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The Graduate poster

Movies that feel likeThe Graduate (1967)

A disillusioned college graduate finds himself torn between his older lover and her daughter.

If you loved The Graduate, the closest films we have are A Summer's Tale (1996), The Quiet Man (1952) and Show Me Love (1998). All three share The Graduate's contemplative and romantic feel, which is what we rank on before quality.

Seen the big three already? The under-the-radar pick below is Gregory's Girl (1980).

9 of 12 streaming nowHBO Max · Disney Plus · Criterion Channel

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If The Graduate hit the spot, these will too

A Summer's Tale poster
A Summer's Tale
1996 · dir. Éric Rohmer
🍅 98%★ 7.6romance · drama · comedyMax

Both are working the same pair: growing up, graduate

The difference: 29 years apart, and the 1990s show

Awaiting his girlfriend Léna’s arrival at the Breton seaside resort of Dinard, Gaspard befriends — and flirts heavily with — two other women, the companionable ethnology student Margot and the sensual townie Solène, making for a rather complicated situation when Léna finally arrives.

The Quiet Man poster
The Quiet Man
1952 · dir. John Ford
🍅 91%★ 7.7romance · comedy · drama

Contemplative and romantic in the same breath

An American man returns to the village of his birth in Ireland, where he finds love and conflict.

Show Me Love poster
Show Me Love
1998 · dir. Lukas Moodysson
🍅 93%★ 7.5comedy · romance · drama

Both keep coming back to the same thing: growing up

Two teenage girls in small-town Sweden. Elin is beautiful, popular, and bored with life. Agnes is friendless, sad, and secretly in love with Elin.

Punch-Drunk Love poster
Punch-Drunk Love
2002 · dir. Paul Thomas Anderson
🍅 79%★ 7.3romance · drama · comedy

The same mix in both: tenderness, then wit

A socially awkward and volatile small business owner meets the love of his life after being threatened by a gang of scammers.

The Spectacular Now poster
The Spectacular Now
2013 · dir. James Ponsoldt
🍅 92%★ 7comedy · drama · romanceMax

Playful where it counts, wistful underneath

Sutter, a popular party animal, unexpectedly meets the introverted Aimee after waking up on a stranger's lawn. As Sutter deals with the problems in his life and Aimee plans for her future beyond school, an unexpected romance blossoms between them.

It's Kind of a Funny Story poster
It's Kind of a Funny Story
2010 · dir. Anna Boden
🍅 58%★ 7.1comedy · drama · romance

Both lean on stillness more than on drama

The difference: The critics' underdog of the pair

A clinically depressed teenager gets a new start after he checks himself into an adult psychiatric ward.

Licorice Pizza poster
Licorice Pizza
2021 · dir. Paul Thomas Anderson
🍅 90%★ 7.1drama · comedy · romanceRent or buy

Romantic romance in both cases

The story of Gary Valentine and Alana Kane growing up, running around and going through the treacherous navigation of first love in the San Fernando Valley, 1973.

Cousins poster
Cousins
2019 · dir. Mauro Carvalho
★ 6.3comedy · romance · drama

Comedy built on tenderness, twice over

Lucas is a young man who lives with his religious aunt Lourdes in a quiet country town. He helps his aunt by holding religious meetings with the ladies of the area, in the living room, playing biblical songs on the keyboard. This quiet life will end as soon as the charitable aunt communicates the arrival of another nephew, Mario, just out of jail. The clash of reality between the cousins ends up causing unusual situations, and an unexpected attraction among the boys.

10 Things I Hate About You poster
10 Things I Hate About You
1999 · dir. Gil Junger
🍅 72%★ 7.4comedy · romance · dramaDisney+

Witty drama, and it commits to that

On the first day at his new school, Cameron instantly falls for Bianca, the gorgeous girl of his dreams. The only problem is that Bianca is forbidden to date until her ill-tempered, completely un-dateable older sister Kat goes out, too. In an attempt to solve his problem, Cameron singles out the only guy who could possibly be a match for Kat: a mysterious bad boy with a nasty reputation of his own.

Moonrise Kingdom poster
Moonrise Kingdom
2012 · dir. Wes Anderson
🍅 93%★ 7.7comedy · drama · romance

Romance with a pulse of play, in both cases

Set on an island off the coast of New England in the summer of 1965, Moonrise Kingdom tells the story of two twelve-year-olds who fall in love, make a secret pact, and run away together into the wilderness. As various authorities try to hunt them down, a violent storm is brewing off-shore – and the peaceful island community is turned upside down in more ways than anyone can handle.

Love, Simon poster
Love, Simon
2018 · dir. Greg Berlanti
🍅 92%★ 7.5comedy · drama · romanceMax

Both lean on wistfulness more than on comedy

Everyone deserves a great love story, but for 17-year-old Simon Spier, it's a little more complicated. He hasn't told his family or friends that he's gay, and he doesn't know the identity of the anonymous classmate that he's fallen for online.

Gregory's Girl poster
Gregory's Girl
1980 · dir. Bill Forsyth
🍅 95%★ 7.1comedy · romance

Another one that scratches it

The difference: Takes it somewhere less contemplative than The Graduate does

A teenager falls hard for the female soccer player who has replaced him on the team and attempts to pursue her.

In the mood for more contemplative?

all contemplative movies →

The best-reviewed films that share The Graduate’s defining feeling.