Movies like Learn to Swim (2021)
The best movies like Learn to Swim (2021) are Ruth & Boaz (2025), Pure Country 2: The Gift (2010) and Center Stage: Turn It Up (2008). If Learn to Swim hooked you with its romance and drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedYoung Hearts (2024)8.6/10 from 334 votes
- NewestLLUVIA DE IDEAS (2026)Released 2026
Ruth & Boaz (2025)
A talented singer leaves the Atlanta music scene and starts over in small-town Tennessee, where she finds love and new purpose but can't escape the past.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisPure Country 2: The Gift (2010)
Three angels bestow the gift of song to a young girl, who must follow a series of rules in order hold on to it during her rise to fame and fortune.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & music
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCenter Stage: Turn It Up (2008)
All self-taught dancer Kate Parker has ever wanted to do was perform with the American Academy of Ballet. But when she doesnt make it after auditioning, she learns that it takes more than precision and perfection to succeed in the dance world.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & music
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBroadway Melody of 1940 (1940)
Johnny Brett and King Shaw are an unsuccessful dance team in New York. A producer discovers Brett as the new partner for Clare Bennett, but Brett, who thinks he is one of the people they lent money to, gives him the name of his partner.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both music & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisListen to Your Heart (2010)
Struggling New York City singer/songwriter Danny falls in love with Ariana, a wealthy girl from Connecticut who tragically cannot hear the music she inspires him to write. After falling in love against the wishes of her controlling mother Victoria, Ariana becomes torn between hanging onto the shelter that Victoria provides and fighting for a love that, if given the chance, might just change her life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & music
Worth the HypeMovies like thisI Still Believe (2020)
The true-life story of Christian music star Jeremy Camp and his journey of love and loss that looks to prove there is always hope.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both music & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisYoung at Heart (1954)
The lives and romances of three sisters in a musical family; the youngest daughter's life is complicated by the subsequent arrival of a charming composer and a cynical music arranger.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisStep Up All In (2014)
All-stars from previous installments convene in glittering Las Vegas, battling for a victory that could define their dreams and their careers.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisParis Blues (1961)
During the 1960s, two American jazz musicians living in Paris meet and fall in love with two American tourist girls and must decide between music and love.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCoda (2020)
A famous pianist at the twilight of his career meets a free-spirited music critic who soon becomes his rock as his mental state deteriorates.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both music & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBattle of the Year (2013)
A down-on-his-luck coach is hired to prepare a team of the best American dancers for an international tournament that attracts all the best crews from around the world, but the Americans haven't won in fifteen years.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both music & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisClika (2026)
Aspiring small-town musician Chito is determined to make it big. When a clip of him performing one of his songs goes viral, he seizes the opportunity and pushes to carve out a place for himself in the new wave of Mexican-American music... and ultimately gets caught in a game more dangerous than anticipated.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both music & drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisThe Lost Husband (2020)
Trying to put her life back together after the death of her husband, Libby and her children move to her estranged Aunt's goat farm in central Texas.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNewness (2017)
In contemporary Los Angeles, two millennials navigating a social media–driven hookup culture begin a relationship that pushes both emotional and physical boundaries.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisToo Late Blues (1961)
Ghost is an ideological musician and leader of a jazz band who would rather play his blues in the park to the birds than compromise himself. His peripatetic performances lead him to cross paths with a singer, while his masculinity is thrown into question following a violent brawl.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & music
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPurple Hearts (2022)
An aspiring musician agrees to a marriage of convenience with a soon-to-deploy Marine, but a tragedy soon turns their fake relationship all too real.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisHoney: Rise Up and Dance (2018)
Street dancer Skyler comes out of the shadow of her trained dancer sister, Tosha, & joins a dance competition with the Honey dance studio; the prize is a college scholarship.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both music & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Secret: Dare to Dream (2020)
A widow with three children hires a handyman to fix her house during a major storm. When not doing home repairs, he shares his philosophy of believing in the power of the universe to deliver what we want.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies 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 thisSylvie's Love (2020)
When a young woman meets an aspiring saxophonist in her father’s record shop in 1950s Harlem, their love ignites a sweeping romance that transcends changing times, geography, and professional success.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisYoung Hearts (2024)
14-year-old Elias increasingly feels like an outsider in his village. When he meets his new neighbour of the same age, Alexander, Elias is confronted with his burgeoning sexuality.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & romance
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisThe Wave (2025)
A music student’s testimony ignites a feminist uprising on her campus, where protest becomes performance and collective voice becomes an act of resistance.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both music & drama
Far and Away (1992)
A young free-spirited Irish woman from an affluent Protestant family spontaneously befriends a street-smart commoner cheated by her family’s hostile land takeovers. They escape to America, ready to take advantage of the 19th century Oklahoma land rush.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMarie Antoinette (2006)
A retelling of the story of France’s iconic but ill-fated queen, Marie Antoinette - from her betrothal and marriage to Louis XVI at fifteen to her reign as queen at nineteen and ultimately the fall of Versailles.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMiss March (2009)
A young man awakens from a four-year coma to hear that his once virginal high-school sweetheart has since become a centerfold in one of the world's most famous men's magazines. He and his sex-crazed best friend decide to take a cross-country road trip in order to crash a party at the magazine's legendary mansion headquarters and win back the girl.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both romance
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Chocolate War - Act One (2026)
Act One of the film The Chocolate War by critically acclaimed studio Phony Pictures; following the Breaking Bar Crew before the start of the Chocolate War.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Honey Money Phony (2024)
A working girl accidentally incurs a massive debt. She crosses paths with a con man. Amidst lies and deceit, they navigate a tumultuous journey, questioning their paths in life.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both romance
Crooklyn (1994)
From Spike Lee comes this vibrant semi-autobiographical portrait of a school-teacher, her stubborn jazz-musician husband and their five kids living in '70s Brooklyn.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDownsizing (2017)
A kindly occupational therapist undergoes a new procedure to be shrunken to four inches tall so that he and his wife can help save the planet and afford a nice lifestyle at the same time.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Learn to Swim?
The closest matches to Learn to Swim are Ruth & Boaz (2025), Pure Country 2: The Gift (2010) and Center Stage: Turn It Up (2008). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Learn to Swim?
Start with Ruth & Boaz (2025), the closest match to Learn to Swim.
What is the highest-rated movie like Learn to Swim?
Young Hearts (2024), rated 8.6/10 by 334 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Learn to Swim?
LLUVIA DE IDEAS (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Learn to Swim?
Yes: Ruth & Boaz (2025), Pure Country 2: The Gift (2010) and Center Stage: Turn It Up (2008).
How are movies similar to Learn to Swim chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Learn to Swim, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.