Movies Like instead, he writes.

If you liked instead, he writes. (2018), a movie directed by Aaron Bartuska, 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
About Schmidt (2002)
★ 6.9/10
A recently retired man embarks on a journey to his estranged daughter's wedding, only to discover more about himself and life than he ever expected.
2
Barbarosa (1982)
★ 5.9/10
Karl Westover, an inexperienced farm boy, runs away after unintentionally killing a neighbor, whose family pursues him for vengeance. He meets Barbarosa, a gunman of near-mythical proportions, who is himself in danger…
3
Smoke (1995)
★ 7.2/10
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…
4
Escobar: Paradise Lost (2014)
★ 6.3/10
For Pablo Escobar family is everything. When young surfer Nick falls for Escobar's niece, Maria, he finds his life on the line when he's pulled into the dangerous world of the family business.
5
The Island (2023)
★ 6.4/10
When his brother is killed, LAPD officer Mark leaves the city to return to the island he grew up on. Seeking answers and ultimately vengeance, he soon finds himself in a bloody battle with the corrupt tycoon who's…
6
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (2013)
★ 7.2/10
A timid magazine photo manager who lives life vicariously through daydreams embarks on a true-life adventure when a negative goes missing.
7
Icefall (2025)
★ 6.6/10
A young Indigenous game warden arrests an infamous poacher only to discover that the poacher knows the location of a plane carrying millions of dollars that has crashed in a frozen lake. When a group of criminals and…
8
Henry Poole Is Here (2008)
★ 5.9/10
Henry Poole abandons his fiancée and family business to spend what he believes are his remaining days alone. The discovery of a 'miracle' by a nosy neighbor ruptures his solitude and restores his faith in life.
9
Gunslingers (2025)
★ 6.1/10
When the most wanted man in America surfaces in a small Kentucky town, his violent history -- and a blood-thirsty mob seeking vengeance and a king’s ransom -- soon follow. As brothers face off against one another and…
10
Jungleland (2020)
★ 6.4/10
Stanley manages his boxer brother Lion but when a devastating loss in the ring leaves the pair in debt, an opportunity to recoup the cash leads to a series of misadventures that threaten to break the bond between them.
11
Winter Passing (2006)
★ 6.1/10
Actress Reese Holden has been offered a small fortune by a book editor if she can secure for publication the love letters that her father, a reclusive novelist, wrote to her mother, who has since passed away. Returning…
12
Train Dreams (2025)
★ 7.3/10
A logger leads a life of quiet grace as he experiences love and loss during an era of monumental change in early 20th-century America.
13
Stealing Beauty (1996)
★ 6.7/10
Lucy Harmon, an American teenager is arriving in the lush Tuscan countryside to be sculpted by a family friend who lives in a beautiful villa. Lucy visited there four years earlier and exchanged a kiss with an Italian…
14
Baywatch (2017)
★ 6.1/10
Devoted lifeguard Mitch Buchannon butts heads with a brash new recruit. Together, they uncover a local criminal plot that threatens the future of the Bay.
15
Border Hunters (2025)
★ 6.1/10
After his police officer brother is killed by a drug dealer who flees to the protection of his cartel-connected uncle in Mexico, an American man with a diverse law enforcement/military background goes south of the…
16
The Young One (1960)
★ 7/10
A jazz musician seeks refuge from a lynch mob on a remote island, where he meets a hostile game warden and the young object of his attentions.
17
Flash of Genius (2008)
★ 6.6/10
In this David vs. Goliath drama based on a true story, college professor Robert Kearns goes up against the giants of the auto industry when they fail to give him credit for inventing intermittent windshield wipers…
18
Off the Grid (2025)
★ 6.4/10
After a morally-bankrupt company tries to weaponize a brilliant scientist's revolutionary technology, he goes off the grid to safeguard humanity. When the company sends a strike force to find him, they make their…
19
The Million Pound Note (1954)
★ 7/10
An impoverished American sailor is fortunate enough to be passing the house of two rich gentlemen who have conceived the crazy idea of distributing a note worth one million pounds. The sailor finds that whenever he…
20
Down in the Valley (2005)
★ 5.9/10
On a trip to the beach, a teenage girl named Tobe meets a charismatic stranger named Harlan, who dresses like a cowboy and claims to be a former ranch hand. The pair feel an instant attraction and begin a relationship…