is the reason why she does not fire him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSweetheart (2019)
A working woman, mother a three children, realizes that, when her youngest one is about to go to Canada to continue her education, she will end up out of her most precious goal, being a mother.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAuction (2024)
André Masson, specialist in modern art, receives a letter according to which a painting by Egon Schiele had been discovered in Mulhouse. He finds that the work has been missing since 1939. This discovery puts his career in danger.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSkies of Lebanon (2021)
In the fifties, young Alice leaves her natal Swiss mountains for the sunny and vibrant shores of Beirut. She falls madly in love with Joseph, a quirky astrophysicist intent on sending the first Lebanese national into space. Alice quickly fits in among his relatives, but after years of bliss, the civil war threatens their Garden of Eden.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisUranus (1990)
After World War II, a small French village struggles to put the war behind as the controlling Communist Party tries to flush out Petain loyalists. The local bar owner, a simple man who likes to write poetry, who only wants to be left alone to do his job, becomes a target for Communist harassment as they try and locate a particular loyalist, and he pushes back.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisC'est La Vie (1990)
A story is about young teenage girl, with sister and brothers, a pleasant uncle and aunt, an annoying nanny, a young boy interested in kissing her, a close relationship with the imaginary addressee of her daily diary and her parents' disintegrating marriage - all this in a rented house in a summer resort.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOpen at Night (2017)
One night to change everything. One night to save a theater, one night to change one's perspective about life. Luigi will push and pull Faeza with him everywhere around Paris an entire night to save his theater.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisJust to Be Sure (2017)
Erwan, a strapping Breton who clears mines for a living, is shaken when he discovers that his father is not his father. Despite his affection for the man who raised him, he quietly sets out to find his biological father, and succeeds in locating Joseph, an endearing old codger he takes a liking to. Just when things look settled, another unexpected “bomb” hits Erwan in the form of Anna, an elusive nymph.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLe Brio (2017)
After an incident, a brilliant professor known for his outbursts is forced to mentor the student he wronged for a speech contest.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBon Voyage, Marie (2025)
An unexpected road trip brings a dysfunctional family together for one last journey with their elder, sparking moments of connection, joy, and reconciliation.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAbout Schmidt (2002)
A recently retired man embarks on a journey to his estranged daughter's wedding, only to discover more about himself and life than he ever expected.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRautahäät (TBA)
A darkly humorous drama about love, parent-child relationships and the finite of life.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & comedy
Real Steel (2011)
Charlie Kenton is a washed-up fighter who retired from the ring when robots took over the sport. After his robot is trashed, he reluctantly teams up with his estranged son to rebuild and train an unlikely contender.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisRamona and Beezus (2010)
Ramona is a little girl with a very big imagination and a nose for mischief. Her playful antics keep everyone in her loving family on their toes, including her older sister Beezus, who's just trying to survive her first year of high school. Through all the ups and downs of childhood, Ramona and Beezus learn that anything's possible when you believe in yourself and rely on each other.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBravetown (2015)
After an accidental drug overdose, a talented teenage DJ goes to live with his estranged father in a small Army town, where he gets to the bottom of his own pain and learns empathy for others.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMelissa P. (2005)
An adolescent girl, living with her mother and her grandmother, will have her first sexual experiences in a heavy and excessive way.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Big Country (1958)
Retired wealthy sea captain Jim McKay arrives in the Old West, where he becomes embroiled in a feud between his future father-in-law, Major Terrill, and the rough and lawless Hannasseys over a valuable patch of land.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBella (2006)
An international soccer star is on his way to sign a multimillion dollar contract when something happens that brings his career to an abrupt end. A beautiful waitress, struggling to make it in New York City, discovers something about herself that she's unprepared for. In one irreversible moment, their lives are turned upside down.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisVarsham (2014)
The film narrates the tale of Venu, owner of a small finance company in Thrissur. His life is shaken up after some unprecedented events leaving him at a dead end. This movie is about how he finds a purpose to live.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
October Sky (1999)
The true story of Homer Hickam, a coal miner's son who was inspired by the first Sputnik launch to take up rocketry against his father's wishes.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Place (2017)
The fates of an apparently random group of strangers who each come into contact with a mysterious figure who they believe possesses the power to grant any wish, in return for which they must carry out a task he assigns them.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Secret Life of Happy People?
The closest matches to The Secret Life of Happy People are Kitchen Brigade (2022), Big Kids (2023) and Uptown Girls (2003). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Secret Life of Happy People?
Start with Kitchen Brigade (2022), the closest match to The Secret Life of Happy People.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Secret Life of Happy People?
October Sky (1999), rated 7.7/10 by 1,530 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Secret Life of Happy People?
Bon Voyage, Marie (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there French movies like The Secret Life of Happy People?
Yes: Kitchen Brigade (2022), Big Kids (2023) and An Indian Tale (2017).
How are movies similar to The Secret Life of Happy People chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Secret Life of Happy People, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.