Movies like Half-Laughing (2003)
The best movies like Half-Laughing (2003) are This Is Where I Leave You (2014), Elena Undone (2010) and The Opposite of Sex (1998). If Half-Laughing hooked you, these 20 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedHereditary (2018)7.3/10 from 9,089 votes
- NewestTeenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma (2026)Released 2026
This Is Where I Leave You (2014)
When their father passes away, four grown, world-weary siblings return to their childhood home and are requested -- with an admonition -- to stay there together for a week, along with their free-speaking mother and a collection of spouses, exes and might-have-beens. As the brothers and sisters re-examine their shared history and the status of each tattered relationship among those who know and love them best, they reconnect in hysterically funny and emotionally significant ways.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisElena Undone (2010)
The wife of a pastor who preaches against homosexuality embarks on an affair with a female writer.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Opposite of Sex (1998)
A 16-year-old girl visits her gay half-brother and ends up seducing his boyfriend, thus wreaking havoc on all of their lives.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLowlifes (2024)
The survival instincts of a road-tripping family are put to the test when they have no other choice but to stay the night at a remote homestead.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Vampire Lovers (1970)
In the heart of Styria the Karnstein Family, even after their mortal deaths, rise from their tombs spreading evil in the countryside in their lust for fresh blood. Baron Hartog whose family are all victims of Karnstein vampirism, opens their graves and drives a stake through their diabolical hearts. One grave he cannot locate is that of the legendary beautiful Mircalla Karnstein. Years of peace follow that grisly night until Mircalla reappears to avenge her family's decimation and satisfy her desire for blood.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisEllie and Abbie (and Ellie's Dead Aunt) (2020)
School captain Ellie is seriously crushing on her rebellious classmate Abbie. Determined to ask her first love to the year 12 formal, Ellie devises a plan to go public with the invitation but before she can go through with it, her dead aunt Tara reappears from beyond the grave. Believing she's been brought back from the dead to be Ellie's fairy godmother, Tara dishes out unwanted dating advice based on her life as an out lesbian in the '80s.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSaving Face (2004)
A Chinese-American lesbian and her traditionalist mother are reluctant to go public with secret loves that clash against cultural expectations.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like this3 Generations (2016)
A teenager transitions from female to male, and his family must come to terms with that fact.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMy Mom Jayne (2025)
Through deeply personal interviews with her siblings and an examination of the photographs, letters, and belongings left behind, Mariska assembles a new portrait of her mother Jayne Mansfield, an extraordinary and complex woman.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisAfter.Life (2009)
Following a terrible car crash, a woman awakes to find an enigmatic mortician preparing her for burial.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Truth About Jane (2000)
High schooler Jane struggles with the self-discovery that she is a lesbian after developing an intense friendship with another girl. However, this is only the start of Jane's troubles when her unaccepting mother Janice also contends with the surprising revelation brought forth by her only daughter.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
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
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOther People (2016)
David, a struggling comedy writer fresh off from breaking up with his boyfriend, moves from New York City to Sacramento to help his sick mother. Living with his conservative father and much-younger sisters for the first time in ten years, he feels like a stranger in his childhood home. As his mother’s health declines, David frantically tries to extract meaning from this horrible experience and convince everyone (including himself) that he's "doing okay.”
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTeenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma (2026)
An ambitious director sets out to revive a faded slasher franchise, but her meeting with the film’s reclusive original star spirals into a terrifying maze of obsession, fear, and blood-soaked delusion.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMy Old Ass (2024)
An 18th birthday mushroom trip brings free-spirited Elliott face-to-face with her wisecracking 39-year-old self. But when Elliott’s "old ass" starts handing out warnings about what her younger self should and shouldn't do, Elliott realizes she has to rethink everything about family, love, and what's becoming a transformative summer.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPalm Trees and Power Lines (2023)
Seventeen-year-old Lea spends her summer break tanning in her backyard, and drifting between tiptoeing around her needy mother, and aimlessly trailing her best friend and boys from school. This monotony is interrupted by a chance encounter with Tom, a seductive man twice her age who promises an alternative to Lea's unsatisfying adolescent life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Surrender (2025)
A fraught mother-daughter relationship is put to a terrifying test when the family patriarch dies, and the grieving mother hires a mysterious stranger to bring her husband back from the dead.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisGrandma (2015)
Self-described misanthrope Elle Reid has her protective bubble burst when her 18-year-old granddaughter, Sage, shows up needing help. The two of them go on a day-long journey that causes Elle to come to terms with her past and Sage to confront her future.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHereditary (2018)
When the matriarch of the Graham family passes away, her daughter begins to unravel cryptic and increasingly terrifying secrets about her ancestry.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSwan Song (2021)
An aging hairdresser escapes his nursing home to embark on an odyssey across his small town to style a dead woman's hair for her funeral, rediscovering his sparkle along the way.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Half-Laughing?
The closest matches to Half-Laughing are This Is Where I Leave You (2014), Elena Undone (2010) and The Opposite of Sex (1998). Below are 17 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Half-Laughing?
Start with This Is Where I Leave You (2014), the closest match to Half-Laughing.
What is the highest-rated movie like Half-Laughing?
Hereditary (2018), rated 7.3/10 by 9,089 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Half-Laughing?
Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Half-Laughing?
Yes: This Is Where I Leave You (2014), Elena Undone (2010) and The Opposite of Sex (1998).
How are movies similar to Half-Laughing chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Half-Laughing, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.