Movies like The Theory of Flight (1999)
The best movies like The Theory of Flight (1999) are The Evening Star (1996), Seeking a Friend for the End of the World (2012) and Elizabethtown (2005). If The Theory of Flight 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 ratedFive Feet Apart (2019)8.2/10 from 6,026 votes
- NewestThe Winged Detectives (2022)Released 2022
The Evening Star (1996)
Continuing the story of Aurora Greenway in her latter years. After the death of her daughter, Aurora struggled to keep her family together, but has one grandson in jail, a rebellious granddaughter, and another grandson living just above the poverty line.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSeeking a Friend for the End of the World (2012)
As an asteroid nears Earth, a man finds himself alone after his wife leaves in a panic. He decides to take a road trip to reunite with his high school sweetheart. Accompanying him is a neighbor who inadvertently puts a wrench in his plan.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisElizabethtown (2005)
Drew Baylor is fired after causing his shoe company to lose hundreds of millions of dollars. To make matters worse, he's also dumped by his girlfriend. On the verge of ending it all, Drew gets a new lease on life when he returns to his family's small Kentucky hometown after his father dies. Along the way, he meets a flight attendant with whom he falls in love.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSpoiler Alert (2022)
Journalist Michael Ausiello embarks on a rollercoaster ride of emotions when Kit Cowan, his partner of 14 years, is diagnosed with terminal cancer.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisRoseanna's Grave (1997)
Roseanna is dying of a heart condition, and all she wants is to be buried next to her daughter, in a cemetery that is getting full fast. The cemetery can't expand because Capestro, the man who owns the land next to the cemetery, won't sell. While Marcello is doing good deeds to make sure no one dies, Roseanna thinks of Marcello's future.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies 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 thisThe Other Sister (1999)
A mentally challenged girl proves herself to be every bit as capable as her "perfect" sister when she moves into an apartment and begins going to college.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSleepless in Seattle (1993)
After the death of his mother, a young boy calls a radio station in an attempt to set his father up on a date. Across the country, an engaged woman becomes convinced that they belong together, despite their never having met. Will their paths collide despite the odds?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCatch and Release (2006)
For a grieving fiancée, learning to love again requires the help of her late love's three best friends.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Theory of Everything (2014)
Once a healthy, active young man, Hawking received an earth-shattering diagnosis at 21 years of age. With Jane fighting tirelessly by his side, Stephen embarks on his most ambitious scientific work, studying the very thing he now has precious little of – time.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisTim (1979)
Handsome but backward gardener Tim Melville has a new woman in his life. She is Mary, his widowed employer, a woman who had given up on love until she had found Tim. At first they are friends. But soon they become lovers, as Mary, drawn to Tim's innocence and magnetism, begins to teach him all about life - and love.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like this2 Hearts (2020)
When illness strikes two people who are polar opposites, life and death bring them together in surprising ways.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisFive Feet Apart (2019)
Seventeen-year-old Stella spends most of her time in the hospital as a cystic fibrosis patient. Her life is full of routines, boundaries and self-control — all of which get put to the test when she meets Will, an impossibly charming teen who has the same illness. There's an instant flirtation, though restrictions dictate that they must maintain a safe distance between them. As their connection intensifies, so does the temptation to throw the rules out the window and embrace that attraction.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisSupernova (2020)
Sam and Tusker, partners of 20 years, are traveling across England in their old RV visiting friends, family and places from their past. Since Tusker was diagnosed with early-onset dementia two years ago, their time together is the most important thing they have. As the trip progresses, however, their ideas for the future clash, secrets come out, and their love for each other is tested as never before. Ultimately, they must confront the question of what it means to love one another in the face of Tusker’s illness.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSnow Cake (2006)
A drama focused on the friendship between a high-functioning autistic woman and a man who is traumatized after a fatal car accident.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Time Traveler's Wife (2009)
Due to a genetic disorder, handsome librarian Henry DeTamble involuntarily zips through time, appearing at various moments in the life of his true love, the beautiful artist Clare Abshire.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBlind (2017)
