Movies like A Serious Man

If you like "A Serious Man" you are looking for dark comedy, black comedy and philosophical movies about / with midlife crisis, dysfunctional family, professor, rabbi, teacher, suburban life and divorce themes of Comedy and Drama genre shot in UK or France.
Find your next favorite and similar movies in two steps: 1. Identify all themes of interest from this film (block below). 2. Look for them in the presented list.
A Serious Man (2009)
 7.0
 149K
A Serious Man (2009)
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Country: UK, France, USA
Duration: 106 min.
Story: A Serious Man is the story of an ordinary man's search for clarity in a universe where Jefferson Airplane is on the radio and F-Troop is on TV. It is 1967, and Larry Gopnik, a physics professor at a quiet Midwestern university, has just been informed by his wife Judith that she is leaving him. She has fallen in love with one of his more pompous acquaintances Sy Ableman.
Style: dark comedy, black comedy, philosophical, ironic, cynical, meditative, talky, cult classic, bleak, melancholic ...
Plot: midlife crisis, dysfunctional family, professor, rabbi, teacher, suburban life, divorce, marijuana, religion, mysticism, life, neighbor, existentialism, synagogue, jewish family, philosophy, judaism, eccentricity, character study, desperation, family problems, storytelling, lifestyle, nothing goes right, orthodox jew ...
Time: year 2009, 60s, 2000s, 90s, 20th century, year 1967, 1960s
Place: minnesota, usa, poland, israel, bolivia, canada, california ...
Keyword: jewish, dreams, twilight, avant-garde

Movie in categories

Most similar movies to A Serious Man

The list contains related movies ordered by similarity. Recommendation engine sorted out realistic, dark comedy, independent film and semi serious films with plots about hipster, profanity, family relations, cigarette smoking, depression, husband wife relationship and friendship mostly in Drama, Comedy and Music genres. Some movies like A Serious Man: Inside Llewyn Davis (2013), Happiness (1998), Hesher (2010), Synecdoche, New York (2008), About Schmidt (2002). The matching attributes are highlighted in bold.
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Inside Llewyn Davis (2013)
Genre: Drama, Music
Country: USA, UK, France
Duration: 104 min.
Story: In Greenwich Village in the early 1960s, gifted but volatile folk musician Llewyn Davis struggles with money, relationships, and his uncertain future following the suicide of his singing partner.
Style: depressing, atmospheric, bleak, meditative, clever ...
Plot: music, homeless, musician, loneliness, cat, musician's life, financial problem, road trip, aspiring singer, depression, art, eccentricity ...
Time: 60s, year 2013, 2010s, year 1961, 20th century
Place: new york, usa, somalia, indiana, chicago ...
⇓ similarity ⇓
75%
 7.7
 74K
Happiness (1998)
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 134 min.
Story: The lives of many individuals connected by the desire for happiness, often from sources usually considered dark or evil.
Style: black comedy, cynical, independent film, dark comedy, depressing ...
Plot: dysfunctional family, pedophilia, rape, unhappiness, depression, therapist, obsession, relationships, loneliness, alienation, pedophile, sexual abuse ...
Time: 90s, year 1998, 20th century
Place: new jersey, usa
⇓ similarity ⇓
100%
 6.9
 54K
Hesher (2010)
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 106 min.
Story: A young boy has lost his mother and is losing touch with his father and the world around him. Then he meets Hesher who manages to make his life even more chaotic.
Style: bleak, realistic, independent film, serious, touching ...
Audience: teen drama
Plot: youth, grief, antisocial behavior, loner, depression, arson, life is a bitch, trauma, family problems, family drama, rebelliousness, coming of age ...
Time: 2010s, 21st century
Place: usa
⇓ similarity ⇓
100%
Synecdoche, New York (2008)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 124 min.
Story: A theater director struggles with his work, and the women in his life, as he attempts to create a life-size replica of New York inside a warehouse as part of his new play.
Style: psychological, depressing, surreal, independent film, confusing ...
Plot: depression, existentialism, death, theater, magic realism, schizophrenic, obsession, writers, twists and turns, philosophy, writer's life, loneliness ...
