Movies like The Playlist (2018)
The best movies like The Playlist (2018) are Love Don't Co$t a Thing (2003), Stargirl (2020) and Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging (2008). If The Playlist hooked you with its romance and family, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
The Playlist
Quick picks
- Highest ratedPaper Moon (1973)7.9/10 from 891 votes
- NewestStrangers in the Park (2026)Released 2026
Love Don't Co$t a Thing (2003)
A high school outcast pays a cheerleader to pose as his girlfriend so he can be considered cool.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisStargirl (2020)
An unassuming high schooler finds himself inexplicably drawn to the free-spirited new girl, whose unconventional ways change how they see themselves…and their world.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAngus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging (2008)
Georgia Nicolson is fourteen, lives with nosey parents who don't understand her, an annoying three year old sister and has to wear a beret to school. She would, however, rather be blonde, have a smaller nose and a boyfriend. Revolving around her hilarious journal entries, prepare to be engulfed in the world of the soaring joys and bottomless angst of being a teenager.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThat's What I Am (2011)
A coming-of-age story that follows 12-year-old Andy Nichol, a bright student who, like most kids his age, will do anything to avoid conflict for fear of suffering overwhelming ridicule and punishment from his junior high school peers.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & family
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Clique (2008)
A young girl tries to fit in with a clique of popular middle school girls after moving into the guest house of one of their homes.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisTall Girl (2019)
Jodi, the tallest girl in her high school, has always felt uncomfortable in her own skin. But after years of slouching, being made fun of, and avoiding attention at all costs, Jodi finally decides to find the confidence to stand tall.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Big Picture (1989)
Hollywood beckons for recent film school grad Nick Chapman, who is out to capitalize on the momentum from his national award-winning student film. Studio executive Allen Habel seduces Nick with a dream deal to make his first feature, but once production gets rolling, corporate reality begins to intervene: Nick is unable to control a series of compromises to his high-minded vision, and it's all he can do to maintain his integrity in the midst of filmmaking chaos.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & romance
SnoozefestMovies like thisSeven Minutes in Heaven (1986)
Natalie allows her classmate Jeff, who has run away from home, to stay at her place while her father is away on a business trip. Natalie soon starts dating Jeff's friend James Casey, who isn't as faithful as she thinks, while her best friend Polly falls in love with baseball player Zoo Knudsen.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBridget Jones: Mad About the Boy (2025)
Bridget Jones navigates life as a widow and single mum with the help of her family, friends, and former lover, Daniel. Back to work and on the apps, she's pursued by a younger man and maybe – just maybe – her son's science teacher.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRoll Bounce (2005)
In the summer of 1978, a teenager and his group of friends face new challenges when their neighborhood roller-skating rink closes, forcing them to visit a different rink.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLaggies (2014)
Overeducated and underemployed, 28 year old Megan is in the throes of a quarterlife crisis. Squarely into adulthood with no career prospects, no particular motivation to think about her future and no one to relate to, Megan is comfortable lagging a few steps behind - while her friends check off milestones and celebrate their new grown-up status. When her high-school sweetheart proposes, Megan panics and- given an unexpected opportunity to escape for a week - hides out in the home of her new friend, 16-year old Annika and Annika's world-weary single dad Craig.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Half of It (2020)
Shy, straight-A student Ellie is hired by sweet but inarticulate jock Paul, who needs help wooing the most popular girl in school. But their new and unlikely friendship gets tricky when Ellie discovers she has feelings for the same girl.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisScooby-Doo! The Sword and the Scoob (2021)
An evil sorceress transports the gang back to the age of chivalrous knights, spell-casting wizards, and fire-breathing dragons.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & family
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAfter (2019)
Tessa Young is a dedicated student, dutiful daughter and loyal girlfriend to her high school sweetheart. Entering her first semester of college, Tessa's guarded world opens up when she meets Hardin Scott, a mysterious and brooding rebel who makes her question all she thought she knew about herself -- and what she wants out of life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWinter Spring Summer or Fall (2024)
Remi and Barnes, two very different teenagers, meet by chance in the winter of their senior year, then spend four days together over the course of a year that will change their lives forever.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisFire with Fire (1986)
A tough, street-smart kid serving a sentence in a state youth reformatory meets a beautiful, innocent girl studying at a nearby convent. When forbidden love blossoms between them, they must fight the prison authorities, their parents and the law.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Loud House Movie (2021)
The Loud family travel to Scotland and discover they are descendants of Scottish royalty as they move into their giant ancestral castle.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both family & comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDo Revenge (2022)
