Movies Like A Serious Man

If you liked A Serious Man (2009), a comedy and drama movie directed by Ethan Coen and Joel Coen, 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
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…
2
Election (1999)
★ 6.9/10Also comedy and drama
A high school teacher meets his match in an over-achieving student politician.
3
Dream Scenario (2023)
★ 6.6/10Also comedy
Hapless family man Paul Matthews finds his life turned upside down when millions of strangers suddenly start seeing him in their dreams. But when his nighttime appearances take a nightmarish turn, Paul is forced to…
4
Class (1983)
★ 6/10Also comedy and drama
Naive Midwestern prep student Jonathan bonds with his more worldly roommate, Skip, who takes the small-town boy under his wing. At Skip's urging, the inexperienced Jonathan is emboldened to seek out older women in the…
5
Animal House (1978)
★ 6.9/10Also comedy
At a 1962 College, Dean Vernon Wormer is determined to expel the entire Delta Tau Chi Fraternity, but those troublemakers have other plans for him.
6
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…
7
Smoke (1995)
★ 7.2/10Also comedy and drama
Writer Paul Benjamin is nearly hit by a bus when he leaves Auggie Wren's smoke shop. Stranger Rashid Cole saves his life, and soon middle-aged Paul tells homeless Rashid that he wouldn't mind a short-term housemate…
8
The Gambler (1974)
★ 6.7/10Also drama
New York City English professor Axel Freed outwardly seems like an upstanding citizen. But privately Freed is in the clutches of a severe gambling addiction that threatens to destroy him.
9
The Doom Generation (1995)
★ 6.5/10Also comedy and drama
Jordan White and Amy Blue, two troubled teens, pick up an adolescent drifter, Xavier Red. Together, the threesome embarks on a sex- and violence-filled journey through a United States of psychos and quickie marts.
10
Barney's Version (2010)
★ 7/10Also comedy and drama
The picaresque and touching story of the politically incorrect, fully lived life of the impulsive, irascible and fearlessly blunt Barney Panofsky.
11
Fargo (1996)
★ 7.8/10Also drama
Jerry Lundegaard is a small-town Minnesota car salesman deeply in debt and willing to do almost anything to get out. Police chief Marge Gunderson discovers a string of violent crimes as Jerry's schemes spiral out of…
12
Choke (2008)
★ 6.1/10Also comedy and drama
A sex-addicted con-man pays for his mother's hospital bills by playing on the sympathies of those who rescue him from choking to death.
13
Brad's Status (2017)
★ 6.3/10Also comedy and drama
Although Brad has a satisfying career, a sweet wife and a comfortable life in suburban Sacramento, things aren't quite what he imagined during his college glory days. When he accompanies his musical prodigy son on a…
14
The Basketball Diaries (1995)
★ 7.4/10Also drama
A high school basketball player’s life turns upside down after free-falling into the harrowing world of drug addiction.
15
World's Greatest Dad (2009)
★ 6.6/10Also comedy and drama
In the wake of a freak accident, Lance suffers the worst tragedy and the greatest opportunity of his life. He is suddenly faced with the possibility of fame, fortune and popularity, if he can only live with the…
16
House of Games (1987)
★ 6.8/10Also drama
A psychiatrist comes to the aid of a compulsive gambler and is led by a smooth-talking grifter into the shadowy but compelling world of stings, scams, and con men.
17
Looking for Mr. Goodbar (1977)
★ 6.3/10Also drama
A short, unhappy affair with a married man leads a dedicated schoolteacher into the alcohol-and-drug fueled underworld of singles’ bars, where she begins to engage in a pattern of dangerous sexual activity.
18
Demolition (2016)
★ 6.9/10Also comedy and drama
An emotionally desperate investment banker finds hope through a woman he meets.
19
Dazed and Confused (1993)
★ 7.3/10Also comedy and drama
The adventures of a group of Texas teens on their last day of school in 1976, centering on student Randall Floyd, who moves easily among stoners, jocks and geeks. Floyd is a star athlete, but he also likes smoking…
20
Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa (2013)
★ 6.2/10Also comedy
86-year-old Irving Zisman is on a journey across America with the most unlikely companion: his 8 year-old grandson, Billy.