Time: year 2008, 2000s, 90s, future, 21st century
Place: new york, usa, berlin germany, manhattan new york city
⇓ similarity ⇓
100%
Movie in collections
 7.2
 133K
About Schmidt (2002)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 125 min.
Story: 66-year-old Warren Schmidt is a retired insurance salesman and has no particular plans other than to drive around in the motor home his wife insisted they buy. He's not altogether bitter, but not happy either, as everything his wife does annoys ...
Style: road movie, depressing, dark comedy, sad, melancholic ...
Plot: road trip, on the road, parenthood, wedding, elderly, family life, existentialism, depression, life philosophy, great ending, workplace, philosophy ...
Time: year 2002, 2000s, 21st century
Place: nebraska, colorado, denver colorado, kansas
⇓ similarity ⇓
100%
 6.1
 10K
The Details (2011)
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 101 min.
Story: When a family of raccoons discover worms living underneath the sod in Jeff and Nealy's backyard, this pest problem begins a darkly comic and wild chain reaction of domestic tension, infidelity and murder.
Style: cynical, semi serious, humorous, entertaining, dark comedy ...
Plot: infidelity, murder, lifestyle, life turned upside down, family problems, dishonesty, society, crumbling marriage, under the surface, disorder, couples, dark humor ...
Time: 21st century
Place: seattle, usa
⇓ similarity ⇓
100%
Thirteen Conversations About One Thing (2001)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 104 min.
Story: The lives of a lawyer, an actuary, a housecleaner, a professor, and the people around them intersect as they ponder order and happiness in the face of life's cold unpredictability.
Style: philosophical, meditative, bleak, depressing, serious ...
Audience: girls' night
Plot: philosophy, infidelity, adultery, destiny, false accusation, love affair, human nature, drug addiction, parents and children, life is a bitch, dishonesty, couples ...
Time: year 2001, 21st century
Place: new york, usa, greece
⇓ similarity ⇓
100%
 6.5
 18K
Margaret (2011)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 150 min.
Story: A young woman witnesses a bus accident, and is caught up in the aftermath, where the question of whether or not it was intentional affects many people's lives.
Style: psychological, emotional, melancholic, bleak, intellectual ...
Plot: mother daughter relationship, bus, high school, life philosophy, redemption, character study, investigation, youth, life is a bitch, haunted by the past, teenage life, poem ...
Time: 2010s, year 2011
Place: new york, usa
⇓ similarity ⇓
100%
Movie in collections
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1390
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1443
Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) (2014)
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 119 min.
Story: A fading actor best known for his portrayal of a popular superhero attempts to mount a comeback by appearing in a Broadway play. As opening night approaches, his attempts to become more altruistic, rebuild his career, and reconnect with friends and ...
Style: surreal, psychological, dark comedy, black comedy, psychedelic ...
Audience: date night, teens, adult
Plot: midlife crisis, existentialism, theater, surrealism, showbiz, actor, magic realism, satire, father daughter relationship, dark humor, alter ego, art ...
Time: 2010s, year 2014, 21st century
Place: new york, los angeles, america, ethiopia, manhattan new york city ...
⇓ similarity ⇓
31%
The Squid and the Whale (2005)
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 81 min.
Story: Based on the true childhood experiences of Noah Baumbach and his brother, The Squid and the Whale tells the touching story of two young boys dealing with their parents divorce in Brooklyn in the 1980's.
Style: depressing, talky, sincere, dark comedy, absurd ...
Audience: teens, teen drama, adult
Plot: divorce, coming of age, dysfunctional family, father son relationship, infidelity, teenager, adultery, marriage, boy, crumbling marriage, childhood, adolescence ...
Time: 20th century, 80s, year 2005, near future, 2000s
Place: new york, brooklyn new york city, usa
⇓ similarity ⇓
50%
 7.7
 202K
Adaptation. (2002)
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 115 min.
Story: A love-lorn script writer grows increasingly desperate in his quest to adapt the book 'The Orchid Thief'.
Style: satirical, absurd, black comedy, mind bending, dark comedy ...
Plot: twins, filmmaking, depression, writer's block, writers, imagination, mentally unstable, loser, existentialism, obsession, siblings relations, eccentricity ...
