Movies like What Have I Done to Deserve This? (1984)
The best movies like What Have I Done to Deserve This? (1984) are Kinds of Kindness (2024), Calladita (2024) and Somewhere in Queens (2023). If What Have I Done to Deserve This? hooked you with its comedy and drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedThe Lion King (1994)8.3/10 from 20,401 votes
- NewestSister Midnight (2025)Released 2025
- In SpanishCalladita (2024)Also in Spanish
Kinds of Kindness (2024)
A triptych fable following a man without choice who tries to take control of his own life; a policeman who is alarmed that his wife who was missing-at-sea has returned and seems a different person; and a woman determined to find a specific someone with a special ability, who is destined to become a prodigious spiritual leader.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCalladita (2024)
Ana has just arrived from Colombia and is the maid of a luxurious mansion on the Costa Brava, where a family of wealthy art dealers spends their summers. The young woman works tirelessly and without a contract, under the promise of decent conditions at the end of the summer, if she remains obedient and discreet.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSomewhere in Queens (2023)
Leo and Angela Russo live a simple life in Queens, surrounded by their overbearing Italian-American family. When their son finds success on his high school basketball team, Leo tears the family apart trying to make it happen.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHappiness (1998)
The lives of several individuals intertwine as they go about their lives in their own unique ways, engaging in acts which society as a whole might find disturbing in a desperate search for human connection.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSister Midnight (2025)
An arranged marriage in Mumbai, a cowardly, slacker husband and a slum of a house: the very ingredients that cause Uma to slowly transform into a feral and ruthless figure guided by her wildest impulses.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHooking Up (2020)
Bailey and Darla embark upon a misguided and mutually deceitful form of therapy, one in which they must drive across the country, re-enacting Darla's colorful history as a sex addict. As their true motivations for the road trip come to light, the unlikely pair force one another to confront their issues, discovering that there might actually be more to love than just sex.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNobody Will Speak of Us When We're Dead (1995)
Alcoholic prostitute Gloria is in the middle of a business deal with gangsters when a fatal confrontation occurs. She flees Mexico City, returning to her native Madrid, where she's reunited with her comatose husband and his mother, while hitman Eduardo is pursuing her to retrieve information.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisNavajeros (1980)
A chronicle of the life of Jaro, the leader of a juvenile delinquent gang, depicting his rise from street urchin to outlaw anti-hero on the way to his inevitable end.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRunning Out of Time (1994)
Days before committing an attack, Antonio, a gunman of the terrorist gang ETA who has dedicated his life to a cause he no longer believes in, meets Charo, a young drug addict who, despite the sordid environment in which she lives, still retains her innocence.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPrincesses (2005)
Caye is a young prostitute whose family is unaware of her profession. She meets her striking Dominican neighbour Zulema, an illegal immigrant, after she finds her in the bathroom, badly beaten up. They strike up a close friendship unbeknownst to Caye's xenophobic co-workers.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAdvantages of Travelling by Train (2019)
After interning her insane husband in a remote psychiatric hospital, book editor Helga Pato returns home by train, where she meets a mysterious man who identifies himself as a psychiatrist.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Ages of Lulu (1990)
Fifteen-year-old Lulu has never known any affection from her family. But when she goes to a rock concert with Pablo, a friend of the family, he introduces Lulu to her first sexual experience. Years later, Pablo and Lulu have married; Pablo has created a sheltered, private world for Lulu, into which nothing intrudes. However, Lulu tires of her cloistered existence, and begins hanging out in shady bars, looking for vicarious thrills and danger.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLost in the Night (2023)
A young man from a small mining town embroils himself with a wealthy family with a dubious past.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMatador (1986)
A conflicted youth confesses to crimes he didn't commit while a man and woman aroused by death become obsessed with each other.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Hit (1984)
Ten years after ratting on his old mobster friends in exchange for personal immunity, two hit men drive a hardened criminal to Paris for his execution. However, while on the way, whatever can go wrong, does go wrong.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDesperate Living (1977)
After killing her husband, Peggy Gravel and her murderous maid Grizelda wind up in the crazy town of Mortville, where Queen Carlotta presides over a sleazy collection of misfits.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLa Civil (2021)
Cielo is a mother whose teenage daughter is kidnapped in Northern Mexico. When the authorities offer no support in the search, Cielo takes matters into her own hands and transforms from housewife into a vengeful militant.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisIll Manors (2012)
Ensemble film revolving around characters living in Forest Gate, London. Over the course of a few days, six inter-linking stories explore issues of drug use, prostitution and urban poverty.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCria! (1976)
Ana, an eight-year-old girl living in Madrid with her grandmother and two sisters, mourns the death of her mother.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBattle in Heaven (2005)
