44 Movies Like Patch Adams (1998) You Need to Watch Next
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 care
Updated June 2026
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If you loved Patch Adams (1998) by Tom Shadyac, here are 44 movies that share its content DNA. iRankMovies measures real similarity using cosine similarity across eight weighted dimensions — genre (50%), tone (12%), pace (10%), structure (8%), era (7%), theme (6%), audience (4%) and narrative perspective (3%) — not just the rating. The closest matches according to our analysis are The French Dispatch of the Liberty, Kansas Evening Sun, Dedicated to my ex, You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah. Every title is ranked by how closely it matches and backed by the iRank Score, a composite of IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes, Metacritic and TMDb across 12,000+ analysed titles.
44 Movies Similar to Patch Adams
The French Dispatch of the Liberty, Kansas Evening Sun
2021 · Wes Anderson
The staff of an American magazine based in France puts out its last issue, with stories featuring an artist sentenced to life imprisonment, student riots, and a kidnapping resolved by a chef.
In common: Comedy · Drama
Dedicated to my ex
2019 · Jorge Ulloa
The film tells the story of Ariel, a 21-year-old who decides to form a rock band to compete for a prize of ten thousand dollars in a musical band contest, this as a last option when trying to get mone
In common: Comedy · Drama
You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah
2023 · Sammi Cohen
Stacy and Lydia are BFFs who've always dreamed about having epic bat mitzvahs. But things start to go comically awry when a popular boy and middle school drama threatens their friendship and their rit
In common: Comedy · Drama
Vice
2018 · Adam McKay
George W. Bush picks Dick Cheney, the CEO of Halliburton Co., to be his Republican running mate in the 2000 presidential election. No stranger to politics, Cheney's impressive résumé includes stints a
In common: Comedy · Drama
Magic Mike
2012 · Steven Soderbergh
Mike, an experienced stripper, takes a younger performer called The Kid under his wing and schools him in the arts of partying, picking up women, and making easy money.
In common: Comedy · Drama
High School Musical
2006 · Kenny Ortega
A popular high school athlete and an academically gifted girl get roles in the school musical and develop a friendship that threatens East High's social order.
In common: Comedy
Cheaper by the Dozen
2003 · Shawn Levy
The Baker brood moves to Chicago after patriarch Tom gets a job coaching football at Northwestern University, forcing his writer wife, Kate, and the couple's 12 children to make a major adjustment. Th
In common: Comedy · Drama
Uncle Buck
1989 · John Hughes
Buck Russell, a lovable but slovenly bachelor, suddenly becomes the temporary caretaker of his nephew and nieces after a family emergency. His freewheeling attitude soon causes tension with his older
In common: Comedy · Drama
Parenthood
1989 · Ron Howard
The story of the Buckman family and friends, attempting to bring up their children. They suffer/enjoy all the events that occur: estranged relatives, the 'black sheep' of the family, the eccentrics, t
In common: Comedy · Drama
Dog
2022 · Channing Tatum
An army ranger and his dog embark on a road trip along the Pacific Coast Highway to attend a friend's funeral.
In common: Comedy · Drama
The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert
1994 · Stephan Elliott
Two drag performers and a transgender woman travel across the desert to perform their unique style of cabaret.
In common: Comedy · Drama
The King of Comedy
1982 · Martin Scorsese
Aspiring comic Rupert Pupkin attempts to achieve success in show business by stalking his idol, a late night talk-show host who craves his own privacy.
In common: Comedy · Drama
A Real Pain
2024 · Jesse Eisenberg
Mismatched cousins David and Benji reunite for a tour through Poland to honor their beloved grandmother. The adventure takes a turn when the pair's old tensions resurface against the backdrop of their
In common: Comedy · Drama
The Devil Wears Prada
2006 · David Frankel
A young woman from the Midwest gets more than she bargained for when she moves to New York to become a writer and ends up as the assistant to the tyrannical, larger-than-life editor-in-chief of a majo
In common: Comedy · Drama
The Devil Wears Prada 2
2026 · David Frankel
Andy Sachs returns to Runway as Miranda Priestly navigates a new media landscape and Runway's position within. The duo reconnect with former assistant Emily Charlton, now the head of a luxury brand th
In common: Comedy · Drama
3 Idiots
2009 · Rajkumar Hirani
Rascal. Joker. Dreamer. Genius... You've never met a college student quite like "Rancho." From the moment he arrives at India's most prestigious university, Rancho's outlandish schemes turn the campus
In common: Comedy · Drama
Mean Girls
2004 · Mark Waters
Cady Heron is a hit with The Plastics, the A-list girl clique at her new school, until she makes the mistake of falling for Aaron Samuels, the ex-boyfriend of alpha Plastic Regina George.
In common: Comedy · Drama
Friday
1995 · F. Gary Gray
Craig and Smokey are two guys in Los Angeles hanging out on their porch on a Friday afternoon, smoking and drinking, looking for something to do.
In common: Comedy · Drama
Annie
2014 · Will Gluck
Annie is a young, happy foster kid who's also tough enough to make her way on the streets of New York in 2014. Originally left by her parents as a baby with the promise that they'd be back for her som
In common: Comedy · Drama
The Big Short
2015 · Adam McKay
The men who made millions from a global economic meltdown.
In common: Comedy · Drama
The Terminal
2004 · Steven Spielberg
An Eastern European tourist unexpectedly finds himself stranded in JFK airport, and must take up temporary residence there.