A novelist is blinded in a car crash that killed his wife and several years later rediscovers his passion for life and writing when he embarks on an affair with the neglected wife of an indicted businessman.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDark Victory (1939)
Socialite Judith Traherne lives a lavish but emotionally empty life. Riding horses is one of her few joys, and her stable master is secretly in love with her. Told she has a brain tumor by her doctor, Frederick Steele, Judith becomes distraught. After she decides to have surgery to remove the tumor, Judith realizes she is in love with Dr. Steele, but more troubling medical news may sabotage her new relationship, and her second chance at life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAna (2020)
Ana meets Rafa in a chance encounter and they embark on a road trip to try and save him from bankruptcy, or worse.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Leisure Seeker (2018)
A runaway couple go on an unforgettable journey from Boston to Key West, recapturing their passion for life and their love for each other on a road trip that provides revelation and surprise right up to the very end.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAll About My Mother (1999)
Following the tragic death of her teenage son, Manuela travels from Madrid to Barcelona in an attempt to contact the long-estranged father the boy never knew. She reunites with an old friend, an outspoken transgender sex worker, and befriends a troubled actress and a pregnant, HIV-positive nun.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Edukators (2004)
Three activists cobble together a kidnapping plot after they encounter a businessman in his home.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBitter Moon (1992)
A passenger on a cruise ship develops an irresistible infatuation with an eccentric paraplegic's wife.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisJaan Tere Naam (1992)
Lovely Pinky Malhotra is a heart-breaker in the college where she studies, and has a number of young men who would lay down their lives for her. Amongst them are Sunil and Vicky. She is attracted to Sunil, and both carry on a romantic relationship, hoping to get married after finishing college. Before that could happen, Pinky finds out that Sunil has been two-timing her as he is already dating another young collegian. Angered and hurt at this, she decides she will have nothing to do with him, and starts her romance with Vicky. Sunil, who does not know what has transpired, wants to talk to Pinky with a view of rekindling their romance, but Pinky refuses to speak with him. The question remains is Sunil really in love with another girl, and if so, why did he take the trouble to woo Pinky?
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both romance & drama
Tootsie (1982)
When struggling, out of work actor Michael Dorsey secretly adopts a female alter ego—Dorothy Michaels—in order to land a part in a daytime drama, he unwittingly becomes a feminist icon and ends up in a romantic pickle.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBoys Don't Cry (1999)
A young transgender man explores his gender identity and searches for love in rural Nebraska.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisGive Me Back My Rex (1975)
The doctor hides the death of the dog from Serezha and gives the boy a new friend. A poignant story of loyalty and friendship.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The Winged Detectives (2022)
"The Winged Detectives" is a queer coming-of-age short film, which follows Reagan and her friends as they prepare for the annual bird-watching competition. Tensions quickly rise for Reagan with the introduction of potential new friends and the absence of a special team member.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The Man with the Golden Arm (1955)
When illegal card dealer and recovering heroin addict Frankie Machine gets out of prison, he decides to straighten up. Armed with nothing but an old drum set, Frankie tries to get honest work as a drummer. But when his former employer and his old drug dealer re-enter his life, Frankie finds it hard to stay clean and eventually finds himself succumbing to his old habits.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMonsters, Inc. (2001)
Lovable Sulley and his wisecracking sidekick Mike Wazowski are the top scare team at Monsters, Inc., the scream-processing factory in Monstropolis. When a little girl named Boo wanders into their world, it's the monsters who are scared silly, and it's up to Sulley and Mike to keep her out of sight and get her back home.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Theory of Flight?
The closest matches to The Theory of Flight are The Evening Star (1996), Seeking a Friend for the End of the World (2012) and Elizabethtown (2005). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Theory of Flight?
Start with The Evening Star (1996), the closest match to The Theory of Flight.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Theory of Flight?
Five Feet Apart (2019), rated 8.2/10 by 6,026 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Theory of Flight?
The Winged Detectives (2022) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like The Theory of Flight?
Yes: The Evening Star (1996), Seeking a Friend for the End of the World (2012) and Elizabethtown (2005).
How are movies similar to The Theory of Flight chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Theory of Flight, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.