Movies Like What Happened Was...

If you liked What Happened Was... (1994), a comedy and drama movie directed by Tom Noonan, 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
Madame (2017)
★ 5.9/10Also romance and comedy
Anne and Bob, a well-to-do American couple, have just moved to a beautiful manor house in romantic Paris. To impress their sophisticated friends, they decide to host a lavish dinner party, but must disguise their maid…
2
Why Did I Get Married Again? (2026)
★ 6.8/10Also comedy and romance
The couples reunite for the destination wedding of Marcus and Angela's daughter, bringing drama old and new as they ask, "Why did we get married again?"
3
Hitch (2005)
★ 6.6/10Also comedy and drama
Dating coach Alex 'Hitch' Hitchens mentors a bumbling client, Albert, who hopes to win the heart of the glamorous Allegra Cole. While Albert makes progress, Hitch faces his own romantic setbacks when proven techniques…
4
Love & Sex (2000)
★ 6.2/10Also comedy and drama
When her rather explicit copy is rejected, magazine journalist Kate is asked by her editor to come up with an article on loving relationships instead, and to do so by the end of the day. This gets Kate thinking back…
5
Which Brings Me to You (2023)
★ 6.3/10Also romance and comedy
Two romantic burnouts, Jane and Will, are immediately drawn to each other at a mutual friend’s wedding. After a disastrous hookup in the coatroom, the two spend the next 24 hours together, trading candid confessions of…
6
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.
7
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.
8
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…
9
XX/XY (2002)
★ 6/10Also drama and comedy
Three friends begin a dangerous three-way relationship that spirals out of control, leading to dire consequences that haunt them ten years later.
10
Numb (2007)
★ 5.9/10Also comedy and drama
Hudson Milbank is a successful Hollywood screenwriter who suddenly and strangely finds himself without any emotional feelings. He tries doctor after doctor and shrink after shrink, but nothing works. The Golf Channel…
11
Father of the Bride (2022)
★ 6.3/10Also romance and comedy
A father comes to grips with his daughter’s upcoming wedding through the prism of multiple relationships within a big, sprawling Cuban-American family.
12
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…
13
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…
14
Friends with Kids (2012)
★ 5.9/10Also comedy and drama
In the wake of their friends' marriages and eventual offspring, longtime pals Julie and Jason decide to have a child together without becoming a couple. By becoming "time-share" parents, they reason, they can…
15
The Wrong Paris (2025)
★ 6.7/10Also romance and comedy
Dawn thinks she's joining a dating show in Paris, France, only to land in Paris, Texas. She has an exit plan — until sparks fly with the cowboy bachelor.
16
The Best You Can (2025)
★ 7/10Also comedy and romance
Cynthia Rand is a buttoned-up New Yorker married to a brilliant professor 25 years her senior. She begins feeling the effects of her husband’s advancing age on their relationship, just as her world is turned upside…
17
Cyrus (2010)
★ 5.9/10Also comedy and drama
With John's social life at a standstill and his ex-wife about to get remarried, a down on his luck divorcée finally meets the woman of his dreams, only to discover she has another man in her life - her son. Before…
18
Love Don't Co$t a Thing (2003)
★ 7.7/10Also comedy and drama
A high school outcast pays a cheerleader to pose as his girlfriend so he can be considered cool.
19
How to Please a Woman (2022)
★ 6.3/10Also romance and comedy
When her all-male house-cleaning business gets out of control, a mature woman must embrace her own sexuality, if she is to make a new life for herself.
20
Young People Fucking (2007)
★ 5.9/10Also comedy and drama
On a Tuesday night, five couples have separate sexual adventures. Matt and Kris, friends for years, want to have an only-once, no-strings good time. Abby and Andrew, married, celebrate his birthday, but it's marred by…