Movies like The man who wanted to sleep (2021)
The best movies like The man who wanted to sleep (2021) are The Troubles of Alfred (1972), Very Happy Alexander (1968) and The Small Victories (2023). If The man who wanted to sleep hooked you with its comedy, these 20 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedFive (2016)7.0/10 from 1,360 votes
- NewestLouis C.K.: Ridiculous (2026)Released 2026
- In FrenchThe Troubles of Alfred (1972)Also in French
The Troubles of Alfred (1972)
Unlucky in love, Alfred tries to commit suicide, only to be thwarted by police efforts to prevent a simultaneous attempt by a nearby young woman. Recovering, the young lady puts him up at her house, as he has run out of places to live. He joins a Parisian sporting team and seems to have transferred his bad luck to a corrupt television boss who is attempting to manipulate the game so that Alfred's Paris team loses.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
SnoozefestMovies like thisVery Happy Alexander (1968)
Alexandre, a young and honest farmer, is oppressed by an authoritarian wife, who makes him work like a dog. When she dies in a car crash, he decides to stay in bed, absolutely free and inactive. Just a dog is occupied to carry food and newspapers to him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Small Victories (2023)
Between her roles as mayor and teacher in the small village of Kerguen, Alice's days are very full. When an unexpected new student, 60-year-old Emile, finally decides to learn to read and write, her daily life threatens to become unmanageable. Especially since Alice will also have to save her village and her school...
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFive (2016)
A young man paying the rent for himself and his lifelong friends ends up flat-broke and resorts to selling marijuana to pay the bills – only to get caught up in the dangerous world of drugs.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAlter Ego (2026)
A quiet, middle-aged man spirals into obsession and paranoia when a charismatic look-alike moves in next door, featuring the exact same face—and a full head of hair.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisForced Vacation (2025)
Following a booking error, two families who are complete opposites, as well as a somewhat snobbish publisher and the influencer he wants to publish, are forced to share a sublime vacation home. The culture clash is immediate, between incompatible habits and strong personalities. Yet, despite the tensions and misunderstandings, this forced vacation takes an unexpected turn and turns out to be an adventure full of surprises and laughter.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAdventures in Public School (2018)
A socially-awkward, home-schooled kid forces his way into public school against his suffocating, but loving, mother's wishes.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMy Dog Stupid (2019)
Henri is a middle-aged writer with fading inspiration who has published nothing worthy of note in years. Feeling increasingly misunderstood by his wife and four grown up deadbeat kids, he dreams of running away to start over again. Yet when he discovers an unattractive, bad-mannered dog in his garden, he decides to adopt him and both start developing an unexpected friendship that inevitably upsets Henri’s family and neighbors.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
SnoozefestMovies like thisInspector Blunder (1980)
A detective, fresh out of the academy (lowest mark in class), gets the assignment to bodyguard a spoiled rich girl reporter. She's been interviewed on TV and has questioned the virility of a mobster who kidnaps her later.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Perfume of the Lady in Black (2005)
Newly married, Mathilde and Robert are honeymooning at a resort owned by their friends Edith and Arthur, the Chateau d'Hercule. But an unpleasant shock is in store for them.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLe Clan (2023)
Fred, Achille, Max and Belette form a good-for-nothing gang of crooks. Dismally failing their last raid, they decide to get back in the game, kidnapping Sophie Marceau.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Women on the 6th Floor (2011)
Paris, in the early 1960s. Jean-Louis Joubert is a serious but uptight stockbroker, married to Suzanne, a starchy class-conscious woman and father of two arrogant teenage boys, currently in a boarding school. The affluent man lives a steady yet boring life. At least until, due to fortuitous circumstances, Maria, the charming new maid at the service of Jean-Louis' family, makes him discover the servants' quarter on the sixth floor of the luxury building he owns and lives in. There live a crowd of lively Spanish maids who will help Jean-Louis to open to a new civilization and a new approach of life. In their company - and more precisely in the company of beautiful Maria - Jean-Louis will gradually become another man, a better man.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMuch Ado About Nothing (2013)
A modern retelling of Shakespeare's classic comedy about two pairs of lovers with different takes on romance and a way with words.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSecond Tour (2023)
A disgraced political journalist placed in the soccer section, Miss Pove is asked to follow the presidential campaign in progress. The front-runner is a fifty-year-old heir to a powerful French family and a political novice. Troubled by this candidate, whom she has known to be less smooth in the past, Miss Pove embarks on an investigation that is as surprising as it is jubilant.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Speech (2020)
Meet Adrien! He's 35. He's stuck in a mid-life crisis. He's neurotic and hypochondriac. Tonight he's stuck in an endless family dinner and his girlfriend is not answering his texts. On top of that, his dumb brother-in-law asks him to prepare a speech for his wedding. Could it get even worse?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFun with Dick and Jane (1977)
When an upwardly mobile couple find themselves unemployed and in debt, they turn to armed robbery in desperation.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLouis C.K.: Ridiculous (2026)
From a bee getting shot in New York City to paying strangers to take his aging father, Louis C.K. unleashes the ridiculous thoughts in his mind.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Bed Sitting Room (1969)
In the hazy aftermath of World War III, the fallout from a 'nuclear misunderstanding' is producing strange mutations amongst the survivors, and the noble Lord Fortnum finds himself transforming into a bed sitting room.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
SnoozefestMovies like thisA Difficult Year (2023)
Compulsive spenders Albert and Bruno are in debt up to their necks. While seeking help from community workers to get their lives back on track, they run into a group of young green activists. Lured by the free beer and snacks rather than by the ideals of eco-activists, Albert and Bruno find themselves joining the movement without much conviction.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
SnoozefestMovies like thisHard to Die (1990)
While doing the inventory for a lingerie outlet in a high rise office building, five attractive women are terrorized by a series of bizarre killings. They suspect that the strange janitor, who witnessed another series of killings six months previously, is at the bottom of the whole thing. Little do they know the real horror that they face in the end.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The man who wanted to sleep?
The closest matches to The man who wanted to sleep are The Troubles of Alfred (1972), Very Happy Alexander (1968) and The Small Victories (2023). Below are 17 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The man who wanted to sleep?
Start with The Troubles of Alfred (1972), the closest match to The man who wanted to sleep.
What is the highest-rated movie like The man who wanted to sleep?
Five (2016), rated 7.0/10 by 1,360 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The man who wanted to sleep?
Louis C.K.: Ridiculous (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there French movies like The man who wanted to sleep?
Yes: The Troubles of Alfred (1972), Very Happy Alexander (1968) and The Small Victories (2023).
How are movies similar to The man who wanted to sleep chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The man who wanted to sleep, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.