Movies like 38 (2021)
The best movies like 38 (2021) are Normal (2003), The Adjustment Bureau (2011) and Making Babies (2019). If 38 hooked you, these 20 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedEscape from Alcatraz (1979)7.5/10 from 3,348 votes
- NewestWardriver (2026)Released 2026
Normal (2003)
A Midwestern husband and father announces his plan to have a sex change operation.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Adjustment Bureau (2011)
A man glimpses the future Fate has planned for him – and chooses to fight for his own destiny. Battling the powerful Adjustment Bureau across, under and through the streets of New York, he risks his destined greatness to be with the only woman he's ever loved.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMaking Babies (2019)
After years of "manually" trying to conceive, John and Katie Kelly put their bodies, wallet and marriage through the ringer of modern infertility treatments.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisSpy (2015)
A desk-bound CIA analyst volunteers to go undercover to infiltrate the world of a deadly arms dealer, and prevent diabolical global disaster.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Switch (2010)
Kassie is a smart, fun-loving single woman who, despite her neurotic best friend Wally’s objections, decides it’s time to have a baby – even if it means doing it herself… with a little help from a charming sperm donor. But, unbeknownst to her, Kassie’s plans go awry because of a last-minute switch that isn’t discovered until seven years later… when Wally gets acquainted with Kassie’s cute, though slightly neurotic, son.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMagazine Dreams (2025)
Aspiring bodybuilder Killian Maddox struggles to find human connection in an exploration of celebrity and violence. Nothing deters him from his fiercely protected dream of superstardom, not even the doctors who warn him of the permanent damage he causes to himself with his quest.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Lookout (2007)
Chris is a once promising high school athlete whose life is turned upside down following a tragic accident. As he tries to maintain a normal life, he takes a job as a janitor at a bank, where he ultimately finds himself caught up in a planned heist.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDelivery Man (2013)
An affable underachiever finds out he's fathered 533 children through anonymous donations to a fertility clinic 20 years ago. Now he must decide whether or not to come forward when 142 of them file a lawsuit to reveal his identity.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLovelace (2013)
Story of Linda Lovelace, who is used and abused by the porn industry at the behest of her coercive husband, before taking control of her life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLEGO Star Wars: The Padawan Menace (2011)
Master Yoda must go retrieve secret battle plans. However, things become a little more complicated when a class of younglings join the mission.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Back-Up Plan (2010)
When Zoe tires of looking for Mr. Right, she decides to have a baby on her own. But on the day she's artificially inseminated, she meets Stan, who seems to be just who she's been searching for all her life. Now, Zoe has to figure out how to make her two life's dreams fit with each other.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Astronaut Farmer (2007)
Texan Charles Farmer left the Air Force as a young man to save the family ranch when his dad died. Like most American ranchers, he owes his bank. Unlike most, he's an astrophysicist with a rocket in his barn - one he's built and wants to take into space. It's his dream. The FBI puts him under surveillance when he tries to buy rocket fuel, and the FAA stalls him when he files a flight plan – but Charles is undeterred.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like this2 Guns (2013)
A DEA agent and an undercover Naval Intelligence officer who have been tasked with investigating one another find they have been set up by the mob -- the very organization the two men believe they have been stealing money from.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLenny (1974)
The story of acerbic 1960s comic Lenny Bruce, whose groundbreaking, no-holds-barred style and social commentary was often deemed by the establishment as too obscene for the public.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBirdy (1984)
Two young men are seriously affected by the Vietnam War. One of them has always been obsessed with birds - but now believes he really is a bird, and has been sent to a mental hospital. Can his friend help him pull through?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisEscape from Alcatraz (1979)
San Francisco Bay, January 18, 1960. Frank Lee Morris is transferred to Alcatraz, a maximum security prison located on a rocky island. Although no one has ever managed to escape from there, Frank and other inmates begin to carefully prepare an escape plan.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWoody Woodpecker (2017)
Woody Woodpecker enters a turf war with a big city lawyer wanting to tear down his home in an effort to build a house to flip.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWardriver (2026)
He’s a Wardriver: a hacker who steals from banks, not people—until he’s noticed. Now the money turns violent, and the woman caught in it could save him or kill them both.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisI Love You Phillip Morris (2010)
Steven Russell leads a seemingly average life – an organ player in the local church, happily married to Debbie, and a member of the local police force. That is until he has a severe car accident that leads him to the ultimate epiphany: he’s gay and he’s going to live life to the fullest – even if he has to break the law to do it. Taking on an extravagant lifestyle, Steven turns to cons and fraud to make ends meet and is eventually sent to the State Penitentiary where he meets the love of his life, a sensitive, soft-spoken man named Phillip Morris. His devotion to freeing Phillip from jail and building the perfect life together prompts him to attempt (and often succeed at) one impossible con after another.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSuperman: Unbound (2013)
Superman and Supergirl take on the cybernetic being known as Brainiac, who boasts that he possesses "the knowledge and strength of 10,000 worlds."
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like 38?
The closest matches to 38 are Normal (2003), The Adjustment Bureau (2011) and Making Babies (2019). Below are 17 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after 38?
Start with Normal (2003), the closest match to 38.
What is the highest-rated movie like 38?
Escape from Alcatraz (1979), rated 7.5/10 by 3,348 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like 38?
Wardriver (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
How are movies similar to 38 chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside 38, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.