Time: year 2002, 2000s, 21st century
Place: florida, new york, california, usa
⇓ similarity ⇓
30%
Little Miss Sunshine (2006)
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 101 min.
Story: A family loaded with quirky, colorful characters piles into an old van and road trips to California for little Olive to compete in a beauty pageant.
Style: road movie, feel good, funny, melancholic, independent film ...
Audience: teens, chick flick, girls' night, kids, family friendly ...
Plot: road trip, dysfunctional family, on the road, nothing goes right, loser, gay, obsessive quest, family relations, escapades, journey, suicide attempt, coming of age ...
Time: year 2006, 2000s, 21st century
Place: california, arizona, los angeles, nebraska, albuquerque new mexico ...
⇓ similarity ⇓
29%
 7.1
 39K
The Savages (2007)
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 114 min.
Story: A sister and brother face the realities of familial responsibility as they begin to care for their ailing father.
Style: sentimental, realistic, independent film, compassionate, emotional ...
Plot: midlife crisis, dysfunctional family, mental illness, father daughter relationship, redemption, character study, family relations, childhood, parents and children, nursing, siblings relations, cheerleader ...
Time: year 2007, 2000s, 90s, 21st century
Place: arizona, poland, new york, usa, phoenix arizona ...
⇓ similarity ⇓
29%
 7.2
 66K
Wonder Boys (2000)
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA, Germany, UK, Japan
Duration: 107 min.
Story: Grady (Michael Douglas) is a 50-ish English professor who hasn't had a thing published in years -- not since he wrote his award winning "Great American Novel" 7 years ago. This weekend proves even worse than he could imagine as he ...
Style: melancholic, realistic, talky, humorous, dark comedy ...
Audience: date night
Plot: midlife crisis, professor, college, adultery, gay, coming of age, divorce, gay interest, university, alienation, literature, prodigy ...
Time: 20th century, y2k, year 2000, 90s, 2000s
Place: pittsburgh, pennsylvania, usa
⇓ similarity ⇓
29%
The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 110 min.
Story: Royal Tenenbaum and his wife Etheline had three children and then they separated. All three children are extraordinary --- all geniuses. Virtually all memory of the brilliance of the young Tenenbaums was subsequently erased by two decades of ...
Style: dark comedy, funny, humorous, talky, cult classic ...
Audience: family friendly, date night
Plot: dysfunctional family, eccentricity, eccentric family, writers, forbidden love, parents and children, deadpan, incest, uptight character, reconciliation, love, satire ...
Time: year 2001, 2000s, 21st century
Place: usa, new york
⇓ similarity ⇓
28%
 7.5
 48K
Withnail & I (1987)
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 107 min.
Story: Two out-of-work actors -- the anxious, luckless Marwood and his acerbic, alcoholic friend, Withnail -- spend their days drifting between their squalid flat, the unemployment office and the pub. When they take a holiday "by mistake" at the ...
Style: black comedy, dark comedy, offbeat, cult classic, art house ...
Audience: date night
Plot: friendship, addiction, poverty, alcohol abuse, great dialogue, drug, great ending, eccentricity, melancholy, dialogue, cat, gay ...
Time: 60s, year 1969, year 1987, 20th century
Place: england, london, britain, northern england, europe
⇓ similarity ⇓
50%
 8.2
 1.2M
The Truman Show (1998)
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 103 min.
Story: Truman Burbank is the star of "The Truman Show", a 24-hour-a-day "reality" TV show that broadcasts every aspect of his life -- live and in color -- without his knowledge. His entire life has been an unending soap opera for ...
Style: philosophical, thought provoking, psychological, surreal, touching ...
Audience: teens, family outing, teen drama
Plot: self discovery, simulated reality, alternate reality, freedom, video surveillance, small town, fictional reality show, hidden camera, utopia, dystopia, paranoia, god complex ...
Time: 90s, 20th century, year 1998, future
Place: florida, persia, america, usa
⇓ similarity ⇓
28%
World's Greatest Dad (2009)
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 99 min.
Story: In the wake of a freak accident, Lance suffers the worst tragedy and the greatest opportunity of his life. He is suddenly faced with the possibility of fame, fortune and popularity, if he can only live with the knowledge of how he got there.
