Movies like Serenade (2018)
The best movies like Serenade (2018) are Pulling Strings (2013), Blue Lagoon: The Awakening (2012) and The Young One (1960). If Serenade hooked you, these 20 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedCrossroads (1986)7.4/10 from 503 votes
- NewestCrazy Magical Mexico (2026)Released 2026
- In SpanishPulling Strings (2013)Also in Spanish
Pulling Strings (2013)
Rachel is an intelligent, modern-day woman constantly on the move. Primarily focused on her career as a diplomatic consul for the U.S. embassy, she's literally lived her life on the move, globe-trotting from city to city. Currently working in Mexico City and set to leave for London, Rachel's world turns upside down on the eve of her own goodbye party when she gets drunk and passes out on the street. Saved by Alejandro, a handsome Mariachi singer and single father, Rachel wakes up in his apartment with no recollection of how she got there. Nor does she remember that she rejected his visa the day before, which he desperately needs for his daughter. Romance unexpectedly blossoms between the two, but either sparks or fists will fly after she finds out his secret.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBlue Lagoon: The Awakening (2012)
Two high school students become stranded on a tropical island and must rely on each other for survival. They learn more about themselves and each other while falling in love.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Young One (1960)
A jazz musician seeks refuge from a lynch mob on a remote island, where he meets a hostile game warden and the young object of his attentions.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCrossroads (1986)
A wanna-be blues guitar virtuoso seeks a long-lost song by legendary musician, Robert Johnson.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLava (2015)
Inspired by the isolated beauty of tropical islands and the explosive allure of ocean volcanoes, Lava is a musical love story that takes place over millions of years.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisEl Mariachi (1993)
El Mariachi just wants to play his guitar and carry on the family tradition. Unfortunately, the town he tries to find work in has another visitor, a killer who carries his guns in a guitar case. The drug lord and his henchmen mistake el Mariachi for the killer, Azul, and chase him around town trying to kill him and get his guitar case.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSanky Panky (2007)
In the Dominican Republic, Genaro works in a small family store and lives with his mother in a poor neighborhood. He is learning a few words in English and dreams of being a Sanky Panky to marry an American tourist to move to the USA with a VISA and have a better life. He calls his friend Giuseppe, who is a hotel manager in Bávaro, and applies for a job entertaining children but hoping to find a wealthy tourist. Genaro meets the beautiful Martha, who has come with her aunts Dorothy and Helen, to forget her fiancée after calling off her wedding. Genaro calls his best friends, Chelo and Carlitos, to go out with the aunts and experience it alone with Martha. Martha only speaks English and Genaro only knows a few words of English, but everything goes as planned until Martha's boyfriend arrives at the resort and complicates everything.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAvanti! (1972)
A successful businessman travels to Italy to arrange for the return of his tycoon father's body, only to learn that dear old dad died with his longtime mistress.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Mosquito Coast (1986)
An inventor spurns his city life and moves his family into the jungles of Central America to make a utopia.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Pirate (1948)
A girl is engaged to the local richman, but meanwhile she has dreams about the legendary pirate Macoco. A traveling singer falls in love with her and to impress her he poses as the pirate.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe King of Havana (2015)
Recently escaped from reformatory, Reinaldo struggles to get by in the streets of Havana in the late 90s, one of the worst decades for Cuban society. Hopes, disillusionment, rum, good humor and above all hunger, accompany him in his wanderings, until he meets Magda and Yunisleidy, survivors like himself. In one or the other's arms, he will try to escape the material and moral misery surrounding him, living love, passion, tenderness and uninhibited sex to the limit.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisKing of California (2007)
Charlie gets released from an insane asylum and moves in with Miranda, the young daughter he left behind. Charlie believes that there is treasure hidden beneath the local Costco, so he puts together a plan to unearth the loot. By convincing Miranda to quit her job at McDonald's and instead work at the wholesale store, he is able to obtain a key. Although Miranda is skeptical, she helps her father with his irrational quest.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNobody Knows I'm Here (2020)
Memo lives on a remote Chilean sheep farm, hiding a beautiful singing voice from the outside world. A recluse with a glittery flair, he can't stop dwelling on the past, but what will happen once someone finally listens?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLucca's World (2025)
Determined to help her son, who has cerebral palsy, Bárbara takes her family to India for an experimental treatment.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisGeneral Cemetery (2013)
Set in Iquitos, the story follows Andrea (Airam Galliani), a 15-years-ago teenage girl, who suffers the death of his father. With the help of his friends from school, encourage her to contact him using the ouija. However, this triggers a series of terrifying events.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Bravados (1958)
Jim Douglass arrives in the small town of Rio Arriba in order to witness the hanging of the four men he believes murdered his wife. When the convicts escape, Jim tracks them into Mexico, determined to see that justice is done. But the farther Jim goes in his quest for vengeance, the more merciless he becomes, losing himself in an unrelenting spiral of hatred and violence.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Cinderella Story: Once Upon a Song (2011)
In this modern telling of the classic tale, aspiring singer Katie Gibbs falls for the new boy at her performing arts high school. But Katie's wicked stepmother and stepsister are scheming to crush her dream before she can sing her way into his heart.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Key Game (2022)
Laura has been with Antonio all her life and, just when she begins to wonder if that is really the life she wants, Sergio and Siena cross paths in their lives. Sergio is a former high school classmate and Siena, his millennial girlfriend who arrives to revolutionize everyone's lives. Laura, Raquel and Cris, close friends for years, convince their respective husbands to play a game that Siena proposes to them: the game of keys. The game consists of everyone putting their keys in a bowl. At random, each one chooses some keys and he must go to spend the night with the owner of the keys. This game will revolutionize the group of friends and their lives. It will make them discover who they are and what they really want.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisCrazy Magical Mexico (2026)
A man finds the best motivation to secure and save his town: making an independent Mexican film.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisExtraordinary Stories (2008)
X arrives in a small town and witnesses a violent act; Z takes the job of a dead manager and discovers that he had a notebook written in code and a map; H is hired to go down a river and investigate a series of mysterious monoliths built on the shore.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Serenade?
The closest matches to Serenade are Pulling Strings (2013), Blue Lagoon: The Awakening (2012) and The Young One (1960). Below are 17 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Serenade?
Start with Pulling Strings (2013), the closest match to Serenade.
What is the highest-rated movie like Serenade?
Crossroads (1986), rated 7.4/10 by 503 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Serenade?
Crazy Magical Mexico (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Spanish movies like Serenade?
Yes: Pulling Strings (2013), El Mariachi (1993) and Sanky Panky (2007).
How are movies similar to Serenade chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Serenade, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.