NoBadPicks

Movies Like This Is Not a Comedy

If you loved This Is Not a Comedy's Drama and Comedy storytelling, these films deliver a similar experience — carefully selected for tone, themes, and emotional depth. Each pick includes where to watch it right now.

Top Picks

Standing Up, Falling Down
6.3

Standing Up, Falling Down

2020

An unlikely friendship kindles between a struggling stand-up comedian from L.A. — forced to move back home to Eastern Long Island with his tail between his legs — and a tragically flawed, but charming and charismatic, alcoholic dermatologist. Discovering to be kindred spirits, each helps the other find healing, in addition to the confidence to face the "failures" in their lives.

Fat Kid Rules The World
6.7

Fat Kid Rules The World

2012

A dropout comes to the aid of a chubby and suicidal high-school kid by recruiting him as the drummer for his upstart punk-rock band.

(Untitled)
6.4

(Untitled)

2009

A fashionable contemporary art gallerist in Chelsea, New York falls for a brooding new music composer in this comic satire of the state of contemporary art.

Almost Friends
6.3

Almost Friends

2017

A man in his mid-20s, still living at home with his mother and stepfather, puts all his eggs in one basket: the girl who works at his local coffee shop. The problem is, she has a serious boyfriend. As they become closer, the line between friendship and intimacy is blurred, and the situation forces both to examine where they are in their lives.

The Tit and the Moon
6.2

The Tit and the Moon

1994

A child does not stand the idea of having a new brother and dreams about drinking milk from the breasts of his mother again. The child asks the moon to bring him a tit only for him.

Author! Author!
5.9

Author! Author!

1982

A broadway playwright is burning the candle at both ends. He is dealing with pressure from a production nearing premiere, a wife who is leaving him, and 5 children 4 of which belong to her.

Dave Chappelle: The Unstoppable...
6.7

Dave Chappelle: The Unstoppable...

2025

Facing a world gone sideways, comedy icon Dave Chappelle delivers bold truths and potent punchlines in this no-holds-barred special.

CQ
5.9

CQ

2001

A young filmmaker in 1960s Paris juggles directing a cheesy sci-fi debacle, directing his own personal art film, coping with his crumbling relationship with his girlfriend, and a new-found infatuation with the sci-fi film's starlet.

More Movies Like This Is Not a Comedy

Happy Together
5.9

Happy Together

1989

Christopher is an ambitious college freshman, striving to become a writer. Through a computer fault he's assigned the same room as Alex, a real party freak and... a girl! He's annoyed and tries to get a different room as soon as possible, but when he learns to know her, he also starts to like her. She not only improves his sexual life, but also his writing skills

The Best You Can
6.9

The Best You Can

2025

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 down by the arrival of sharp but chronically underachieving security guard Stan Olszewski in this smart rom-com that reunites Bacon and Sedgwick on screen for the first time in 20 years.

Prom Pact
7.2

Prom Pact

2023

It's prom season, and high school senior Mandy and her best friend and fellow outsider Ben are surrounded by over-the-top "promposals." Mandy is only focused on getting into her dream school Harvard, but as she starts tutoring basketball all-star Graham, she must re-evaluate whether her dream school is worth the cost of everything she believes in.

Uncorked
6.1

Uncorked

2020

Elijah must balance his dream of becoming a master sommelier with his father's expectations that he carry on the family's Memphis BBQ joint.

How I Got Into College
5.9

How I Got Into College

1989

High school senior Marlon Bowne is smitten with overachieving classmate Jessica Kailo. But, if he wants to have a shot with her, he'll have to find a way to get into Ramsey College, Jessica's top choice of schools. It won't be easy, since the college is highly selective and Marlon's grades are hardly impressive. That means the lovelorn teen will have to find a way to score high on the SATs and win over the college admissions committee.

Anything Else
6.1

Anything Else

2003

Jerry Falk, an aspiring writer in New York, falls in love at first sight with a free-spirited young woman named Amanda. He has heard the phrase that life is like "anything else," but soon he finds that life with the unpredictable Amanda isn't like anything else at all.

Cosi
6.1

Cosi

1996

Lewis, a young amateur theater director, is offered a job with a governmental program for the rehabilitation of mentally ill patients in a Sydney institution. His project is overrun by one of the patients, who wants to stage the opera Cosi Fan Tutte by Mozart, despite the fact that none of the patients can sing or speak Italian. A comedy of errors ensues, but one which unifies the patients and their director in unexpected ways.

Landline
6.1

Landline

2017

A teenager living with her sister and parents in Manhattan during the 1990s discovers that her father is having an affair.

The Kissing Booth 2
7.6

The Kissing Booth 2

2020

With college decisions looming, Elle juggles her long-distance romance with Noah, changing relationship with bestie Lee and feelings for a new classmate.

My Sassy Girl
6.7

My Sassy Girl

2008

A guy has his life planned out until he is wooed, groomed and then dumped by an elusive woman.

The Incredible Jessica James
6.2

The Incredible Jessica James

2017

Burned by a bad breakup, a struggling New York City playwright makes an unlikely connection with a divorced app designer she meets on a blind date.

Cyrus
5.9

Cyrus

2010

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 long, the two are locked in a battle of wits for the woman they both love-and it appears only one man can be left standing when it's over.

Why These Movies Are Similar

These recommendations share core qualities with This Is Not a Comedy (2021): Drama and Comedy themes, similar narrative structure, and comparable emotional depth. NoBadPicks uses a combination of TMDB collaborative filtering, genre matching, and AI analysis to surface films most likely to resonate with fans of This Is Not a Comedy.

See full details for This Is Not a Comedy (2021)

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