Style: dark comedy, black comedy, clever, melancholic, cult classic ...
Audience: teens, adult
Plot: teacher, high school, writers, life & death, single father, father son relationship, grief, family drama, loneliness, suicide, life philosophy, character study ...
Time: 2000s, year 2009, 21st century
Place: usa, nebraska, seattle
⇓ similarity ⇓
28%
Movie in collections
Songs from the Second Floor (2000)
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Country: Sweden, Norway, Denmark, France, Germany
Duration: 98 min.
Story: A film poem inspired by the Peruvian poet César Vallejo. A story about our need for love, our confusion, greatness and smallness and, most of all, our vulnerability. It is a story with many characters, among them a father and his mistress, his ...
Style: surreal, black comedy, art house, philosophical, talky ...
Plot: surrealism, loneliness, multiple storylines, dark humor, existentialism, insanity, poetry, religions or cults, human nature, worldwide chaos, nordic, obsession ...
Time: 90s, 2000s
Place: russia, eastern europe, scandinavia
⇓ similarity ⇓
27%
Margot at the Wedding (2007)
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 93 min.
Story: Margot and her son Claude decide to visit her sister Pauline after she announces that she is getting married to less-than-impressive Malcolm. In short order, the storm the sisters create leaves behind a mess of thrashed relationships and exposed ...
Style: talky, depressing, melancholic, stylized, semi serious ...
Plot: dysfunctional family, wedding, nudity, complex characters, family relations, jealousy, character study, secrets, greed, confession, family problems, family gatherings ...
Time: year 2007, 21st century
Place: usa, long island, harvard university, vermont
⇓ similarity ⇓
26%
Being John Malkovich (1999)
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Fantasy
Country: USA
Duration: 113 min.
Story: Spike Jonze’s debut feature film is a love story mix of comedy and fantasy. The story is about an unsuccessful puppeteer named Craig, who one day at work finds a portal into the head of actor John Malkovich. The portal soon becomes a passion for ...
Style: surreal, cerebral, mind bending, psychological, offbeat ...
Audience: date night, chick flick, adult
Plot: surrealism, puppeteer, subconscious, psychology, philosophy, existentialism, satire, lesbianism, insanity, body swapping, mind control, magic realism ...
Time: 90s, 20th century, year 1999
Place: new york, new jersey, usa, manhattan new york city
⇓ similarity ⇓
26%
The Chumscrubber (2005)
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA, Germany
Duration: 108 min.
Story: The Chumscrubber is a dark comedy about the lives of people who live in upper-class suburbia. It all begins when Dean Stiffle finds the body of his friend, Troy. He doesn't bother telling any of the adults because he knows they won't care. ...
Style: surreal, dark comedy, bleak, independent film, black comedy ...
Audience: teens, teen drama
Plot: coming of age, suicide, kidnapping, youth, suburbs, drug abuse, dysfunctional family, friendship, mistaken identity, high school, teenager, parent child relationship ...
Time: year 2005, 21st century
Place: california, usa
⇓ similarity ⇓
26%
 6.3
 87K
Young Adult (2011)
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 94 min.
Story: A divorced writer from the Midwest returns to her hometown to reconnect with an old flame, who's now married with a family.
Style: dark comedy, realistic, talky, emotional, depressing ...
Audience: girls' night, chick flick
Plot: mental illness, high school, small town, emotional breakdown, alcoholic, narcissism, divorce, hometown, borderline personality disorder, thirtysomething life, depression, old love ...
Time: 21st century
Place: minnesota, usa, minneapolis minnesota
⇓ similarity ⇓
26%
Movie in collections
 8.3
 1.2M
American Beauty (1999)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 122 min.
Story: Lester Burnham, a depressed suburban father in a mid-life crisis, decides to turn his hectic life around after developing an infatuation with his daughter's attractive friend.
Style: melancholic, thought provoking, dark comedy, sexual, dramatic ...
Audience: teens, chick flick, girls' night, kids, teen drama ...
