Movies Like Love and Pain and the Whole Damn Thing

If you liked Love and Pain and the Whole Damn Thing (1973), a drama and romance movie directed by Alan J. Pakula, 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
Chéri (2009)
★ 6.1/10Also drama and comedy
The son of a courtesan retreats into a fantasy world after being forced to end his relationship with the older woman who educated him in the ways of love.
2
You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger (2010)
★ 5.9/10Also comedy and drama
Two married couples find only trouble and heartache as their complicated lives unfold. After 40 years of marriage, Alfie leaves his wife to pursue what he thinks is happiness with a call girl. His wife, Helena, reeling…
3
A California Christmas (2020)
★ 6.4/10Also comedy and romance
With his carefree lifestyle on the line, a wealthy charmer poses as a ranch hand to get a hardworking farmer to sell her family’s land before Christmas.
4
Not Easily Broken (2009)
★ 6.3/10Also drama and romance
A car accident and shifting affections test the bond between a married couple.
5
A California Christmas: City Lights (2021)
★ 6.6/10Also romance and comedy
Follows Callie and Joseph one year after they fell in love, now running a dairy farm and winery, but their romance is threatened when business and family obligations call Joseph back to the city.
6
Love Everlasting (2016)
★ 7.4/10Also romance and drama
Bridger is a young outsider who's always wanted more. He and his mother flee an abusive home, eventually finding a small town in the middle of nowhere. Once there, Bridger finds true acceptance with another misfit.
7
He Said, She Said (1991)
★ 5.9/10Also comedy and drama
Womanising, right-wing Dan Hanson and quiet, liberal Lorie Bryer work for the Baltimore Sun. Rivals for the job of new writer of a vacant column, the paper ends up instead printing their very different opinions…
8
Peace, Love & Misunderstanding (2011)
★ 5.8/10Also comedy and drama
A conservative lawyer named Diane takes her two teenage children Jake and Zoe to meet their estranged, hippie grandmother in Woodstock after her husband asks for a divorce.
9
I Met a Girl (2020)
★ 6.4/10Also romance and drama
An aspiring musician struggling with schizophrenia falls for a mysterious woman who may be all in his head. When she suddenly vanishes, he takes off on a cross-country journey across Australia to find her, forcing his…
10
The Right Kind of Wrong (2013)
★ 5.9/10Also romance and comedy
A stubborn idealist spies a bride on her way to her wedding and immediately falls in love with her.
11
Queen Bees (2021)
★ 6/10Also romance and comedy
Helen is an independent widow who moves into the Pine Grove Senior Community and discovers it’s just like high school – full of cliques and flirtatious suitors. What she initially avoids leads her to exactly what she…
12
The Four Seasons (1981)
★ 6.3/10Also comedy and drama
Three middle-aged wealthy couples take vacations together in Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter. Along the way we are treated to mid-life, marital, parental and other crises.
13
Elsa & Fred (2014)
★ 6/10Also drama and comedy
After his daughter persuades him to move into a new apartment, aged widower Fred strikes up a friendship with his eccentric 74-year-old neighbour Elsa, who convinces him it's never too late to keep enjoying life…
14
Love in Taipei (2023)
★ 6.8/10Also romance and comedy
A young American woman is sent by her parents to a cultural immersion program in Taipei where she begins a new journey of self-discovery and romance.
15
Nobody Has to Know (2022)
★ 6.7/10Also drama and romance
After a stroke and no memories from his past, Phil encounters Millie who inhabits a desert part of Isle of Lewis. She will shortly entrust him with his deepest secret : they were in love.
16
The Life List (2025)
★ 6.9/10Also romance and comedy
When her mother sends her on a quest to complete a teenage bucket list, a young woman uncovers family secrets, finds romance — and rediscovers herself.
17
Shag (1989)
★ 6.2/10Also comedy and drama
Summer of 1963. Carson is getting married to her boyfriend so her friends Melaina, Pudge and Luanne take her to Myrtle Beach for one last irresponsible weekend.
18
The Baltimorons (2025)
★ 6.3/10Also comedy and drama
A newly sober man's Christmas Eve dental emergency leads to an unexpected romance with his older dentist as they explore Baltimore together.
19
L.A. Without a Map (1999)
★ 5.8/10Also drama and comedy
An aspiring Hollywood actress, on a visit to a charming North England town, has a brief fling with the town undertaker, who also writes obituaries for the local paper. Returning home, where she works as a waitress at a…
20
Being Julia (2004)
★ 6.4/10Also comedy and drama
Julia Lambert is a true diva: beautiful, talented, weathly and famous. She has it all - including a devoted husband who has mastermined her brilliant career - but after years of shining in the spotlight she begins to…