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Toni Erdmann poster

Movies that feel likeToni Erdmann (2016)

Convinced that his daughter has forgotten how to laugh, a father shows up unannounced while she's living abroad and bombards her with outrageous jokes.

If you loved Toni Erdmann, the closest films we have are Sunshine Cleaning (2009), August: Osage County (2013) and Asteroid City (2023). All three share Toni Erdmann's witty and playful feel, which is what we rank on before quality.

Seen the big three already? The under-the-radar pick below is City of Men (2007).

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See it on the Mood Map

If Toni Erdmann hit the spot, these will too

Sunshine Cleaning poster
Sunshine Cleaning
2009 · dir. Christine Jeffs
🍅 74%★ 6.8comedy · dramaMax

Both land wit and play at once

A single mother and her slacker sister find an unexpected way to turn their lives around in this off-beat dramatic comedy. In order to raise the tuition to send her young son to private school the mom starts an unusual business – a biohazard removal/crime scene clean-up service.

August: Osage County poster
August: Osage County
2013 · dir. John Wells
🍅 67%★ 7.2comedy · dramaPrime Video

Contemplative where it counts, melancholy underneath

The difference: The scrappier of the two with critics

An intense look at the lives of the strong-willed daughters of the Weston family, whose paths have diverged until a family crisis brings them back to the Midwest house they grew up in, and to the dysfunctional mother who raised them.

Asteroid City poster
Asteroid City
2023 · dir. Wes Anderson
🍅 76%★ 6.4comedy · dramaPeacock

Common ground: family

In an American desert town circa 1955, the itinerary of a Junior Stargazer/Space Cadet convention is spectacularly disrupted by world-changing events.

The Holdovers poster
The Holdovers
2023 · dir. Alexander Payne
🍅 97%★ 7.9drama · comedyPeacock

Both lean on wit more than on comedy

A curmudgeonly instructor at a New England prep school is forced to remain on campus during Christmas break to babysit the handful of students with nowhere to go. Eventually, he forms an unlikely bond with one of them — a damaged, brainy troublemaker — and with the school’s head cook, who has just lost a son in Vietnam.

Captain Fantastic poster
Captain Fantastic
2016 · dir. Matt Ross
🍅 82%★ 7.8drama · comedy

Both are built on the same subject: death of mother

Deep in the forests of the Pacific Northwest, a father devoted to raising his six kids with a rigorous physical and intellectual education is forced to leave his paradise and enter the world, beginning a journey that challenges his idea of what it means to be a parent.

Good Bye, Lenin! poster
Good Bye, Lenin!
2003 · dir. Wolfgang Becker
🍅 91%★ 7.7comedy · drama

Playful drama in both cases

Alex Kerner's mother was in a coma while the Berlin wall fell. When she wakes up he must try to keep her from learning what happened (as she was an avid communist supporter) to avoid shocking her which could lead to another heart attack.

Silent Heart poster
Silent Heart
2014 · dir. Bille August
★ 7.1drama

Both keep coming back to the same thing: family

The difference: Easier on the wit than Toni Erdmann

Three generations of a family gather over a weekend. The sisters Sanne and Heidi have accepted their terminally-ill mother’s desire to die before her disease worsens; but, as the weekend progresses, their mother's decision becomes harder and harder to deal with, and old conflicts come to the surface.

Patch Adams poster
Patch Adams
1998 · dir. Tom Shadyac
🍅 22%★ 6.9comedy · drama

Comedy built on stillness, twice over

The true story of Dr. Hunter "Patch" Adams, who in the 1970s found that humor is the best medicine, and was willing to do just anything to make his patients laugh—even if it meant risking his own career.

City of Men poster
City of Men
2007 · dir. Paulo Morelli
🍅 74%★ 7.2dramaParamount+

Melancholy drama, and it commits to that

Best buddies Acerola and Laranjinha, about to turn 18, discover things about their missing fathers' pasts which will shatter their solid friendship, in the middle of a war between rival drug gangs from Rio's favelas.

Saving Mr. Banks poster
Saving Mr. Banks
2013 · dir. John Lee Hancock
🍅 79%★ 7.5comedy · drama · historyDisney+

Comedy with a pulse of wit, in both cases

The difference: Sits closer to history than Toni Erdmann does

Author P.L. Travers looks back on her childhood while reluctantly meeting with Walt Disney, who seeks to adapt her Mary Poppins books for the big screen.

Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown poster
Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown
1988 · dir. Pedro Almodóvar
🍅 94%★ 7.5comedy · drama

Drama with a pulse of play, in both cases

The difference: 28 years apart, and the 1980s show

After being dumped by her lover, Pepa finds her life and the lives of those around her spiraling out of control in a deliciously chaotic series of events.

Drive My Car poster
Drive My Car
2021 · dir. Ryusuke Hamaguchi
🍅 97%★ 7.5dramaRent or buy

Both run contemplative where it counts

Yusuke Kafuku, a stage actor and director, still unable, after two years, to cope with the loss of his beloved wife, accepts to direct Uncle Vanya at a theater festival in Hiroshima. There he meets Misaki, an introverted young woman, appointed to drive his car. In between rides, secrets from the past and heartfelt confessions will be unveiled.

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