Plot: midlife crisis, dysfunctional family, existentialism, age difference, obsession, loneliness, coming of age, older man younger woman relationship, nymphet, dysfunctional marriage, adultery, older man young girl relationship ...
Time: 90s, 20th century, year 1999, year 2013
Place: usa, america, los angeles, iran
⇓ similarity ⇓
26%
 7.3
 126K
Ghost World (2001)
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA, UK, Germany
Duration: 111 min.
Story: Two quirky, cynical teenaged girls try to figure out what to do with their lives after high school graduation. After they play a prank on an eccentric, middle aged record collector, one of them befriends him, which causes a rift in the girls' ...
Style: black comedy, thought provoking, independent film, melancholic, teen ...
Audience: teens, girls' night, teen drama
Plot: coming of age, age difference, friendship, adolescence, graduation, older man younger woman relationship, teenage girl, teenage life, blues, teen angst, best friend, youth ...
Time: year 2001, 2000s, 21st century
Place: usa, indiana, los angeles
⇓ similarity ⇓
26%
The Big Lebowski (1998)
Genre: Comedy, Crime
Country: USA, UK
Duration: 117 min.
Story: Jeffrey "The Dude" Lebowski, a Los Angeles slacker who only wants to bowl and drink white Russians, is mistaken for another Jeffrey Lebowski, a wheelchair-bound millionaire, and finds himself dragged into a strange series of events ...
Style: neo noir, dark comedy, surreal, absurd, humorous ...
Audience: boys' night, adult
Plot: bowling, mistaken identity, weed, dialogue, slacker, hippie, marijuana, great dialogue, dream, drug, stoner, nihilism ...
Time: 90s, 20th century, year 1998, year 1991
Place: los angeles, america, iraq, arizona, usa ...
⇓ similarity ⇓
26%
The Weather Man (2005)
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA, Germany
Duration: 102 min.
Story: A Chicago weather man, separated from his wife and children, debates whether professional and personal success are mutually exclusive.
Style: depressing, realistic, dark comedy, sincere, emotional ...
Plot: weatherman, midlife crisis, dysfunctional family, family drama, relationship vs career, introspection, father son relationship, family problems, character study, hopes, father, parents and children ...
Time: year 2005, 21st century
Place: chicago, usa, new york
⇓ similarity ⇓
26%
Lost in Translation (2003)
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA, Japan
Duration: 102 min.
Story: Two lost souls visiting Tokyo -- the young, neglected wife of a photographer and a washed-up movie star shooting a TV commercial -- find an odd solace and pensive freedom to be real in each other's company, away from their lives in America.
Style: melancholic, atmospheric, offbeat, psychological, artsy ...
Audience: date night, girls' night, chick flick, family friendly
Plot: loneliness, midlife crisis, age difference, friendship, older man younger woman relationship, alienation, fish out of water, love story, unlikely couple, self discovery, relationships, adultery ...
Time: year 2003, 2000s, 21st century
Place: japan, tokyo, asia, america, yale university ...
⇓ similarity ⇓
25%
 7.0
 23K
Slacker (1990)
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 97 min.
Story: Presents a day in the life in Austin, Texas among its social outcasts and misfits, predominantly the twenty-something set, using a series of linear vignettes. These characters, who in some manner just don't fit into the establishment norms, ...
Style: independent film, philosophical, surreal, cult classic, entirely dialogue ...
Audience: teens
Plot: anarchist, coming of age, philosophy, slacker, loser, one day, dream, existentialism, anarchism, subculture, twenty something, teenager ...
Time: 90s, year 1991
Place: texas, austin texas, midwest, usa, barcelona ...
⇓ similarity ⇓
25%
Life During Wartime (2009)
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 98 min.
Story: Friends, family, and lovers struggle to find love, forgiveness, and meaning in an almost war-torn world riddled with comedy and pathos. Follows Solondz's film Happiness (1998).
Style: disturbing, dark comedy, psychological, independent film, melancholic ...
Plot: dysfunctional family, father son relationship, loneliness, family relations, character study, sisters, family problems, couple relations, pedophile, parents and children, haunted by the past, family life ...
Time: year 2009, 21st century
Place: florida, new jersey, usa, miami
⇓ similarity ⇓
25%
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