Set in Mexico City, Carlos Reygadas's sexually explicit drama centers on a man in turmoil over his past actions. Chauffer Marcos feels compelled to reveal a dark secret to his boss's daughter, Ana, a wealthy woman who works as a prostitute just for the thrill of it. Marcos confesses that he and his wife committed a crime that ended in horrible tragedy. Haunted by his past, Marcos searches for redemption.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Tóth Family (1969)
The Tóth family resides in Northern Hungary. The couple has a daughter and a son, the latter a member of the armed forces. When his weary major is ordered to take a vacation, the son talks him into a visit to his family home. Hilarity ensues when the Tóths go overboard trying to make things pleasant for the visiting major in hopes of an easier life for their son, the soldier.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & comedy
The Banger Sisters (2002)
In the late '60s, the self-proclaimed belles of the rock 'n' roll ball, rocked the worlds of every music legend whose pants they could take off -- and they have the pictures to prove it. But it's been more than two decades since the Banger Sisters earned their nickname -- or even laid eyes on each other. Their reunion is the collision of two women's worlds; one who's living in the past, and one who's hiding from it. Together they learn to live in the moment.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisLower City (2005)
Best friends Deco and Naldinho co-own a cargo boat in Brazil's Salvador da Bahia. They give a ride to a sultry prostitute named Karinna, and soon both men fall prey to her considerable sexual charms, pushing the bounds of their friendship to the limit.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisVier Tage Toskana (2008)
Because the late Berlin artist Dorn failed to pay his taxes or inform the family for years, his widow Erika and daughters must urgently sell the splendid estate in Tuscany they hardly visited since his death anyhow. Eldest daughter Valerie, junior partner in fiancé Andreas Imdahl's rising architects firm, travels ahead to negotiate with the suitable candidate Robert Beck, a fellow German, who agreed trough mayor-publican Fredo to keep on caretaker Antonio 'Toni' Gianni. By the time Andreas arrives, he finds Viviane unfaithful with her study lover Stefan Korten, but is interested by Toni's daughter. Second daughter Susi and her fellow arts student fiancé Bruno Tomasi have several announcements. Mother arrives stating she decided to sell the Cologne home instead, but Robert offers an alternative. Written by KGF Vissers
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Devil in a Blue Dress (1995)
In late 1940s Los Angeles, Easy Rawlins is an unemployed black World War II veteran with few job prospects. At a bar, Easy meets DeWitt Albright, a mysterious white man looking for someone to investigate the disappearance of a missing white woman named Daphne Monet, who he suspects is hiding out in one of the city's black jazz clubs. Strapped for money and facing house payments, Easy takes the job, but soon finds himself in over his head.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Lion King (1994)
Young lion prince Simba, eager to one day become king of the Pride Lands, grows up under the watchful eye of his father Mufasa; all the while his villainous uncle Scar conspires to take the throne for himself. Amid betrayal and tragedy, Simba must confront his past and find his rightful place in the Circle of Life.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisMonsieur Hawarden (1968)
A woman disguises herself as a man to avoid prosecution for murdering her lover fifteen years ago. She is the last living member of a wealthy Vienna family, and has spent the years after the murder traveling Europe with her female servant. Her travels provide her with an anonymous cloak that allows her freedom of movement but little peace of mind. Nearing middle age, the guilt and weariness of an empty life has her contemplating suicide as the only way out of her dilemma.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Bringing Out the Dead (1999)
Once called "Father Frank" for his efforts to rescue lives, Frank Pierce sees the ghosts of those he failed to save around every turn. He has tried everything he can to get fired, calling in sick, delaying taking calls where he might have to face one more victim he couldn't help, yet cannot quit the job on his own.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Isle (2000)
Mute Hee-Jin is working as a clerk in a fishing resort in the Korean wilderness; selling baits, food and occasionally her body to the fishing tourists. One day she falls in love with Hyun-Shik, who is on the run from the police, and rescues him with a fish hook when he tries to commit suicide.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAnother Word and I'll Mary You! (2007)
Katrin is a single mother of twins. When they find out that they owe their existence to a sperm donation, they persuade their mother to find their biological father.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
Like What Have I Done to Deserve This? and something else?
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like What Have I Done to Deserve This??
The closest matches to What Have I Done to Deserve This? are Kinds of Kindness (2024), Calladita (2024) and Somewhere in Queens (2023). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after What Have I Done to Deserve This??
Start with Kinds of Kindness (2024), the closest match to What Have I Done to Deserve This?.
What is the highest-rated movie like What Have I Done to Deserve This??
The Lion King (1994), rated 8.3/10 by 20,401 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like What Have I Done to Deserve This??
Sister Midnight (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Spanish movies like What Have I Done to Deserve This??
Yes: Calladita (2024), Nobody Will Speak of Us When We're Dead (1995) and Navajeros (1980).
How are movies similar to What Have I Done to Deserve This? chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside What Have I Done to Deserve This?, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.