A dethroned queen bee at a posh private high school strikes a secret deal with an unassuming new student to enact revenge on one another’s enemies.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Best of Me (2014)
A pair of former high school sweethearts reunite after many years when they return to visit their small hometown.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHow to Date Billy Walsh (2024)
Archie has been in love with his best friend Amelia for as long as he can remember. Just when he builds up the courage to declare his feelings, she falls head over heels for Billy Walsh, a new American transfer student.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Next Karate Kid (1994)
Mr. Miyagi decides to take Julie, a troubled teenager, under his wing after he learns that she blames herself for her parents' demise and struggles to adjust with her grandmother and fellow pupils.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & family
SnoozefestMovies like thisA Cinderella Story (2004)
Routinely exploited by her wicked stepmother, the downtrodden Samantha Montgomery is excited about the prospect of meeting her Internet beau at the school's Halloween dance.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy & family
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisJumbo (2025)
Desperate to prove to his peers that he’s more than a chubby kid that never wins at anything, little Don wishes to win his local talent show by performing a stageplay inspired from a storybook written by his late parents. When unfortunately a bully stole that book, at the same time a little ghost appeared from the spirit world asking for Don’s help to reunite her with her parents’ spirits. The two new friends then embark on an exciting adventure to help each other and learn the true meaning of friendship.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisNever Been Kissed (1999)
Josie Geller, a baby-faced junior copywriter at the Chicago Sun-Times, must pose as a student at her former high school to research contemporary teenage culture. With the help of her brother, Rob, Josie infiltrates the inner circle of the most popular clique on campus. But she hits a major snag in her investigation -- not to mention her own failed love life -- when she falls for her dreamy English teacher, Sam Coulson.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both romance & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPete's Dragon (1977)
Pete, a young orphan, runs away to a Maine fishing town with his best friend a lovable, sometimes invisible dragon named Elliott! When they are taken in by a kind lighthouse keeper, Nora, and her father, Elliott's prank playing lands them in big trouble. Then, when crooked salesmen try to capture Elliott for their own gain, Pete must attempt a daring rescue.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy & family
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisStrangers in the Park (2026)
A former communist militant and a "live and let live" man form an unlikely friendship on a park bench, sharing their life stories with humor and heart.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy & drama
O (2001)
Even though he's the only black student at the elite Palmetto Grove Academy, star basketball player Odin James has the adoration of all, including the team's coach and the Dean's beautiful daughter Desi. Odin's troubled friend Hugo, the coach's son, deeply resentful of his father's preference of Odin on and off the court, plots a diabolical scheme to sow the seed of mistrust between O and Desi, setting in motion a disturbing chain of events which erupts into a firestorm of breathtaking intensity.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & romance
SnoozefestMovies like thisKitchen Stories (2003)
Swedish efficiency researchers come to Norway for a study of Norwegian men, to optimize their use of their kitchen. Folke Nilsson (Tomas Norström) is assigned to study the habits of Isak Bjørvik (Joachim Calmeyer). By the rules of the research institute, Folke has to sit on an umpire's chair in Isak's kitchen and observe him from there, but never talk to him. Isak stops using his kitchen and observes Folke through a hole in the ceiling instead. However, the two lonely men slowly overcome the initial post-war Norwegian-Swede distrust and become friends.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisPaper Moon (1973)
During the Great Depression, a con man finds himself saddled with a young girl who may or may not be his daughter, and the two forge an unlikely partnership.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy & drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisThe Upside of Anger (2005)
After her husband runs off with his secretary, Terry Wolfmeyer is left to fend for herself -- and her four daughters. As she hits rock bottom, Terry finds a friend and drinking buddy in next-door neighbor Denny, a former baseball player. As the two grow closer, and her daughters increasingly rely on Denny, Terry starts to have reservations about where their relationship is headed.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Playlist?
The closest matches to The Playlist are Love Don't Co$t a Thing (2003), Stargirl (2020) and Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging (2008). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Playlist?
Start with Love Don't Co$t a Thing (2003), the closest match to The Playlist.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Playlist?
Paper Moon (1973), rated 7.9/10 by 891 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Playlist?
Strangers in the Park (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like The Playlist?
Yes: Love Don't Co$t a Thing (2003), Stargirl (2020) and Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging (2008).
How are movies similar to The Playlist chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Playlist, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.