Movies Like Universal Language

If you liked Universal Language (2024), a comedy and drama movie directed by Matthew Rankin, 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
Ride Away (2025)
★ 7.1/10Also comedy and drama
From the Atlantic to the Black Sea, Mathias and Philippe, two old friends, embark on a bicycle journey that Mathias’s son made before his tragic death. The two men ride through the ordeals with tenderness, humor and…
2
This is My Mother (2024)
★ 7/10Also drama and comedy
Pierre, a successful 33-year-old florist, has his life turned upside down by the sudden arrival of his mother Judith, whom he hasn’t seen for two years. Mercurial and extravagant, she suffers from bipolar disorder and…
3
SubUrbia (1997)
★ 6.2/10Also comedy and drama
A group of suburban teenagers try to support each other through the difficult task of becoming adults.
4
On Tour (2010)
★ 6.3/10Also comedy and drama
After leaving France in search of a better life in America, a television producer returns with a group of burlesque dancers to take the Paris club scene by storm.
5
Four Adventures of Reinette and Mirabelle (1987)
★ 7.4/10Also comedy and drama
Two young girls meet, Reinette from the countryside and Mirabelle from Paris, and decide to take a flat together in Paris where they attend University. Four successive stories about their daily lives illustrate the…
6
Bye Bye Morons (2020)
★ 7.2/10Also comedy and drama
When 43-year-old hairdresser Suze Trappet finds out that she's seriously ill, she decides to go looking for a child she was forced to abandon when she was only 15. On her madcap bureaucratic quest she crosses paths…
7
Alice and the Mayor (2019)
★ 6.2/10Also comedy and drama
The mayor of Lyon, Paul Théraneau, is in a delicate position. After 30 years in politics, he is running out of ideas and is faced with a feeling of existential emptiness. To overcome this, Paul hires a young and…
8
New Biz in the Hood (2019)
★ 5.8/10Also comedy and drama
Fred Bartel is the charismatic boss of a trendy Parisian communication agency, Happy Few. After a heated tax audit, he was forced by the administration to relocate overnight his company in La Courneuve. Fred and his…
9
Macadam Stories (2015)
★ 6.8/10Also drama and comedy
Improbable encounters bring tenderness, laughter and compassion to a world of urban alienation.
10
Bazaar (Murder in the Building) (2026)
★ 6.5/10Also comedy and drama
Misanthropic novelist François writes gripping crime stories – “Agatha Christie meets The Scarlet Pimpernel” – but outside of the swashbuckling imaginary world of his Marquis la Rose-novels, life is far from thrilling…
11
No Love Lost (2023)
★ 6.1/10Also comedy and drama
A single father, Étienne, is preparing for his daughter Rosa to leave home, but his life is upended when he sees his long-lost wife, Valérie, on TV, forcing a confrontation with the past.
12
Take a Chance on Me (2023)
★ 6.4/10Also comedy and drama
Marie-Line is juggling between odd jobs to support her agoraphobic father. Despite the precariousness of their lifestyle, she remains a lively and cheerful young woman. Yet, after a series of unfortunate events, she is…
13
The Crisis (1992)
★ 6.9/10Also comedy and drama
Victor is a legal advisor who finds himself abandoned by his wife and fired the same day. He tries to seek comfort from different friends and family members, but everyone he meets is concerned with their own problems…
14
All Together (2012)
★ 6.3/10Also comedy and drama
Five old friends decide to move in together as an alternative to living in a retirement home. Joining them is an ethnology student whose thesis is on the aging population.
15
Uranus (1990)
★ 6.7/10Also drama and comedy
After World War II, a small French village struggles to put the war behind as the controlling Communist Party tries to flush out Petain loyalists. The local bar owner, a simple man who likes to write poetry, who only…
16
Meet the Barbarians (2024)
★ 6.2/10Also comedy and drama
The municipality of a small Breton village has decided to welcome a family of Ukrainian refugees. To their surprise, they receive Fayad family – coming from Syria. They thwart all the clichés that the French expected…
17
It Must Be Heaven (2019)
★ 6.5/10Also comedy and drama
Filmmaker Elia Suleiman travels to different cities and finds unexpected parallels to his homeland of Palestine.
18
Jim's Story (2024)
★ 6.9/10Also comedy and drama
Aymeric runs into Florence, a former coworker, one evening in Saint-Claude in the Haut-Jura. She is six months pregnant and single. When she gives birth to Jim, Aymeric is there. They spend happy years together until…
19
Best Man Down (2012)
★ 6.6/10Also comedy and drama
A newlywed couple cancels their honeymoon and returns to the snowy Midwest to make the funeral arrangements for their best man, who died unexpectedly after their ceremony.
20
Half Brothers (2020)
★ 7.2/10Also comedy and drama
Mexican aviation exec Renato is shocked to learn that he has an American half-brother he never knew about: free-spirited Asher. They are forced on a road trip together, tracing the path their father took from Mexico to…