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Movies like The Novelist (2004)

The best movies like The Novelist (2004) are The Claim (2000), Brokeback Mountain (2005) and The Matchmaker's Playbook (2018). If The Novelist hooked you, these 20 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.

Quick picks

  1. The Claim (2000)

    A prospector sells his wife and daughter to another gold miner for the rights to a gold mine. Twenty years later, the prospector is a wealthy man who owns much of the old west town named Kingdom Come. But changes are brewing and his past is coming back to haunt him. A surveyor and his crew scouts the town as a location for a new railroad line and a young woman suddenly appears in the town and is evidently the man's daughter.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  2. Brokeback Mountain (2005)

    In 1960s Wyoming, two men develop a strong emotional and sexual relationship that endures as a lifelong connection complicating their lives as they get married and start families of their own.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  3. The Matchmaker's Playbook (2018)

    After a career-ending accident, former NFL recruit Ian Hunter is back on campus, and he's putting his extensive skills with women to work as one of the masterminds behind a successful and secretive dating service. But when Blake Olson requests the services of Wingmen, Inc., Ian may have landed his most hopeless client yet. As Blake begins the transformation from hot mess to smokin' hot, Ian realizes he's in danger of breaking his cardinal rule....

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  4. The Man From Snowy River II (1988)

    After a few years trying to earn money to marry Jessica Harrison, Jim Craig returns to Snowy River. But he finds that a lot of things have changed.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  5. Call of the Wild (1935)

    Jack Thornton has trouble winning enough at cards for the stake he needs to get to the Alaska gold fields. His luck changes when he pays $250 for Buck, a sled dog that is part wolf to keep him from being shot by an arrogant Englishman also headed for the Yukon. En route to the Yukon with Shorty Houlihan -- who spent time in jail for opening someone else's letter with a map of where gold is to be found -- Jack rescues a woman whose husband was the addressee of that letter. Buck helps Jack win a $1,000 bet to get the supplies he needs. And when Jack and Claire Blake pet Buck one night, fingers touch.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  6. Good Luck to You, Leo Grande (2022)

    Nancy Stokes, a retired schoolteacher, is pretty sure she has never had good sex. Now that her husband has died, she is determined to take a tour of sexual vistas that until now she has only imagined. She even has a plan; it involves an anonymous hotel room, and a sex worker who calls himself Leo Grande.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  7. Monte Walsh (1970)

    Monte Walsh is an aging cowboy facing the ending days of the Wild West era. As barbed wire and railways steadily eliminate the need for the cowboy, Monte and his friends are left with fewer and fewer options. New work opportunities are available to them, but the freedom of the open prarie is what they long for. Eventually, they all must say goodbye to the lives they knew, and try to make a new start.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  8. Paradise (1982)

    After their caravan is attacked and their respective families butchered by Arab marauders, teenagers David and Sarah flee across the desert. But the desert is filled with danger from the elements, animals and the unwholesome appetite of the Jackal, a sheik who wants Sarah for himself. However, the desert also holds temptation and love. David and Sarah hide out in an oasis and build a life for themselves, discovering each other in new ways.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  9. The Rainmaker (1956)

    Lizzie Curry is on the verge of becoming a hopeless old maid. Her wit and intelligence and skills as a homemaker can't make up for the fact that she's just plain plain! Even the town sheriff, File, for whom she harbors a secrect yen, won't take a chance --- until the town suffers a drought and into the lives of Lizzie and her brothers and father comes one Bill Starbuck ... profession: Rainmaker!

