Movies Like The Joke

If you liked The Joke (1969), a comedy and drama movie directed by Jaromil Jireš, here are 20 movies with a similar feel, based on TMDB's recommendations. Each one links to its cast, trailer and where it's streaming.

1
Disgrace (2008)
★ 6.2/10Also drama
Disgrace is the story of a South African professor of English who loses everything: his reputation, his job, his peace of mind, his good looks, his dreams of artistic success, and finally even his ability to protect…
2
American Pastoral (2016)
★ 6.2/10Also drama
Set in postwar America, a man watches his seemingly perfect life fall apart as his daughter's new political affiliation threatens to destroy their family.
3
Lady Windermere's Fan (1925)
★ 6.9/10Also comedy and drama
A society woman believes her husband is having an affair, a misconception which may have dire personal consequences for all involved.
4
The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover (1989)
★ 7.3/10Also drama
When churlish mobster Albert Spica acquires an upscale French restaurant in London, he dines there nightly, effectively scaring off the clientele with his bad manners. His wife, Georgina, is especially disgusted by…
5
Kinds of Kindness (2024)
★ 6.5/10Also comedy and drama
A triptych fable following a man without choice who tries to take control of his own life; a policeman who is alarmed that his wife who was missing-at-sea has returned and seems a different person; and a woman…
6
Xiu Xiu: The Sent-Down Girl (1998)
★ 7.2/10Also drama
Young teen girl Xiu Xiu is sent away to a remote corner of the Sichuan steppes for manual labor in 1975 (sending young people to there was a part of Cultural Revolution in China). A year later, she agrees to go to even…
7
The First Wives Club (1996)
★ 6.7/10Also comedy
After years of helping their hubbies climb the ladder of success, three mid-life Manhattanites have been dumped for a newer, curvier model. But the trio is determined to turn their pain into gain. They come up with a…
8
Heatwave (2022)
★ 6.2/10Also drama
A woman's life takes an unexpected turn when she falls for her boss's wife. She must soon defend herself as she becomes entangled in a web of malice.
9
Wonder Boys (2000)
★ 6.8/10Also comedy and drama
Grady is a 50-ish English professor who hasn't had a thing published in years—not since he wrote his award winning 'Great American Novel' 7 years ago. This weekend proves even worse than he could imagine as he finds…
10
Butterfly on a Wheel (2007)
★ 6.5/10Also drama
A sociopathic kidnapper methodically pushes a desperate pair of parents to their absolute breaking point.
11
Dream Lover (1994)
★ 6.8/10Also drama
Not long after they cross paths at an art gallery, architect Ray Reardon and hypnotically sensual Lena are married with children. But as strange incidents occur, Ray begins to realize he may not really know the woman…
12
Nocturnal Animals (2016)
★ 7.4/10Also drama
Susan Morrow receives a book manuscript from her ex-husband – a man she left 20 years earlier – asking for her opinion of his writing. As she reads, she is drawn into the fictional life of Tony Hastings, a mathematics…
13
Derailed (2005)
★ 6.4/10Also drama
When two married business executives having an affair are blackmailed by a violent criminal, they are forced to turn the tables on him to save their families.
14
Landline (2017)
★ 6.2/10Also comedy and drama
A teenager living with her sister and parents in Manhattan during the 1990s discovers that her father is having an affair.
15
Last Exit to Brooklyn (1989)
★ 6.4/10Also drama
A gallery of characters in Brooklyn in the 1950s are crushed by their surroundings and selves: a union strike leader discovers he is gay; a prostitute falls in love with one of her clients; a family cannot cope with…
16
Auto Focus (2002)
★ 6.4/10Also drama
A successful TV star during the 1960s, former "Hogan's Heroes" actor Bob Crane projects a wholesome family-man image, but this front masks his persona as a sex addict who records and photographs his many encounters…
17
A Man Called Otto (2022)
★ 7.7/10Also comedy and drama
When a lively young family moves in next door, grumpy widower Otto Anderson meets his match in a quick-witted, pregnant woman named Marisol, leading to an unlikely friendship that turns his world upside down.
18
Boogie Nights (1997)
★ 7.6/10Also drama and comedy
In 1977, an idealistic porn producer and his promising protege try to catch up with the end of an era before their never-ending party collides with cold, hard reality.
19
Deep Water (2022)
★ 5.8/10Also drama
A well-to-do husband who allows his wife to have affairs in order to avoid a divorce becomes a prime suspect in the disappearance of her lovers.
20
Escape from Pretoria (2020)
★ 7.2/10Also drama
South Africa, 1978. Tim Jenkin and Stephen Lee, two white political activists from the African National Congress imprisoned by the apartheid regime, put a plan in motion to escape from the infamous Pretoria Prison.