In common: Comedy · Drama
Lolita
1962 · Stanley Kubrick
Humbert Humbert is a middle-aged British novelist who is both appalled by and attracted to the vulgarity of American culture. When he comes to stay at the boarding house run by Charlotte Haze, he soon
In common: Comedy · Drama
This Is Where I Leave You
2014 · Shawn Levy
When their father passes away, four grown, world-weary siblings return to their childhood home and are requested -- with an admonition -- to stay there together for a week, along with their free-speak
In common: Comedy · Drama
Fried Green Tomatoes
1991 · Jon Avnet
Amidst her own personality crisis, a southern housewife meets an outgoing old woman who tells her the story of Idgie Threadgoode and Ruth Jamison, two young women who experienced hardships and love in
In common: Comedy · Drama
Instant Family
2018 · Sean Anders
When Pete and Ellie decide to start a family, they stumble into the world of foster care adoption. They hope to take in one small child but when they meet three siblings, including a rebellious 15 yea
In common: Comedy · Drama
Home Alone 4
2002 · Rod Daniel
Kevin McCallister's parents have split up. Now living with his mom, he decides to spend Christmas with his dad at the mansion of his father's rich girlfriend, Natalie. Meanwhile robber Marv Merchants,
In common: Comedy
Big Daddy
1999 · Dennis Dugan
A lazy law school grad adopts a kid to impress his girlfriend, but everything doesn't go as planned. Now he's forced to grow up while navigating the challenges of fatherhood.
In common: Comedy · Drama
Due Date
2010 · Todd Phillips
Peter Highman must scramble across the US in five days to be present for the birth of his first child. He gets off to a bad start when his wallet and luggage are stolen, and put on the 'no-fly' list.
In common: Comedy · Drama
Burn After Reading
2008 · Ethan Coen
When a disc containing memoirs of a former CIA analyst falls into the hands of gym employees, Linda and Chad, they see a chance to make enough money for Linda to have life-changing cosmetic surgery. P
In common: Comedy · Drama
The Holdovers
2023 · Alexander Payne
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
In common: Comedy · Drama
Boogie Nights
1997 · Paul Thomas Anderson
In 1977, an idealistic porn producer and his promising protege try to catch up with the end of an era before their never-ending party collides with cold, hard reality.
In common: Comedy · Drama
Hustle
2022 · Jeremiah Zagar
After discovering a once-in-a-lifetime player with a rocky past abroad, a down on his luck basketball scout takes it upon himself to bring the phenom to the States without his team's approval. Against
In common: Comedy · Drama
Little Miss Sunshine
2006 · Valerie Faris
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.
In common: Comedy · Drama
The Sandlot
1993 · David Mickey Evans
During a summer of friendship and adventure, one boy becomes a part of the gang, nine boys become a team and their leader becomes a legend by confronting the terrifying mystery beyond the right field
In common: Comedy · Drama
My Cousin Vinny
1992 · Jonathan Lynn
Two carefree pals traveling through rural Alabama on their way back to college are mistakenly arrested and charged with murder. Fortunately, one of them has a cousin who's a lawyer - Vincent Gambini,
In common: Comedy · Drama
The Darjeeling Limited
2007 · Wes Anderson
Three American brothers who have not spoken to each other in a year set off on a train voyage across India with a plan to find themselves and bond with each other -- to become brothers again like they
In common: Comedy · Drama
Cruella
2021 · Craig Gillespie
In 1970s London amidst the punk rock revolution, a young grifter named Estella is determined to make a name for herself with her designs. She befriends a pair of young thieves who appreciate her appet
In common: Comedy · Drama
Green Book
2018 · Peter Farrelly
Tony Lip, a bouncer in 1962, is hired to drive pianist Don Shirley on a tour through the Deep South in the days when African Americans, forced to find alternate accommodations and services due to segr
In common: Comedy · Drama
The Grand Budapest Hotel
2014 · Wes Anderson
The Grand Budapest Hotel tells of a legendary concierge at a famous European hotel between the wars and his friendship with a young employee who becomes his trusted protégé. The story involves the the
In common: Comedy · Drama
BlacKkKlansman
2018 · Spike Lee
Colorado Springs, late 1970s. Ron Stallworth, an African American police officer, and Flip Zimmerman, his Jewish colleague, run an undercover operation to infiltrate the Ku Klux Klan.
In common: Comedy · Drama
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
1998 · Terry Gilliam
Raoul Duke and his attorney Dr. Gonzo drive a red convertible across the Mojave desert to Las Vegas with a suitcase full of drugs to cover a motorcycle race. As their consumption of drugs increases at
In common: Comedy · Drama
Asteroid City
2023 · Wes Anderson
In an American desert town circa 1955, the itinerary of a Junior Stargazer/Space Cadet convention is spectacularly disrupted by world-changing events.
In common: Comedy · Drama
Inherent Vice
2014 · Paul Thomas Anderson
In Los Angeles at the turn of the 1970s, drug-fueled detective Larry "Doc" Sportello investigates the disappearance of an ex-girlfriend.
In common: Comedy · Drama
Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood
2019 · Quentin Tarantino
Los Angeles, 1969. TV star Rick Dalton, a struggling actor specializing in westerns, and stuntman Cliff Booth, his best friend, try to survive in a constantly changing movie industry. Dalton is the ne
In common: Comedy · Drama