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  10. The Homesman (2014)

    When three women living on the edge of the American frontier are driven mad by harsh pioneer life, the task of saving them falls to the pious, independent-minded Mary Bee Cuddy. Transporting the women by covered wagon to Iowa, she soon realizes just how daunting the journey will be, and employs a low-life drifter, George Briggs, to join her. The unlikely pair and the three women head east, where a waiting minister and his wife have offered to take the women in. But the group first must traverse the harsh Nebraska Territories marked by stark beauty, psychological peril and constant threat.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  11. The Howling (1981)

    After a bizarre and near fatal encounter with a serial killer, a newswoman is sent to a rehabilitation center whose inhabitants may not be what they seem.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  12. Train Dreams (2025)

    A logger leads a life of quiet grace as he experiences love and loss during an era of monumental change in early 20th-century America.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  13. Monte Walsh (2003)

    Monte Walsh and Chet Rollins are long-time cowhands, working whatever ranch work comes their way, but "nothing they can't do from a horse." Their lives are divided between months on the range and the occasional trip into town. Monte has a long-term relationship with prostitute Martine Bernard, while Chet has fallen under the spell of the widow who owns the hardware store. Camaraderie and competition with the other cowboys fill their days, until one of the hands, Shorty Austin, loses his job and gets involved in rustling and killing. Then Monte and Chet find that their lives on the range are inexorably redirected.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  14. Young People Fucking (2007)

    On a Tuesday night, five couples have separate sexual adventures. Matt and Kris, friends for years, want to have an only-once, no-strings good time. Abby and Andrew, married, celebrate his birthday, but it's marred by angst and miscommunication. Mia and Eric are exes, making sure they are over each other. Jaime and Ken work together and this is a first date. Inez and Gord invite his roommate, Dave, to join them. By the time each couple has gone through a prelude, foreplay, sex, an interlude, orgasm, and afterglow, they've answered basic questions: can sex be anonymous, are we bored, is our marriage really finished, does anyone tell the truth, and how do we make someone happy?

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers

  15. Boys Don't Cry (1999)

    A young transgender man explores his gender identity and searches for love in rural Nebraska.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  16. The Cheyenne Social Club (1970)

    Cowboy John O'Hanlan is surprised to learn that someone's left him a business in Cheyenne, Wyoming. He sets out to claim it, only to discover it's a brothel.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  17. Love in the Afternoon (1957)

    A middle-aged playboy becomes fascinated by the daughter of a private detective who has been hired to entrap him with a client's wife.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  18. Don't Come Knocking (2005)

    Howard Spence has seen better days. Once a big Western movie star, he now drowns his disgust for his selfish and failed life with alcohol, drugs and young women. If he were to die now, nobody would shed a tear over him, that's the sad truth. Until one day Howard learns that he might have a child somewhere out there...

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  19. Reminders of Him (2026)

    When Diem's custodial grandparents adamantly refuse Kenna's attempts to see her daughter, Kenna discovers unexpected compassion, and then something truer and deeper, with former NFL player and local bar owner Ledger. As their secret romance develops, so do the dangers for both of them, leading Kenna toward heartbreak and, ultimately, the hope for a second chance.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  20. Boom Town (1940)

    Two buddies who rise from fly-by-night wildcatters to oil tycoons over a twenty year period both love the same woman. McMasters and Sand come to oil towns to get rich. Betsy comes West intending to marry Sand but marries McMasters instead. Getting rich and losing it all teaches McMasters and Sand the value of personal ties.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers

    Worth the HypeMovies like this

Like The Novelist and something else?

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Frequently asked questions

What are the best movies like The Novelist?

The closest matches to The Novelist are The Claim (2000), Brokeback Mountain (2005) and The Matchmaker's Playbook (2018). Below are 17 more, each with the reason it matches.

What should I watch after The Novelist?

Start with The Claim (2000), the closest match to The Novelist.

What is the highest-rated movie like The Novelist?

Brokeback Mountain (2005), rated 7.8/10 by 7,817 TMDB users.

What is the newest movie like The Novelist?

Reminders of Him (2026) is the most recent release on this list.

Are there English movies like The Novelist?

Yes: The Claim (2000), Brokeback Mountain (2005) and The Matchmaker's Playbook (2018).

How are movies similar to The Novelist chosen?

First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Novelist, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.

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