Movies Like A Serious Man (2009)

A Serious Man is a 2009 comedy, drama film from Joel Coen with a MovieMagicScore of 6.7/10. Here are 20 similar films, ranked by real viewer ratings — starting with Between the Temples and Time Changer.

Comedy Drama

Between the Temples

2024

A grief-stricken cantor in a crisis of faith finds his world turned upside down when his grade school music teacher re-enters his life as his new adult Bat Mitzvah student. The two forlorn souls develop a special connection.

5.5

MagicScore

Time Changer

2003

The year is 1890 and Bible professor Russell Carlisle has written a new manuscript entitled "The Changing Times". His colleague, Dr. Norris Anderson, believes that what Carlisle has written could greatly affect the future of coming generations and, using his secret time machine, Anderson sends Carlisle over 100 years into the future, offering him a glimpse of where his beliefs will lead.

5.5

MagicScore

Wonder Boys

2000

Grady 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 finds himself reeling from one misadventure to another in the company of a new wonder boy author.

6.8

MagicScore

The Gentlemen

2020

American expat Mickey Pearson has built a highly profitable marijuana empire in London. When word gets out that he’s looking to cash out of the business forever it triggers plots, schemes, bribery and blackmail in an attempt to steal his domain out from under him.

7.7

MagicScore

Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)

2014

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 family prove more difficult than expected.

7.5

MagicScore

American Beauty

1999

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.

8.0

MagicScore

The Good Night

2007

Gary, a musician, is trapped in an unhappy relationship with his live-in lover, Dora. He becomes enthralled with a beautiful seductress who enters his dreams, and tries to control his dream-state so he can spend more and more time with her. When Gary sees his mystery woman's face on a bus billboard, he discovers she is real, and fate brings him an opportunity to meet her.

5.3

MagicScore

Falsettos

2017

Jewish family man Marvin leaves his wife and son for a male lover during the height of the AIDS crisis in 1980s New York City.

8.2

MagicScore

Mill Horse

1982

Ali, an honest and honorable man, moves to Istanbul when he is transferred there. He moves in with his sister Hacer and brother-in-law Yakup. Yakup's niece Ayşe also lives in the same house. From the day he starts his job as a civil servant, Ali reacts against the swindlers and bribe-takers around him. As a result, his boss and other civil servants become uncomfortable with the situation. When Yakup runs away with the money he collected to build a mosque, Ali and Ayşe are left alone. Not wanting to leave each other, the two get married. Ali is fired from his job for preventing the civil servants from taking bribes and goes to the village with Ayşe. Yakup, who has fled to Istanbul, calls Ali and Ayşe to join him at his insistence. Ali and his family, who go to Yakup's side out of desperation, will never be able to escape their troubles.

7.0

MagicScore

#10

The Mad Adventures of Rabbi Jacob

1973

In this riot of frantic disguises and mistaken identities, Victor Pivert, a blustering, bigoted French factory owner, finds himself taken hostage by Slimane, an Arab rebel leader. The two dress up as rabbis as they try to elude not only assasins from Slimane's country, but also the police, who think Pivert is a murderer. Pivert ends up posing as Rabbi Jacob, a beloved figure who's returned to France for his first visit after 30 years in the United States. Adding to the confusion are Pivert's dentist-wife, who thinks her husband is leaving her for another woman, their daughter, who's about to get married, and a Parisian neighborhood filled with people eager to celebrate the return of Rabbi Jacob.

7.4

MagicScore

#11

Live and Become

2005

In 1980, the black Falashas in Ethiopia are recognised as genuine Jews and are secretly carried to Israel. The day before the transport the son of a Jewish mother dies. In his place and with his name (Schlomo) she takes a Christian 9-year-old boy.

7.4

MagicScore

#12

An American Pickle

2020

An immigrant worker at a pickle factory is accidentally preserved for 100 years and wakes up in modern day Brooklyn. He learns his only surviving relative is his great grandson, a computer coder who he can’t connect with.

5.7

MagicScore

#13

Avalon

1990

A Polish-Jewish family comes to the U.S. at the beginning of the twentieth century. There, the family and their children try to make themselves a better future in the so-called promised land.

6.7

MagicScore

#14

My Night at Maud's

1969

The Catholic Jean-Louis runs into an old friend, the Marxist Vidal, in Clermont-Ferrand around Christmas. Vidal introduces Jean-Louis to the modestly libertine, recently divorced Maud and the three engage in conversation on religion, atheism, love, morality and Blaise Pascal's life and writings on philosophy, faith and mathematics. Jean-Louis ends up spending a night at Maud's. Jean-Louis' Catholic views on marriage, fidelity and obligation make his situation a dilemma, as he has already, at the very beginning of the film, proclaimed his love for a young woman whom, however, he has never yet spoken to.

7.7

MagicScore

#15

You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah

2023

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 rite of passage.

6.4

MagicScore

#16

Dream Scenario

2023

Hapless family man Paul Matthews finds his life turned upside down when millions of strangers suddenly start seeing him in their dreams. But when his nighttime appearances take a nightmarish turn, Paul is forced to navigate his newfound stardom.

6.7

MagicScore

#17

Sweet Land

2005

Set in 1920, Inge travels from Germany to rural Minnesota in order to meet the man destined to be her husband.

6.3

MagicScore

#18

Sixty Six

2006

A boy's Bar Mitzvah looks set to be a disaster when it coincides with the 1966 World Cup Final.

6.6

MagicScore

#19

Black Phone 2

2025

Four years after escaping The Grabber, Finney Blake is struggling with his life after captivity. When his sister Gwen begins receiving calls in her dreams from the black phone and seeing disturbing visions of three boys being stalked at a winter camp, the siblings become determined to solve the mystery and confront a killer who has grown more powerful in death and more significant to them than either could imagine.

6.8

MagicScore

#20

Eyes Wide Shut

1999

After Dr. Bill Harford's wife, Alice, admits to having sexual fantasies about a man she met, Bill becomes obsessed with having a sexual encounter. He discovers an underground sexual group and attends one of their meetings -- and quickly discovers that he is in over his head.

7.5

MagicScore

Frequently asked

What are the best movies like A Serious Man?

The top films similar to A Serious Man by MovieMagicScore are Between the Temples (5.5), Time Changer (5.5), Wonder Boys (6.8). Each shares comedy/drama themes and is ranked by real viewer ratings, not critics or studios.

Is A Serious Man worth watching?

A Serious Man holds a MovieMagicScore of 6.7/10 from 2,230 viewer ratings.

What kind of movie is A Serious Man?

A Serious Man (2009) is a comedy, drama film directed by Joel Coen, starring Michael Stuhlbarg, Richard Kind, Fred Melamed.

Where can I find more recommendations like A Serious Man?

Browse the full ranked list above, or explore more comedy recommendations on MovieMagicScore, where every list is ordered by genuine viewer ratings.

Keep exploring

Movies like Between the Temples Movies like Time Changer Movies like Wonder Boys Movies like The Gentlemen Movies like Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)Movies like American Beauty

About movies like A Serious Man

This ranked list pairs A Serious Man (2009), a comedy and drama film from Joel Coen, with similar titles by genre, theme and cast overlap (fans of Michael Stuhlbarg take note). Unlike critic-driven sites, every position here is ordered by MovieMagicScore — a rating built only from real viewers, with no studio marketing or paid placement. Scores update as more people rate, so the list stays current.

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