Movies like A Useful Life (2010)
The best movies like A Useful Life (2010) are Don't Think Twice (2016), Chloe and Theo (2015) and Inseparables (2016). If A Useful Life 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 ratedOne Cut of the Dead (2017)7.6/10 from 1,071 votes
- NewestEleanor the Great (2025)Released 2025
- In SpanishInseparables (2016)Also in Spanish
Don't Think Twice (2016)
An improv group deals with several crises, including the loss of their lease and one member hitting the big time.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies 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 thisInseparables (2016)
Felipe a wealthy businessman who has been quadriplegic, due to an accident, is looking for a therapeutic assistant. There are several highly qualified, but he decides to take the assistant of his gardener, Tito who has decided to resign.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBe Kind Rewind (2008)
A man whose brain becomes magnetized unintentionally destroys every tape in his friend's video store. In order to satisfy the store's most loyal renter, an aging woman with signs of dementia, the two men set out to remake the lost films.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Olive Tree (2016)
Alma’s family has been producing quality olive oil in the Baix Maestrat area of Spain’s Castellón for generations. Yet changing pressures in the industry have made their traditional practices economically untenable, and the family is now in the mass-production poultry business. Alma’s grandfather has not spoken in years. Sadness envelopes him, and he no longer wants to eat. His sons—Alma’s father and uncle—are impatient with him, but Alma understands her grandfather. She realizes he has been grieving for a thousand-year-old olive tree that the family has uprooted and sold to pay some debts. (A sadly common reality in Castellón at present.) Unable to bear the idea that her grandfather could die without seeing this terrible wrong corrected, Alma undertakes a quixotic mission to locate the tree and return it to the family orchard, so that her grandfather may have peace in his final days.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBetter Living Through Chemistry (2014)
A straight-laced pharmacist's uneventful life spirals out of control when he starts an affair with a trophy wife customer who takes him on a joyride involving sex, drugs and possibly murder.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & comedy
SnoozefestMovies like thisTini: The New Life of Violetta (2016)
A teen star ventures out to the Italian countryside for a summer and emerges a new artist.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Other Way Around (2024)
After 15 years together, Ale and Alex choose an unconventional way to part ways: by hosting a party to celebrate their separation. Their unexpected decision leaves friends and family confused, forcing everyone to confront their own views on love, relationships, and new beginnings in this bittersweet, heartfelt story.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisVoyage to Nowhere (1986)
The Iniesta-Galván family is a theatre company that goes from town to town offering its performances. Over the years, its members will have to adapt to changes and make decisions, like that of whether or not to continue performing. One day, unexpectedly, a son that he has fathered on his travels presents himself to Carlos Galván.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBest Man Down (2012)
A newlywed couple cancels their honeymoon and returns to the snowy Midwest to make the funeral arrangements for their best man, who died unexpectedly after their ceremony.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMr. Morgan's Last Love (2013)
A widowed professor living in Paris develops a special relationship with a younger French woman.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Trip to Italy (2014)
Years after their successful restaurant review tour of Northern England, Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon are commissioned for a new tour in Italy.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisIt Runs in the Family (2003)
This is the story of a dysfunctional New York family, and their attempts to reconcile
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFree Rein: The Twelve Neighs of Christmas (2018)
As Bright Fields preps for its Mistletoe Ball, a broken ornament leads Zoe to a family secret, while Gaby finds herself at the mercy of new boss Mia.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMadea Goes to Jail - The Play (2006)
Madea returns in another hilarious story in which she gets sent to the big house. But regardless of the circumstances, she gives her trademark advice and wisdom to her friends and family as they learn the importance of letting go, moving on, and forgiveness.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisNational Theatre Live: Hamlet (2015)
As a country arms itself for war, a family tears itself apart. Forced to avenge his father's death but paralyzed by the task ahead, Hamlet rages against the impossibility of his predicament, threatening both his sanity and the security of the state.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisPlunder Road (1957)
A spectacular heist starts to unravel as the crooks take it on the lam.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like this5 Against the House (1955)
Former war-time Army buddies now students in college decide to rip off a Reno casino.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisEleanor the Great (2025)
94-year-old Eleanor Morgenstein tries to rebuild her life after the death of her best friend. As a result, she moves back to New York City after living in Florida for decades.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Locket (1946)
A dark personal secret drives a young woman to use every man she encounters.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOne Cut of the Dead (2017)
Real zombies arrive and terrorize the crew of a zombie film being shot in an abandoned warehouse, said to be the site of military experiments on humans.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAntiscene (2023)
Clarice wants to make a film about Jonathan, an unexpected and surprising filmmaker.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The World's Most Violent Movie (2009)
Raimundo, film producer, asks financial aid to his friend and producer J.C. to evaluate his own project. J.C. conditions his support to a change in Raimundo's style. Raimundo will have to make a movie aimed to the general audience and following the old producer's book: violence, sex, non-actors and slum. Raimundo does what he says, but an unexpected fact threatens the film's conclusion.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
The Day of the Locust (1975)
Hollywood, 1930s. Tod Hackett, a young painter who tries to make his way as an art director in the lurid world of film industry, gets infatuated with his neighbor Faye Greener, an aspiring actress who prefers the life that Homer Simpson, a lone accountant, can offer her.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisApartment Zero (1989)
In a rundown area of Buenos Aires, at the dawn of the 1980s, Adrian LeDuc owns both a struggling movie theater and a shabby apartment building filled with eccentric, squabbling tenants. To make ends meet, Adrian takes in a roommate, Jack Carney, but soon begins to suspect that the quiet American is responsible for a series of political assassinations that are rocking the city.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Harder They Come (1972)
Ivanhoe Martin arrives in Kingston, Jamaica, looking for work and, after some initial struggles, lands a recording contract as a reggae singer. He records his first song, "The Harder They Come," but after a bitter dispute with a manipulative producer named Hilton, soon finds himself resorting to petty crime in order to pay the bills. He deals marijuana, kills some abusive cops and earns local folk hero status. Meanwhile, his record is topping the charts.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRated R (2008)
Madrid, Spain, 1975. Sandra, Lina and Eva are three beautiful women who work as actresses in erotic movies. After meeting during a shoot, they become friends and begin to share experiences, concerns and successes in an era of increasing openness, although true freedom is still far away and demands a price hard to pay.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
La gran mentira (1956)
César Neira, an almost forgotten Spanish actor, gets involved by chance with Teresa, a teacher from a small village in the province of Cáceres, who has won a radio contest. The prize is a trip to Madrid to experience just for a fortnight the life of the famous and wealthy people.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
RKO 281 (1999)
In 1939, boy-wonder Orson Welles leaves New York, where he has succeeded in radio and theater, and, hired by RKO Pictures, moves to Hollywood with the purpose of making his first film.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like A Useful Life?
The closest matches to A Useful Life are Don't Think Twice (2016), Chloe and Theo (2015) and Inseparables (2016). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after A Useful Life?
Start with Don't Think Twice (2016), the closest match to A Useful Life.
What is the highest-rated movie like A Useful Life?
One Cut of the Dead (2017), rated 7.6/10 by 1,071 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like A Useful Life?
Eleanor the Great (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Spanish movies like A Useful Life?
Yes: Inseparables (2016), The Olive Tree (2016) and Tini: The New Life of Violetta (2016).
How are movies similar to A Useful Life chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside A Useful Life, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.