Movies like Partners (1990)
The best movies like Partners (1990) are Adventures in Public School (2018), Jeffrey (1995) and Buddies (1985). If Partners hooked you, these 20 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedToto, Peppino, and the Hussy (1956)8.0/10 from 384 votes
- NewestDriver's Ed (2026)Released 2026
- In ItalianHis Secret Life (2001)Also in Italian
Adventures in Public School (2018)
A socially-awkward, home-schooled kid forces his way into public school against his suffocating, but loving, mother's wishes.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisJeffrey (1995)
Jeffrey, a gay man living in New York City with an overwhelming fear of contracting AIDS, concludes that being celibate is the only option to protect himself. As fate would have it, shortly after his declaration of a sex-free existence, he meets the handsome Steve Howard, his dream man -- except for his HIV-positive status. Facing this dilemma, Jeffrey turns to his best friend and an outrageous priest for guidance.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBuddies (1985)
David, a naive graduate student, has volunteered to work as a 'buddy' for people dying of AIDS. Assigned to the intensely political Robert, a lifelong activist whose friends and family have abandoned him following his diagnosis, the two men, each with notably different world views, soon discover common bonds, as David's inner activist awakens and Robert's need for emotional release is fulfilled.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisGirl on a Bicycle (2013)
Paolo, an Italian tour bus driver living in Paris, has just summoned up the courage to propose marriage to his German girlfriend Greta. However, a chance encounter with a French woman on a bicycle the very next day turns Paolo's life upside down.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Living End (1992)
Two HIV-positive young men — a semi-employed film critic and a hot hustler — tear off on a cross-country crime spree.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisKids (1995)
A group of bored, disaffected New York City teenagers spend a day skating, smoking, drinking, partying, deflowering virgins, and getting into fights.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHis Secret Life (2001)
When Antonia's husband Massimo is killed in a car accident, she accidentally discovers that he has been having a same-sex affair with a produce wholesaler named Michele.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Cure (1995)
Erik, a loner, finds a friend in Dexter, an eleven-year-old boy with AIDS. They vow to find a cure for AIDS together and save Dexter's life in an eventful summer.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisDesperados (2020)
A panicked young woman and her two best friends fly to Mexico to delete a ranting email she sent to her new boyfriend. On arrival, they run into her former beau, who soon gets caught up in their frantic scheme.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMa che bella sorpresa (2015)
High school professor Guido is a hopeless romantic whose life falls apart after his girlfriend leaves him. Paolo, a former student of his, helps him in getting out of his depression for a better chance to become a PE teacher himself.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisSomebody to Love (2025)
On a first date in Rome, the inner voices of recently separated Piero and furniture restorer Lara speak aloud, exposing the true thoughts and anxieties hidden behind their conversation.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisRed, White & Royal Blue (2023)
After an altercation between Alex, the president's son, and Britain's Prince Henry at a royal event becomes tabloid fodder, their long-running feud now threatens to drive a wedge in U.S./British relations. When the rivals are forced into a staged truce, their icy relationship begins to thaw and the friction between them sparks something deeper than they ever expected.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisTotòtruffa '62 (1961)
Antonio, a former variety actor, keeps his daughter in an excellent boarding school by organizing small scams with his friend and colleague Felice. Commissioner Malvasia good-naturedly persecuted him. When their respective unsuspecting children fall in love, the two fathers make peace.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisToto, Peppino, and the Hussy (1956)
Antonio, Peppino and Lucia are three brothers who live in the country near Naples. Lucia's son, Gianni, goes to Naples to study medicine, but there he knows a ballet dancer. They fall in love and, when she goes to Milan, Gianni follows her. Informed of this and afraid that their nephew will stop studying, the three Caponi brothers leave for Milan to persuade Gianni to come back and continue studying and abandon the "Malafemmina" (bad girl).
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisMy Name Is Tanino (2003)
During a sun-soaked Sicilian summer, aimless filmmaking undergrad and back-seat radical Tanino has a fling with Sally, a dreamy American tourist from an upper background. When summer ends, Sally flies back home, without ever reaching out. Clueless, a smitten Tanino decides to pay her a surprise visit under the pretense of returning a camera she left behind. But when he gets there, he quickly realizes the reality of America—and his relationship with Sally's—is far from the idealized version his small-town boy imagination conjured.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFun Is Beautiful (1980)
Three characters' misadventures in semi-deserted, summertime Rome: a dim-witted mama's boy falls for a tourist; a would-be womanizer struggles to find company for his sex tourism trip to Kraków; a hippie is drawn into his father's schemes to bring him back into polite society.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisRent: Filmed Live on Broadway (2008)
Set in New York City's gritty East Village, the revolutionary rock opera RENT tells the story of a group of bohemians struggling to live and pay their rent. "Measuring their lives in love," these starving artists strive for success and acceptance while enduring the obstacles of poverty, illness and the AIDS epidemic.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisDriver's Ed (2026)
A group of teens hit the road in a stolen driver's ed car, racing against time to help a lovesick high school senior track down his college-freshman girlfriend and win her back.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOnly the Lonely (1991)
Danny Muldoon, a Chicago policeman, still lives with his overbearing mother Rose. He meets and falls in love with Theresa Luna, whose father owns the local funeral parlour. Naturally, his mother objects to the relationship, and Danny and Theresa must either overcome her objections or give up the romance.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThree Months (2022)
Caleb, a South Florida teen, loves his camera, his weed and his grandmother. On the eve of his high school graduation, everything changes when he's exposed to HIV. While he waits three months for his results, Caleb finds love in the most unlikely of places.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like this
Like Partners and something else?
Blend two favourites and we’ll find the films in between.
Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Partners?
The closest matches to Partners are Adventures in Public School (2018), Jeffrey (1995) and Buddies (1985). Below are 17 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Partners?
Start with Adventures in Public School (2018), the closest match to Partners.
What is the highest-rated movie like Partners?
Toto, Peppino, and the Hussy (1956), rated 8.0/10 by 384 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Partners?
Driver's Ed (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Italian movies like Partners?
Yes: His Secret Life (2001), Ma che bella sorpresa (2015) and Somebody to Love (2025).
How are movies similar to Partners chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Partners, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.